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Inhabited Vine Scrolls Pavements
A popular design, especially in the 6th century,
was the ‘inhabited scroll’ composition, which decorate
a considerable number of synagogue and
church pavements. The composition consists of
vine branches forming medallions, usually issuing
from a central amphora flanked by peacocks,
horned animals, or lions at the base of the pavement.
In some church and mansion pavements
the vine branches issue from a central acanthus
leaf or out of acanthus leaves at the four corners
of the pavement ((pl. VI.1-11;Table VI-1,2).
The medallions of inhabited scrolls of groups
I-III, found on synagogue and church pavements
alike, usually contain objects, birds, and beasts;
in church pavements of groups IV-V scenes of
vintage, hunting and everyday life fill some of
the medallions. Although inhabited scroll compositions
in synagogues and churches seem to be
similar, there are some notable differences. On
synagogue pavements Jewish symbols are added:
at Ma#on a seven-branched menorah is flanked
by two lions and ritual objects (pl. XI.1a). At
Beth She"an small synagogue the central medallion
contains a menorah flanked by an ethrog
and a hanging lamp, and the inscription Shalom
in Hebrew (pl. XI.1b; fig. VI-10).
Mythological Scenes
Mythological scenes demonstrating a revival of
traditions and prototypes of the Classical and
Hellenistic periods are found typically on pavements
of mansions, but only rarely on those of
synagogues and churches.
Orpheus, the singer of Greek myth, who
charmed wild animals with his lyre playing, is
represented in Jewish art. At the Gaza synagogue,
David in an adoption of the mythological-pagan
figure of Orpheus is attired and crowned as a
Byzantine emperor, seated on a throne, and playing
the lyre (pl. IV.3). Facing him are animals, of
which only a lion, a serpent, and a giraffe have
survived.
Orpheus was a fairly popular image in Christian
art, usually identified with Christ, although
the tendency is to represent him as the Good
Shepherd rather than charming animals, as in
pagan art. In a 6th-century chapel in Jerusalem
the picture is a seated Orpheus in a Phrygian cap,
holding a lyre, and surrounded by Pan, a centaur,
a falcon (or eagle), a partridge, a rat, a bear, a
between synagogue and church 229
sheep, a serpent, and a salamander (crocodile)
(pl. IV.5). Most scholars consider this Orpheus
Christian.
In the Jewish House of Leontis complex at
Beth-She"an, mythological scenes from Homeric
poems of the Odyssey appear on the upper panel
(Zori 1966: 128-9; Adler 2003: 55-68). In a scene
of Odysseus and the sirens (pl. XII.4a) Odysseus
is bound to the mast of his ship, while below and
to the left a naked Nereid rides an ichthyocentaur.
The lower scene on the same panel shows
Odysseus fighting the monster Scylla, beside a
siren playing a flute. It is the only scene from
the Homeric poems on a mosaic pavement
found in Israel, and interestingly appears on the
floor of a Jewish house. The scene suggested to
Avi-Yonah (1975: 54) that Byzantine Jews appreciated
Homeric poems. Jentel (2000: 248) contends
that the mosaic is a donation from Leontis,
the rich merchant, and the mythological episode
represents his own or his ship’s sea voyage to
Egypt or to Italy. Adler (2003: 125-128) argues
that the Odysseus scenes are usually connected
with water, appearing in bath-houses, pools, and
water features. In this house they may be associated
with water.
The themes on the pavement might have been
the choice of the donor, Leontis, who may have
originated in Alexandria, to show his voyage to
Beth-She"an (Roth-Gerson (1987: 34, 38). The
Beth She"an room decorated with the Odysseus
and Nilotic themes served for secular, perhaps
communal, purposes. Another possibility is that
these scenes were the most attractive among the
designs in a prevalent sketch book of mosaicists
(Hachlili 1988: 301, 393).
Mythological episodes appear more frequently
on pavements of secular buildings (Merrony
1998: 444-445), such as Amazons and the
Centaur at Sepphoris (Weiss and Talgam 2002:
73-83), Dionysiac thiasos and Phaedra and Hippolytus
on hall mosaics at the Sheikh Zuweid
villa (north Sinai, 4th-5th century?) (Clédat
1915; Ovadiah at el. 1991), Achilles, Heracles,
and a Dionysiac procession in Jordan mosaics
(Piccirillo 1993: 23-26,76-77, figs. 40, 43, 48).
Especially noteworthy are the two scenes of the
stories of Phaedra and Hippolytus, and Aphrodite
and Adonis, identified by inscriptions, depicted
on the mosaic pavements of Hippolytus Hall at
Madaba found beneath the Church of the Virgin
(Piccirillo 1993: 76-80, figs. 32-48, 55; Dunbabin
1999: 199). Other mythological themes appear on