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mosaic pavements adorning buildings in the hellenistic–early roman period 13
Comparable mosaic pavements in form, motif
and date are those dated to the Hellenistic and
early Roman periods at Apamea (dated to the 1st
century CE: Balty 1981: 360, pl. V, 2, 3). The various
motifs, the assortment of borders, the small
tesserae in the inner panels, and the use of a dark
ground on Masada and Jerusalem mosaics may
have analogous mosaics at Delos, Greece, dated
to the late 2nd century BCE, and at Arsameia,
Commagene, dated to the 1st century BCE (Balty
1981: 354-5, pl. II.1,2; Dunbabin 1999: 187).
C. Conclusions
Most of the mosaics consist of a reddish or white
tesserae carpet with a central panel, almost
square; the inner panel comprises typically a
round circle with a geometric design, often a rosette
surrounded by one or more arranged frames
in various combinations.
Some carpets consist of a rectangular panel
with a geometric design in its central part. Two
of these mosaics were found in the Upper City of
Jerusalem: a fine mosaic covering the floor of a
main room in area F, and a bathroom floor in a
bathhouse complex (Avigad 1983: 144, figs. 151,
160, 165). At Masada, the simple pavement of
bathroom 447 consists of a black square frame
surrounding a red frame on a white ground
(Foerster 1995: 143, figs. 259). Two other mosaic
panels on a white ground show geometric patterns
resembling opus sectile floors: the tepidarium
at Lower Herodium and a room in the palace
at Caesarea Maritima (Netzer 2001: 112, 121,
figs. 146, 160).
The motif of a small flower consisting of five
black and red tesserae appears on Jerusalem mosaics;
they fill the background of one mosaic, and the
corners of two other pavements (Avigad 1983: pls.
108,162, 164). On the mosaic on the laconicum
at Lower Herodium they fill the space between
the floral scrolls (Netzer 2001: fig. 147).
The mosaic pavements found at Masada, Jerusalem,
Jericho, and Lower Herodium date to the
Herodian period, namely the later 1st century
BCE–1st century CE. The polychrome mosaics
from the Herodian palaces, private houses, and
bathhouses had similar composition and content,
consisted of generally geometric and floral
designs, and were aniconic in subject matter in
accordance with Jewish beliefs of the period.
Some differences are noted between the two
polychrome mosaics at Masada (figs. I-1,2) and
one mosaic at Jerusalem in which the inner square
panel is rendered with a black ground and the
central design mostly in red and white tesserae,
while the other mosaics at Jerusalem, Lower
Herodium, and Caesarea-Maritima have a white
ground with the central design mostly in red and
black tesserae. The Masada and the Jerusalem
polychrome mosaics show the use of smaller tesserae
in the central panel.
These pavements indicate the existence of a
local tradition of Hellenistic derivation, while the
black and white mosaics attest to work created by
craftsmen from Italy.
The polychrome mosaics at Masada are quite
similar in composition, with use of the same tesserae
indicating that probably the same workshop
or artists produced it. The composition and especially
the motifs are apparently influenced by local
art, which followed the post-Hellenistic tradition,
with similar pavement designs in contemporary
mosaics at Delos and Commagene (Balty 1981:
358-359); conceivably they were influenced by
one of the mosaic workshops of the East, maintaining
the traditional repertoire but enriching it
with new elements of local art. It seems that the
mosaic craftsmen who created the polychrome
designs at Masada with an oriental local tradition
worked concurrently with artists who came
from Italy and produced the black and white
mosaics.
The designs on the mosaic pavements, like
Jewish funerary art, are part of an ensemble of
decorative patterns used in the art of the Second
Temple period and the Hellenistic-Roman world,
even though some of the motifs are found only
in funerary art. The motifs are not connected
with Jewish or the court’s everyday life, and no
symbols are depicted. Since mosaics bearing different
designs are found in the same building,
the ornamentation seems to have been chosen
by the Herodian court, the house owners, or the
artists.
Patterns may have been copied from a common
sketchbook by the artists, who introduced their
own changes into the ornamentation of the mosaics.
The artisans and craftsmen were probably
local, though they might have been from various
workshops and were itinerary craftsmen who
worked at Masada, Jerusalem, and elsewhere.
Some of the Jerusalem mosaics seem to have
been created by the same workshop or artisans,