Decoration items

Displaying 1 - 4 of 4

Item number	Mosaic floor	Materials, palette	Density	Composition	Iconographical motives	Comments
1	Mosaic floor	Yellow, brown, red, gray, red, pink, black, green	14 x 14 per sq dem	The main hall was paved with a carpet framed by a vine that forms into medallions containing animals or fruit baskets.The south corner has two rows of three well-preserved medallions containing fruit baskets.In the bottom row, the southern basket contains a cluster of grapes, pomegranates and figs while the northern medallion is more open in shape and padded with leaves and it contains what appears to be the Seven Species. In the above row, a medallion with a depiction of a lion hunting a long-horned animal has been preserved. To its north is a medallion with a brown-red animal, probably a bull. The medallion near it has been badly preserved but it is probably inhabited by a predatory animal as indicated by a yellow paw, perhaps belonging to another lion or tiger. In between the medallions formed from the vine was preserved the body of a bird whose head did not survive. Birds in this model are also found in two other rectangular panels in the church stacks. The carpet was framed by two frames:The inner frame, a running wave and an acanthus plexus made of medallions populated with animals. The western medallion contains a lioness, to its east the medallions contain: a spotted leopard looking backwards,to its south a lamb,next to it a bear with a turned down head and finally a faint depiction of what is probably a bull. The outer frame is a geometric yellow and grey diamond design linked together by a red ribbon like a necklace.	grapes, fruit basket, seven species, hunting lions, bull, tiger, lamb, bear, bird
2	Mosaic floor	Red, black, white, orange, yellow, green,		The mosaic carpet in the apse was decorated with a grapevine that creates medallions populated with animals. Only two medallions near the apse wall survived only partially. The center was preserved in the entirety of a colorful rooster that stands to the south. South of the rooster is a duck medallion, bending its head toward the rooster. Outside the medallions and north of the rooster were partially preserved head and tail of a bird, perhaps a Nahlieli. The frame around the carpet is decorated with a pattern of arranged flowers in a checkered set.	rooster, bird
3	Mosaic floor			Two carpets of the same pattern based on a model of double-headed axes connected to a handle decorated with a rope motif. In the southern wing there are two rectangular carpets with animal figures. The eastern carpet depicts partridges in bushes with red flowers. In the southern wing there are two rectangular carpets with animal figures, while in the western part, a landscape is described, it is devoid of any signs that identify it with Alexandria. At the bottom there is a wavy line of green and gray, representing a stream or a lake. Above it are two pairs of fish swimming toward the center, and above them are growing lotus bushes with flowers in different stages of flowering. At the top there are three pairs of nesting birds, each pair on its own lotus flower.	landscape, lotus, nesting bird, fish, stream, lake, partridge
4	Mosaic floor			Three panels: A large central panel and two smaller southern and northern panels. The central carpet consists of small squares with white flowers whose petals are tinged. The squares are crossed by diagonals shaped like a chain of elongated oval shapes attached to each other, dividing the flowers into four. On the white background are small rhombi of four black or orange stones that surround one white stone. Each vertebra has the shape of a hexagon, two of whose ribs are concave and shorter than the rest of the ribs. The hexagons form two rows of three octagons populated with animals or other motifs. Between the two lines of the octagons is a row of two round medallions that are also inhabited by animals. In the intervals between the frame of the mosaic carpet and the hexagonal vertebrae, each quarter creates circles and half circles along the frame. The quarters of the circles and the half circles were decorated with a shell. Between them were three triangular spaces, also decorated with colored stones, forming horizontal bands, concentric triangles and stripes. The animals inhabiting the octagons are vivid in color and detail and include (from south): a peacock with a large spread tail, a lion or leopard and a deer. In the upper octagon row, the head of a yellow goose was preserved in the northern medallion. The other octagons are less well preserved. The central octagon has a geometric motif based around it on three intersecting vertebrae. Each vertebra has a figure of eight without lines in the middle (open eight shape).	peacock, lion, deer, goose	Vines populated with animals and baskets are a common theme in mosaics in the Mediterranean in general and in the Land of Israel in particular.Less common are the medallions and framed triangles iand the use of small red triangles to fill the void both in the wings and in the perspiration of the presbyterium are less common. Chronologically it seems that the mosaics of both phases, those placed in the wings and the hall and the later ones that were placed in the apse and perpspitrium were made around the third quarter of the sixth century CE. It seems that the chronological gap between them is small and it is possible that the workshop was again commissioned to lay the mosaics after the changes in the eastern part of the church. The ceramic and numismatic finds from the church indicate that the activity inside it continued in this manner until the earthquake of 749 CE.