A couple of days ago, one of my archeology lecturers sent us a picture of a fairly-recently discovered mosaic from a 6th century shul in ancient Chukok in northern Israel:
I'm sure we've all chanced upon pictures of Jewish mosaics in the past, maybe even seen them in person in a museum or in the original location. But as one can instantly tell, none of them even come close to this one in terms of detail and the magnificence of the art - the shading, the range of colors, the proportions of the figures, the facial expressions...breathtaking.
Here's an image with better lighting:
And here the picture can be seen in better quality and you can magnify it to some extent.
Now the big question is: So what's depicted here?
Classic Jewish answer: Machloket (dispute). It is entirely unclear what this scene is supposed to be. The rest of the shul's mosaics, while also magnificent, clearly depict Tanachic scenes. This one, on the other hand, is difficult to identify.
It turns out that there are a wide range of opinions on everything in this image - what it depicts as a whole, why the bull on the right is smiling, if these are Jews vs Greeks why are they in Roman garb, what do the bottom two scenes signify, why do the elephants look so lax, who are the two main characters, is the white guy stabbing the red guy or just putting his hand on the bottom of his sword's handle, why is his finger raised, what's the meaning of the H or Greek Eta on the white dudes clothing, etc, etc.
Of the opinions, a popular one is that this depicts some part of the Chashmonean/Greek war, with the white man perhaps being Yehudah the Maccabee and the red general being one of the Greek generals he faced in battle. And they have Roman clothing because that's the only way the people of the shul (and the artist in particular) were able to imagine that event.
Another suggestion is that it depicts Yochnanan Hyrcanus and Antiochus VII, and he's holding the bull's horns because that's the sacrifice he brought to Yerushalayim (as recounted in ancient sources).
A third suggestion is that the scene depicts Rabbi Yehudah Ha'Nasi and Emperor Antoninus. That's why the people on either side don't look particularly bloodthirsty.
Some things that caught my eye:
So, thoughts? Other theories? Comments on the artwork? Interesting details? Favorite sufganyah?
I'm sure we've all chanced upon pictures of Jewish mosaics in the past, maybe even seen them in person in a museum or in the original location. But as one can instantly tell, none of them even come close to this one in terms of detail and the magnificence of the art - the shading, the range of colors, the proportions of the figures, the facial expressions...breathtaking.
Here's an image with better lighting:
And here the picture can be seen in better quality and you can magnify it to some extent.
Now the big question is: So what's depicted here?
Classic Jewish answer: Machloket (dispute). It is entirely unclear what this scene is supposed to be. The rest of the shul's mosaics, while also magnificent, clearly depict Tanachic scenes. This one, on the other hand, is difficult to identify.
It turns out that there are a wide range of opinions on everything in this image - what it depicts as a whole, why the bull on the right is smiling, if these are Jews vs Greeks why are they in Roman garb, what do the bottom two scenes signify, why do the elephants look so lax, who are the two main characters, is the white guy stabbing the red guy or just putting his hand on the bottom of his sword's handle, why is his finger raised, what's the meaning of the H or Greek Eta on the white dudes clothing, etc, etc.
Of the opinions, a popular one is that this depicts some part of the Chashmonean/Greek war, with the white man perhaps being Yehudah the Maccabee and the red general being one of the Greek generals he faced in battle. And they have Roman clothing because that's the only way the people of the shul (and the artist in particular) were able to imagine that event.
Another suggestion is that it depicts Yochnanan Hyrcanus and Antiochus VII, and he's holding the bull's horns because that's the sacrifice he brought to Yerushalayim (as recounted in ancient sources).
A third suggestion is that the scene depicts Rabbi Yehudah Ha'Nasi and Emperor Antoninus. That's why the people on either side don't look particularly bloodthirsty.
Some things that caught my eye:
- If this is a shul mosaic, then what is the point of drawing on the Jews' robes an H or Eta? It is very likely that it stands for Hebrews, either in Greek or in Latin - but the people who see it are Jews themselves, so it's kind of like pointing out the obvious. of course, it's possible that the artist had a tradition or a belief that the Maccabees really did have an H/Eta sewn on their robes.
- There are dead animals and dead Greek soldiers in the bottom scene.
- There are 8 white men and 8 red men on the top, while on the bottom there are 9 white men.
- The white guy to the left of the main white guy's sword is falling out of his scabbard.
- The apparent Jews don't have any head coverings.
So, thoughts? Other theories? Comments on the artwork? Interesting details? Favorite sufganyah?