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iconographic aspects of rural life 173
Figure VII-10. A man milking a goat, Kissufim church north aisle panel.
a carrier of some cargo was familiar in the period
(pl. VII.18). A man inscribed with the name Orbicon
is seen holding a cluster of dates in his right
hand and a stick in his left in a side panel at St.
Elias Church at Kissufim (575 CE; Cohen 1980:
19, 23, 61). He leads a camel laden with Gaza
amphorae and baskets. A man drives a camel
in two vine medallions in the same row at Be"er
Shem#a, parallel to the episode of a donkey led by
a figure whose head is lost. The figures in these
two episodes wear the same short tunic and are
similar in their posture.
Two figures leading a camel appear in three
medallions in row 14 of the inhabited vine scroll
mosaic in the northern aisle of Petra Church.
The camel drivers are shown in profile. They are
barefoot, wear short sleeveless tunics, and hold
the rope in their crossed hands; the camel in the
central scroll with bridle and harness is either
standing or sitting; the camel is loaded with a
cut palm tree trunk; the other figure in the right
scroll (14C) holds the camel’s bridle (Waliszewski
2001: 231-235).
A bearded figure with a stick in his right hand
leading a camel is the scene in two medallions
of the inhabited vine scrolls at the church of
Suwayfiyah in Philadelphia; Piccirillo (1993: 264,
figs. 456, 470) maintains the camel is transporting
stones for building. A figure with a Phrygian cap
holding a camel by a rope appears in the second
register of the first panel of al-Khadir church at
Madaba (Lux 1967: 170; Piccirillo 1993: 129-130,
fig. 142). A camel driver (possibly representing
a Ghassanid Christian-Arab soldier) dressed in
loincloth, a mantle on his shoulder, and armed
with a whip in his right hand, a bow slung on his
shoulder, and a large sword at his side, leads a
camel on the mosaic of the western panel of the
nave at Kaianus upper church (Piccirillo 1993:
191, fig. 277).
Camel drivers also appear on Syrian mosaics.
On the outer border in the nave of St. George’s
church at Deir el-‘Adas a camel driver leads a
caravan of four loaded camels (Donceel-Voûte
1988: 48-49, 109, 487, figs. 20-23).
Roussin (1985: 228-231) pointed out the contrast
in dress: the figures leading camels are portrayed
in contemporary dress while those leading
the exotic animals wear elaborate eastern dress.
She maintains the difference might be due to the
fact that the exotic animals and their proprietors
originated in foreign countries, probably Africa,
while the camels drivers were local.
Taming Animals
A few mosaics show the taming of animals with
a lasso or sling on mosaics of Jordan. Two men
taming a bull, with a lasso, appear in separate medallions
in the bottom row of the acanthus rinceau
at St. George’s church on Mt. Nebo (Saller and
Bagatti 1949: 71, fig. 8, pls. 23, 3; 25, 4).
A figure with a sling hunting a wild boar
appears in a medallion of the acanthus rinceau
on the mosaic of the upper chapel of Priest John.
A figure holding a lasso is shown in a medallion
of the vine rinceau at the chapel of Elias,
Maria, and Soreg at Gerasa (Saller and Bagatti
1949: 52, fig. 4, pl. 11, 1; Piccirillo 1993: 174,
296, figs. 223, 230, 567, 572). A figure with a
lasso is rendered in an octagon of the main hall
mosaic of the chapel of the Martyr Theodore in