Untitled

10
1994: nos. 213, 291, 302, 378, 387, 489,
518, 602, 723).
f. A large rosette (fig. I-4f) appears on the
mosaic of room 2 of the Palatial Mansion
in Jerusalem (Avigad 1983: 98, fig 161).
A possible comparable rosette is carved
on Jerusalem ossuaries (Rahmani 1994:
nos. 359, 399).
At Delos similar designs appear on mosaic floors,
with slightly different six-, ten-, and twelve-petalled
rosettes; most of these are bordered by the wave
design (Bruneau 1974: figs. 102-104, 229-231,
234-236, 260 –262). A similar rosette occurs on
a mosaic at Apamea (Balty 1981: pl V,3).
Other geometric motifs include meanders,
waves, guilloches, lozenges, and hexagons. They
are depicted in mosaics as borders, as at Masada
and Jerusalem, or in the centre of mosaic pavement,
as in the Upper City of Jerusalem.
The two mosaics at Masada (Oecus 456
and room 449) (pl. I.1a,b) have similar frames
of monochrome bands, serrated sawtooth with
the corners rendered with small chessboardpatterned
squares and wave patterns (Foerster
1995: 143-151, ills. 253-258, pls. XIII-XIV); the
same pattern is depicted on two pavements in the
Upper City, Jerusalem (pl. I.4b,c) (Avigad 1983:
figs. 164-165).
The single wave pattern is a common motif
in the Hellenistic period and is depicted also on
mosaics (fig. I-5). The wave motif is unusually
rendered in alternating red and black colours on a
mosaic pavement in a room in Area F and in the
bathhouse vestibule pavement in the Upper City
of Jerusalem (Avigad 1983: 144, figs. 161,165).
The same wave pattern is depicted on the mosaic
pavement of Hypocaust 19 of the Early Palace
(Gymnasium) at Jericho (Pritchard 1958: 11,
chapter one
Figure I-5. Geometric motifs on mosaic pavements.
pl. 11: 1,2,5) and in the tepidarium of the bathhouse
at Machaerus (Corbo 1979: 323-324,
pl. 44B). At Delos such a wave design is the
most dominant pattern for the borders of many
of the mosaics (Bruneau 1972: figs. 49, 85, 92-93,
102-104, 229-231, 234-236, 260 –262). Similar
wave borders in different directions appear on
Hellenistic mosaics from Arsameia (Balty 1981:
pl. II, 1-2).
Swastika-meanders with single returns and
straight-tongued double guilloche frame the
larger and more elaborate mosaic of the anteroom
(Oecus 456) at Masada (pl. I.1a; fig. I-5 ).
The swastika-meander pattern in various forms is
depicted on several other floors: in the vestibule
(room 2) of the Palatial Mansion in the Upper
City, Jerusalem (pl. I.3e) the mosaic pavement
is rendered with a meander-swastika frame with
squares in each of the spaces (Avigad 1983: 98,
figs. 108-109); in a room in Area F, Jerusalem,
the central part of the panel appears with intertwined
meander forming complex swastika patterns
(pl. I.4b) (Avigad 1983: 144, figs. 151, 165).
A similar swastika-meander with squares in each
of the spaces is rendered on the frame on the pavement
of a later addition to the public reception
room and/or triclinium of the palace at Caesarea
(pl. I.2d) (Netzer 2001: 121, fig. 160). These
motifs also occur in fresco and stucco (Avigad
1983: figs. 90, 91, 174; Mazar 1975a: 28-29; Ben-
Dov 1982: 138). A capital from the synagogue
of Gamla is ornamented with a meander design
(Maoz 1981: 36). Similar meander borders appear
on a Hellenistic mosaics from Arsameia (Balty
1981: pl. II, 1-2).
The guilloche pattern (pl. I.4b) appear on a
frame of the mosaic of area F, Jerusalem (Avigad
1983: 144, fig. 165) and a double guilloche frames
the inner panel of the tepidarium in the bathhouse