Untitled

iconoclasm on mosaic pavements of synagogues and churches 209
The terms iconoclasm and the iconophobic or
iconoclasm crisis refer to the systematic destruction
of images of living creatures, human or
animal, from the decorative repertoire (see the
comprehensive study by Schick 1995: 180-219).
Iconoclasm was expressed in deliberate damage to
figurative motifs on a number of synagogue and
church mosaics in Palaestina and Arabia. The
damaged figures included isolated animals and
birds in geometric compositions. In most churches
the damage appears in scenes of combat and hunting,
pastoral events, Nilotic scenes, classical personifications,
and portraits of donors. The figures
were completely eliminated or methodically damaged,
and in some cases only destroyed in part.
Occasionally some figures were left intact, and in
others the outline is still evident:
•
•
Several mosaic pavements were disfig-
ured and not repaired, namely those in
the Na#aran synagogue (pl. III.4a; X.1a;
fig. X.1), Mahat el-Urdi church, Beth
Guvrin (figs. IV.24; X.3), and the Kursi
Basilica (pl. X.1c). The mosaic in the
New Baptistry chapel in the Memorial
of Moses basilica on Mt. Nebo and the
mosaic panel of theTheotokos chapel there
sustained damage that was never repaired.
Yet the Old Diakonikon Baptistry mosaic
in the same basilica suffered no iconoclastic
damage.
Faces and heads were usually disfigured,
damaged and crudely repaired, generally
with tesserae of the original size, or at
times of different size, on the pavements
of several churches: at ‘Ein Hanniya, the
southern aisle of Beth Loya church (pls.
VI.4; X.1b); at Jabaliyah, the 5th-century
Diakonikon mosaic (pl. VII.10) and the 8thcentury
church pavements (pl. X.4); the
Madaba Map church; the Martyr Theodore
chapel and the Al-Khadir church at
Madaba; the raised sanctuaries at the New
Baptistry chapel and Theotokos chapel;
Massuh upper church; all of the Umm al-
Rasas churches: Bishop Sergius, Church of
CHAPTER TEN
ICONOCLASM ON MOSAIC PAVEMENTS OF SYNAGOGUES AND CHURCHES
•
•
•
the Lions, Church of the Rivers, Church
of the Palm Tree, Priest Wa’il, St. Paul
and St. Stephen.
These pavements were apparently damaged
carelessly, with no real aim of disfiguring
the whole image; frequently many figures
were not touched, including some animals
and humans. Repairs were poor, often just
filling in the part gouged out with tessarae
of mixed size and no consideration of the
aesthetics of the restored design. Apparently
the repair was done mainly so that the
building’s pavement could be used again.
Pavements disfigured and properly repaired,
but usually with different, neutral motifs,
seldom with a variation of the original
motif, are found in the synagogues at
Susiya (pl. X.2) and the entrance panel
at Na#aran (pl. X.1a); in the churches of
#Asida (fig. X.2); in Herodium eastern
church; on the nave mosaic of Theotokos
chapel at Wadi #Ayn al-Kanish (pl. X.3); in
the Acropolis church at Ma‘in, especially
a room north of the church.
The pavements of this group were almost
completely transformed by changes in
many of the motifs and details, although
the general design was preserved. In most
cases some of the original patterns and
scheme can still be discerned. Several of
the disfigured pavements reflect careful and
proper restoration, perhaps done at the
actual time of the disfigurement with attention
to replacing motifs and details.
The iconoclastic work was done with precision.
The outline was sometimes still visible even though
all the tesserae were removed, and replaced by
different representations. The damaged area was
either filled haphazardly with larger tesserae, or
the same polychrome tesserae were re-used. This
possibly indicates that in some cases the disfiguring
and the repair were undertaken concurrently
(Schick 1995: 194-195).