Carpets of Stone
The Graeco-Roman Legacy in the Levant [Footnotes]

Claudine Dauphin[1]

[1]This article is based on a paper delivered at the Inaugural Lecture of the Irish-Hellenic Society at University College Dublin on 5 May 1995 at the kind invitation of the Society's President, Mr J. Lyle, and of its Committee. The drawings of Figs 1-5 were all made in situ, those in Israel by kind permission of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums, and those in the Lebanon and Jordan by courtesy of the Departments of Antiquities of the countries concerned. Figs. 1-3, 5 were drawn by C. Dauphin, Fig. 4 by A. Okunev.

[2]For further details on the evolution of mosaic art in the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, see P. Gauckler, art. Musivum opus, in Ch. Daremberg, E. Saglio and E. Pottier, eds, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines (Paris, 1904) T. III, 2e partie, cols 2088-2129. Also, H.P. L'Orange and P.J. Nordhagen, Mosaics (London, 1966).

[3]D. Levi, Antioch Mosaic Pavements, Vols I-II (Princeton, 1947).

[4]M. Chehab, 'Les caractéristiques de la mosaïque au Liban', in La mosaïque gréco-romaine, CNRS (Paris, 1965) 333-8. We are most grateful to Dr M. Lloyd of the Department of Classics, University College Dublin, for having guided us through the maze of Greek myths associated with Meleager, as well as with many other Greek Gods, Goddesses and heroes depicted on mosaic pavements.

[5]'Hunting scenes' are examined in detail by I. Lavin, 'The Hunting Mosaics of Antioch and Their Sources. A Study of Compositional Principles in the Development of Early Mediaeval Style', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 17 (1963), pp. 181-286. On the Tabgha pavement, A.M. Schneider, The Church of the Multiplying of the Loaves and Fishes (London, 1937). Other examples of 'Nilotic' scenes are examined by E. Kitzinger, 'Mosaic pavements in the Greek East and the question of a "Renaissance" under Justinian', Actes du VI^e Congrès International d'Etudes byzantines Paris 27 juillet - 2 août 1948, T. II (Paris, 1951), pp. 211-17. A splendid 'Nile Festival' mosaic pavement was uncovered at Sepphoris in Galilee in 1991-2: see, E. Netzer and Z. Weiss, 'Sepphoris (Sippori), 1991-1992', Israel Exploration Journal (IEJ) 43 (1993), pp. 191-2).

[6]C. Dauphin and G. Edelstein, L'Eglise byzantine de Nahariya (Israël). Etude archéologique (Thessalonique, 1984) - abridged as Dauphin and Edelstein, Nahariya, -p. 54, Fig. 19.

[7]U. Lux, 'Die Apostel-Kirche in Madaba', Zeitschrift der Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 84 (1968), pp. 106-29.

[8]R. Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Land of Israel (Leiden, 1988), pp. 66-7.

[9]E. Kitzinger, 'Stylistic developments in pavement mosaics in the Greek East from the age of Constantine to the age of Justinian', in La mosaïque gréco-romaine, CNRS (Paris, 1965), pp. 344-6.

[10]C. Dauphin, 'The Development of the "Inhabited Scroll" in Architectural Sculpture and Mosaic Art from Late Imperial Times to the Seventh Century A.D.', Levant 19 (1987), pp. 183- 212.

[11]J.-M. Dentzer and J. Dentzer-Feydy, Le djebel al-'Arab. Histoire et Patrimoine au Musée de Suweida' (Paris, 1991) p. 143, No. 8,59, Pls C-F.

[12]According to Homer (Od. 9.197 ff.), Maron was Dionysos' grandson, whereas according to Euripides (Cycl. 143), he was Dionysos' son and Silenus' companion.

[13]A.R. Zaqzuq and M. Duchesne-Guillemin, 'La Mosaïque de Mariamin Conservée au Musée de Hama', Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes 20 (1970), pp. 93-125.

[14]C.M. Dauphin, 'A Roman Mosaic Pavement from Nablus', Israel Exploration Journal 29 (1979), pp. 11-33.

[15]On the Church of Zahrani, M. Chéhab, 'Mosaïques du Liban', Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth 14 (1958), pp. 81-106; 15 (1959), Plan No. 7; on Basilica A at Nicopolis, E. Kitzinger, 'Studies on Late Antique and Early Byzantine Floor Mosaics: I. Mosaics at Nikopolis', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 6 (1951), pp. 81-122, and J.-P. Sodini, 'Mosaïques paléochrétiennes de Grèce', Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 94 (1970), pp. 724-6.

[16]On the Chapel of the Priest John, S.J. Saller and B. Bagatti, The Town of Nebo (Khirbet el-Mekhayyat) with a brief survey of other ancient Christian monuments in Transjordan (Jerusalem, 1949) - abridged as TN -pp. 38-9, 49-55, 172-80, Pls 8-12, Fig. 4; on the Church of SS Lot and Procopius, TN, pp. 39-41, 55-67, 182-91, Pls 14-21, Fig. 7; on the Church of St George, TN, pp. 41-5, 67-77, Pls 22-30, Figs 5 and 8; on the Church of Elias, Mary and Soreg at Jarash, TN, pp. 268-89, Pls 45-51. On the Armenian Mosaic in Jerusalem, M. Avi-Yonah, 'Mosaic Pavements in Palestine', Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine (QDAP) II, No. 4 (1932), pp. 171-2. On the church at Shellal in the northwestern Negev desert, A.D. Trendall, The Shellal Mosaic and other Classical antiquities in the Australian War Memorial Canberra, 3rd ed. rev. (Canberra, 1964). On the Gaza synagogue, A. Ovadiah, 'The synagogue at Gaza', in L.I. Levine, ed., Ancient Synagogues Revealed (Jerusalem, 1981), pp. 129-32. On the Maon-Nirim synagogue in the hinterland of Gaza, M. Avi-Yonah, ed., 'The ancient synagogue of Ma'on (Nirim)', Louis M. Rabinowitz Fund for the Exploration of Ancient Synagogues Bulletin III (Jerusalem, December 1960), pp. 6-40.

[17]Dauphin and Edelstein, Nahariya, pp. 49-50, Pls I and XII; C. Dauphin, 'Une mosaïque de la "Renaissance justinienne" en Galilée occidentale', in R. Ling, ed., Fifth International Colloquium on Ancient Mosaics, Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 9, Part 2 (1995), pp. 101-12.

[18]J.W. Crowfoot, 'Churches at Jerash. A preliminary report on the Joint Yale - British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem Expeditions to Jerash, 1928-1930', British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem Supplementary Papers 3 (1931), pp. 4-5.

[19]M. Avi-Yonah, 'Mosaic pavements at El Hammam, Beisan', QDAP V, Nos 1-2 (1935), pp. 11-30.

[20]G.M. Fitzgerald, A sixth-century monastery at Beth-Shan (Scythopolis) (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 9, Pls XVI-XVII. All the tessera-counts above and below were taken in situ by the author in 1972-3.

[21]M. Piccirillo, Madaba, le chiese e i mosaici (Milano, 1989) - abridged as Piccirillo, Madaba -, pp. 51-60.

[22]Piccirillo, Madaba, pp. 134-7.

[23]On depictions from life, C. Dauphin, 'Byzantine Pattern Books : A Re-examination of the Problem in the Light of the "Inhabited Scroll"', Art History I (1978), pp. 404-11.

[24]L.Y. Rahmani, 'The Erez Mosaic Pavement', IEJ 25 (1975), pp. 21-24; A. Ovadiah, C. Gomez de Silva and S. Mucznik, 'The Mosaic Pavements of Sheikh Zouède in Northern Sinai', in E. Dassman and K. Thraede, eds, Festschrift für Josef Engemann, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentums Ergäzungsband 18 (1991), pp. 181-91.

[25]On the Paphos mosaics, K. Nicolaou, 'The Mosaics at Kato Paphos. The House of Dionysos', Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus (1963), pp. 56-72. On the Sepphoris pavements, E. Meyers, E. Netzer and C. Meyers, 'Artistry in Stone', Biblical Archaeologist 50 (1987), pp. 223-31.

[26]The theme of the venatio is discussed in detail by the author in Dauphin and Edelstein, Nahariya, pp. 73-5. For the spinario in antiquity (also depicted on the mosaic pavement of the Church at Nahariya), R.R.R. Smith, Hellenistic Sculpture (London, 1991), pp. 136-7. For representations of the spinario during the Renaissance, P.P. Bober and R. Rubinstein, Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture. A Handbook of Sources (London, 1986), pp. 235-6, No. 203. We are much indebted to Dr Helen Whitehouse, Curator of the Egyptian Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, for having helped us to follow the artistic 'career' of the 'Thorn-Puller' from the Hellenistic period to the Italian Renaissance.