Untitled

irds, apparently created by the Four Rivers of
Paradise identified by inscriptions. The river flows
down from the mountain of Paradise which is
topped by an eagle (Zaqzuq 1995: 237-140, pls. 1,
19; Zaqzuq and Piccirillo 1999: 445; Hamarneh
1999: 188: Campanati [1999: 173, fig. on p. 175;
in note 22] interprets the river as the Jordan).
The 5th-century Basilica of Thyrsos at Tegea
in the Peloponnese shows in the nave a framed
rectangular design divided into sixteen squares.
The four Rivers of Paradise are depicted at either
end of the pavement; the pair at the east end
near the apse are Gehon and Phison, and the
pair near the entrance are Tigris and Euphrates.
The other twelve squares render the busts of the
months carrying various attributes. The rectangular
design is surrounded by a border of octagons
containing marine creatures (Maguire 1987:
24-28; figs. 15-21; 1999: 180). Maguire suggests
that the Tegea pavements ‘represent the terrestrial
world… the earth surrounded by the ocean’
with no symbolic interpretation for the months or
the rivers. Maguire further believes (1999: 180)
that at both the Martyr Theodore chapel and
the Tegea pavement ‘the earth is watered at its
four corners by the rivers of Paradise...’ They
‘acquired an allegorical significance, beyond a
mere illustration of divinely created geography’.
The eastern half of the nave in the East Church
at Qasr-el Lebia (Olbia) in Libya (539-540) is
adorned with a mosaic pavement divided into fifty
square panels (Maguire 1987: 44-55; figs. 52-57).
Personifications of two of the rivers of Paradise,
inscribed Gehon and Phison, appear on the second
row in two separate panels, flanked by two other
panels filled with Nile flora and fauna. For the
river labelled ΓΗWΝ Gehon an almost completely
naked figure with a beard reclines on a vessel out
of which water pours. Hermann (1959: 63, fig. 5)
argues rightly that this is a depiction of the Nile
(fig. V.4), indicated by the cornucopia beside his
left arm (similar to the depiction of Nilus at the
villa at Lepsis Magna) and by the sistrum he holds
in his right hand, which characterizes some Nilus
depictions (see Chap. V).
The Rivers of Paradise seen on the pavements
of the Martyr Theodore chapel and of the Sunna
family church (both at Madaba) and of St. Paul’s
church (pl. VIII.2) are usually represented as
male figures, except for two; they render a semiclad
figure crowned with foliage, holding a cane
stick or a reed in the hand resting on a pitcher
from which water flows. They are surrounded by
personification of natural forces 183
plants; at one of the rivers in the Sunna church
a fish accompanies the (destroyed) figure. All the
personifications were damaged by iconoclasts.
The composition of the rivers and their location
in the overall design differ in each pavement.
But each river personification appears in a round
or square medallion in the mosaics, except for
Jabaliyah and the unique representation in the
Theotokos Chapel.
D. Country and City
A unique personification of Egypt is rendered on
the mosaic at the Nile Festival building at Sepphoris
(Weiss and Talgam 2002: 61,66, fig. 6). It
shows a reclining female figure on the upper left
part of the mosaic as consort of a similarly resting
male figure, the personification of Nilus—the Nile
river—on the upper right part. The female figure
wearing a robe, her upper body naked, leans on
a basket with her right arm while her right hand
holds a cornucopia filled with fruit; ears of grain
adorn her head. She is identified by the Greek
inscription Αΐγυ[πτο]ς Aigyptos to the left of her
head (pl. VIII.1a). Weiss and Talgam (2002: 66)
interpret the figure of Aigyptos and her attributes
as the personification of the land of Egypt and as
Euthenia, the consort of Nilus, as well as denoting
the abundance produced by the inundation of the
Nile. Another depiction of Egypt on the Haditha
pavement border is a walled city (pl. V.2b, 5d)
interpreted as Alexandria.
The mosaic of the Hippolytus Hall (Piccirillo
1993: 24-25, 66, figs. 3, 10), shows along the eastern
hall outside the border the personifications of
three cities identified by their Greek inscriptions.
They are Madaba, Gregoria, and Rome, all rendered
as Tyche. They are seated on thrones in
identical poses; all three wear decorated tunics
and mantles joined at the breast by a clasp. Rome
wears a red helmet on her head, while Madaba
and Gregoria wear turreted crowns similar to the
seasons on the same mosaic. Madaba and Gregoria
are adorned with earrings and bracelets. All
three hold in their right hands long staffs ending
in a small cross. Madaba carries in her left hand
a cornucopia with two sheaves of corn. Rome
holds a similar cornucopia filled with pears and
pomegranates, while Gregoria holds a basket of
flowers in her outstretched left hand. Piccirillo
and Buschhausen identified the three as cities
represented by a Tyche.