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60
if Isaac is sacrificed (Yahalom 2000). 1 Accordingly,
Ishmael holds the spear in his left hand and
raises his right hand in a gesture of delivering a
speech whereas Eliezer swings the rope tied to
the ass. E. Kessler (2000: 80) presents an unlikely
suggestion that the figures are Abraham instructing
his servant. However, the Beth "Alpha and
Sepphoris depictions were accompanied by the
figures’ names and other explanatory inscriptions,
so if these boys were identified as suggested, their
names would certainly have been added (see also
the Binding of Isaac legends collected by Ginzberg
1947, I: 274-286).
The youths depicted at Beth "Alpha and Sepphoris
have a notable position in the design, while
they appear only in few depictions in Christian
art. In the catacomb of Via Latina, cubiculum C,
only one lad and the ass are portrayed (pl. IV.2c).
A painting in the 5th-century Basilica of S. Paolo
fuori le Mura depicts Abraham with Isaac carrying
the wood on the right and the two youths
with the ass on the left, leaving a structure. One
of the youths waves his hand in the rhetorical
gesture of argument. A similar gesture appears
on mosaics and illuminated manuscripts. Yahalom
(2000: 87, fig. 48) maintains that the Binding
of Isaac in the Christian catacombs in Rome
and the synagogue mosaic at Sepphoris were
based on a similar model. On the 10th–12thcentury
so-called miniature of Christian topography
of Constantine of Antioch (formerly attributed to
Cosmas Indicopleustes; Vatican. Biblioteca Apostolica,
Cod. 699, fol.59r), possibly copied from a
6th–7th-century Syrian model, the figures in this
scene are labelled and identified by their Greek
inscriptions. H. L. Kessler (2000: 66-7, fig. 38)
maintains that the Sepphoris mosaic shared a
model with the manuscripts. 2
The painting of the Binding of Isaac in the
Dura Europos synagogue wall painting is the earliest
art depiction of this theme and has no parallels
in its composition in later Jewish or Christian
art (pl. IV.2a; fig. IV-2). It was painted on the
right of the arcuated panel above the niche on the
west wall of the synagogue, dated to the first stage
1 Yahalom (2000: 85-87) cites Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer,
31, a midrashic pseudepigraphic work, and later texts in
Midrash Hagadol and Midrash VaYosha; Weiss (2005: 144
and n.447) quotes Leviticus Rabbah 20, 2; see also H.
Kessler 2000: 66.
2 The two youths are not listed among the iconographic
particulars which feature in the Binding compositions in
the catalogue prepared by Woerden 1961: 243.
chapter four
Figure IV-2. Binding of Isaac, Dura Europos synagogue
wall painting.
of the later building, probably 244-5 (Kraeling
1979: 54-65; Hachlili 1998: 100, 239-246). 3
The tall figure of Abraham, on the right, is seen
from the rear clad in a white himation, a chiton,
and brown boots; in his right hand he holds a
white knife. The small figure of Isaac lies on the
top of a large white altar above Abraham to the
left. The Hand of God appears above the altar
and a ram and tree are visible at the bottom of
the scene. The artist has added a further detail
to the scene in the upper right corner: a conical
tent within which stands a small figure. Most
scholarly concern and attention has been devoted
to the way the figures are depicted from the rear,
and to the identity of the figure in the tent. This
figure has been identified as various individuals
such as Abraham, Isaac freed from his bonds,
one of Abraham’s servants, Ishmael, or Sarah
(Hachlili 1998: 239). For the tent there are many
3 Two lamps from a private collection depict the Binding
of Isaac. One is on the discus of a imperial Roman discus
lamp (Rosenthal- Heginbottom 1996), but is no real proof
that this lamp is Jewish. On the nozzle of a Samaritan oil
lamp the Binding of Isaac is represented not as a narrative
scene but by various objects connected to the story
(Sussman 1998).