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chapter twelve
Figure XII-15. Comparable Nilometer scene rendered on the Sepphoris mosaic and a silver plate from Perm.
figs. 11, 14) which render Orpheus surrounded
by various animals. The similarity is noted especially
in the portrayal of a centaur and Pan as
listeners to Orpheus on both the mosaic and the
pyxis (fig. XII-16).
Likenesses exist between the portrayal of the
pair of lions and bulls’ heads on the Sepphoris
synagogue pavement and in the Tiberias stone
relief (fig. IX-2). Some affinities between the
grape treading scenes on mosaics (pl. VII.3) are
present on the Korazim synagogue stone relief
(Yeivin 2000: pl. 15a, 4).
*
Several phenomena should be considered. A surprising
fact is that few of the pavements can be
attributed to the same artists or workshops. Only
a small number of mosaics noted above demonstrate
that the same artist or workshop team
created two or more pavements. A few mosaics
deemed to have been executed by the same
teams. Among them sometimes it is evident that
one floor was created by the master mosaicist,
another probably by an apprentice or less experienced
artist. For example, the nave pavement
of the church at Kursi might have been executed
by a master mosaicist, while the rest of the
church pavements were probably produced by an