Untitled

Mukhayyat (Bagatti 1949: 99, pl. 29,1; Piccirillo
1993: 40, 178, figs. 246-247; 1998: 322, fig. 120).
The upper chapel of Priest John at Mukhayyat
(Piccirillo 1993: 174, figs. 216-217; 1998: 351,
figs. 206, 207) shows two unidentified benefactors,
each in a square panel: one in the middle of the
west side of the border, the other in the middle of
the north side. One depicts a priest, the other a
lady with jewels; both have halos over their heads.
Bagatti (Saller and Bagatti 1949: 99, pl. 10, 3)
contends that the male bust depicts Priest John.
Saller (Saller and Bagatti 1949: 176) believes that
because several of the names recur in the other
two churches, all three are linked.
In the western rectangular panel of the nave
in the upper church of Kaianus (Piccirillo 1993:
190, fig. 277; 1998: 357, fig. 224) three portraits
of benefactors are rendered with their names
inscribed above. Fidus is portrayed as a young
man wearing a tunic; he may be the deacon mentioned
in an inscription in the panel in the southern
intercolumnar. The portrait in the middle,
of John, a young vintner, is almost completely
destroyed. The third is an anonymous cameldriver
wearing a loincloth and a mantle. Part of
his face is lost; he carries a bow on his shoulder,
a whip in his right hand and a sword in his left.
Piccirillo maintains that this figure renders an
Arab Christian soldier, one of the Ghassanids.
In front of the chancel step of the Sts. Cosmas
and Damianus’ church at Gerasa is a tabula
ansata with an inscription between portraits of
two benefactors, along with their names. Each
stands between two trees (Biebel 1938: 331-332,
pl. 73; Piccirillo 1993: 288-9, figs. 507-509). The
benefactors are Theodore the paramonarius (sacristan)
with an incense burner, and his wife Georgia
in a pose of prayer. Theodore appears in the dedicatory
inscription of Sts. Cosmas and Damianus
as the founder of the church, as does St. John the
Baptist. Georgia might have been the anonymous
donor of the dedicatory inscription of St. George’s
church (Crowfoot 1931: 21-26; Wells 1938: 479,
481, 482, inscriptions nos. 306, 309, 314). Two
other donors with offerings are rendered in the
easternmost row of diamonds of the nave pavement
render the portraits of John son of Astricius
and Kalloeonistus (Biebel 1938: 331-332, pl. 73;
Piccirillo 1993: 288-9, figs. 510-512). Kalloeonistus
is dressed in a short tunic and high boots, and
holds a basket of fruit in his right hand. John son
of Astricius, wearing a short tunic and sandals,
carries a basket on his left shoulder. Wells (1938:
between synagogue and church 239
481-482, nos. 312, 313) suggests that they might
have been the mosaicists rather than the donors.
However, there are no known portraits of mosaicists,
only their inscriptions.
A similar scene of three portraits of benefactors,
disfigured by iconoclasts, are rendered on the
mosaic pavement of St Paul’s church at Umm al-
Rasas (Piccirillo 1997: 384; 2002: 548-549, plan
1, photos 25-27). The first rectangular panel of
the nave mosaic shows benefactors, whose names
survived, placed between trees; Segis, the benefactor
on the left, holds a censer in his hand, while
Rabbus and his son Paul stand on the right picking
fruit from the tree.
Three portraits of donors are depicted in
medallions in the inhabited vine scrolls on the
mosaic of the presbytery in the church of Elias,
Maria and Soreg at Gerasa (fig. VI-16) (Salle
rand Bagatti 1949: 272-3; Piccirillo 1993: 296,
figs. 515,569,572). Elias wears a decorated tunic
and holds a censer in his right hand, similar to the
figure of Theodore in the church of Sts. Cosmas
and Damianos. Maria wears a tunic, a pella covers
her head, and she hold a cross; Soreg wears a
long decorated tunic with a palla tied in the front
above (similar to the garb of Georgia), and large
earrings, and she hold a branch in her right hand.
The church of Bishop Sergius at Umm al-Rasas
shows several benefactors (about 11) enclosed in
medallions on an inhabited acanthus scroll mosaic
in the nave. All except one are named (Piccirillo
1993: 234-235, figs. 365, 369). St. Stephen’s
church at Umm al-Rasas shows two villages, Diblaton
and Limbon, at the head of each aisle. They
are associated with the portraits and inscribed
names of the church’s benefactors; the inscriptions
are rendered around, beside and above the
donors’ portraits. They include the monk Kaium,
priest of Phisga and superior of the monastery
on Mt. Nebo (Piccirillo 1993: 238-239, figs. 381,
384). Note that church inscriptions and portraits
name and illustrate male and female benefactors
alike.
Several themes were rendered only on Christian
mosaics: rural activities and everyday life,
such as bucolic episodes, arable, vine producing,
various hunting scenes, taming of wild beasts, and
husbanding domestic animals (pls. VII.1-20, see
Chap. VII). These might illustrate the contemporary
rural activities in the villages where the
churches were built (Maguire 1987: 71; Merrony
1998: 472-73). Another interpretation is that these