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different themes based on comparable models.
The mosaics of the Gaza region and the Negev
(the southern limes) at Be"er Shem#a, Be"er Sheva,
Gaza, Jabaliyah, Kissufim, Ma#on, and Shellal
might have been created by a workshop centred
perhaps at Gaza, with teams working on mosaics
of these sites during the 5th–6th centuries executing
various themes. Another possibility is that a
local trend or fashion, artistic connections, and
exchanges of themes and motifs were the source
for the similarities in the pavements described
above. In particular note the appearance of exotic
animals such as the elephant, giraffe, and zebra,
which are almost exclusively depicted on mosaics
of this region and are portrayed realistically
through observations from nature (pl. XII.7a-d).
By contrast, the giraffe on the mosaic in room L of
the Beth She"an Monastery, and the giraffe, zebra,
and ostrich on the mosaic of the Old Diakonikon-
Baptistry at the Basilica of Moses on Mt. Nebo,
seem copied from a model (pls. VII.15c; XII.7eg).
The Kissufim mosaic has some comparable
vignettes and affinities with the other mosaics in
the region (see above).
The only named mosaicists in the region are
Victor and Cosmas from Ashkelon, as seen on a
Greek inscription on the Jabaliyah mosaic (Humbert
et al. 2000: 125). This may indicate that the
workshop was located in nearby Ashqelon rather
than Gaza.
Zoological Catalogues
The existence of zoological catalogues is intimated
by the assortments of birds that appear on several
pavements: in the Jerusalem Armenian church,
in Chapel G in the Beth She"an monastery, and
at Caesarea (pl. VI.3; figs. VI-7, XII-7, XII-14).
Further evidence for the existence of botanical
and zoological catalogues is Hellenistic interest
in the natural sciences and the gardens cultivated
by the Ptolemies )Avi-Yonah 1960a: 21).
The mosaic of Chapel room G in the Beth
She"an Monastery shows a field of 80 linked
medallions arranged in thirteen rows (fig. XII-7),
each containing the figure of a bird. Two additional
large medallions near the west door contain
confronting peacocks. The birds are arranged in
groups of eight, except for the top three rows with
four. Many of the birds walk from right to left;
most of the exceptions are found mainly in the
northern column. In some of the rows the same
mosaicists, workshops, and the repertory 269
species are rendered close together in groups of
two or three; some birds in rows 4-5 are rendered
upside-down. Some of the birds are depicted in
confronting pairs, for example, in row 7.
The mosaic floor in room I of a Byzantine villa
or church at Caesarea (late 6th-early 7th century)
shows a field of 120 interlaced medallions, in 12
rows and 10 columns, containing various species
of birds, a single bird in each medallion. The wide
border renders wild animals chasing tame animals
separated by fruit trees (fig. XII-14; VII-3)
(Avi-Yonah 1958: 61; Reich 1985: 210-211, fig. 2,
pl. LII 4,7; Spiro 1992: 250). Only eleven different
species are represented, appearing several
times, in an unusual arrangement of diagonal lines
descending from right to left. The birds include
duck, flamingo, goose, guinea fowl, ibis, partridge,
peacock, pelican, and pheasant.
The Jerusalem ‘Armenian’ Church nave is decorated
with an inhabited vine scroll mosaic, dated
to the 6th century (Avi-Yonah 1933: 36, no.132;
Evans 1982). The mosaic composition consists of
five columns and nine rows (pl. VI.3, fig. VI-7;).
The vine trellises issue from an amphora emerging
from an acanthus leaf in the middle of the
first row, flanked by a pair of peacocks and birds.
An assortment of alternating birds face the axial
column (except in row 4), depicted with objects
such as baskets, a bowl, or a bird-cage; almost all
flanking birds of the inner columns are identical,
as are the birds in the two outer columns. The
birds include cock, dove, eagle, flamingo, goose,
hen, ibis, ostrich, partridge, peacock, pheasant,
stork, and swallow
Animal catalogues might have been the source
for the various depictions of flanking animals in
compartments such as at the pavements in el-
Maqerqesh chapel at Beth Guvrin (fig. VIII-3),
in Horvat Berachot church (fig. XI-1a), and at
Gerasa.
On several mosaics an interesting treatment of
wild animals shows them reclining, bending their
heads in a submissive posture (pl. VI.20): at Gaza,
the bending head of the lioness in the Orpheus
scene is obvious (pl. IV.3; pl. XII.6b); at Be"er
Shem#a the pose is seen in the leopardess and the
lioness in row 3, the bull in row 4, and the bear
in row 7 (pl. VI.5). On Mosaics I and II in Petra
church (pls. VI.6-8) many of animals on one side
of the heraldic composition bow their heads.