Jewish Heritage Report
Vol. I, Nos. 3-4 / Winter 1997-98
Sepphoris Mosaic
Symposium Held in Conjunction with Sepphoris Mosaic
Exhibition
By Leslie Bussis Tait
On September 14, 1997, an international conference was held at the Jewish
Museum, New York, in conjunction with the exhibition Revealing an Ancient
Message: A Synagogue Mosaic from Sepphoris.
Susan L. Braunstein, curator of Archaeology and Judaica at the Jewish Museum,
welcomed a full auditorium to the symposium and expressed her appreciation
to those who helped make the exhibition and symposium possible. She then
introduced Ze'ev Weiss, Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, who supervised the excavation and first introduced
the project to the Jewish Museum.
The morning session included Weiss' lecture and a panel on art and iconography
with Elisheva Revel-Neher, (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Herbert
L. Kessler, (Johns Hopkins University), and Christine Kondoleon ( The Worcester
Art Museum), chaired by Seth Schwartz (The Jewish Theological Seminary
of America). Professor Schwartz also chaired the afternoon panel on the
synagogue with presentations by Ehud Netzer (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem),
Bernadette Brooten (Brandeis University) and Lee I. Levine (The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem).
In his lecture, "The Sepphoris Synagogue Mosaic: A New Look at Synagogue
Art in the Byzantine Period," Ze'ev Weiss put the new find in the
context of other mosaic floors discovered in Sepphoris and other synagogue
mosaics of the early Byzantine period. Excavations in Sepphoris have uncovered
over forty mosaic floors in public and private buildings, leading scholars
to rank Sepphoris among the important centers of mosaic decoration at this
time. The most significant mosaic program is the synagogue floor on exhibition.
Designed as a "carpet," it contains the most elaborate imagery
found in early Jewish mosaics. The main hall area has figurative imagery
with Greek and Hebrew inscriptions, while the narrower aisle has geometric
patterns with Aramaic inscriptions. The main hall mosaic is composed of
seven strips with the largest displaying a zodiac in the center. The central
zodiac is composed of two concentric circles in a square. Comparisons were
made to Beth Alpha and Hammat Tiberias synagogues, which also feature a
zodiac image. The Sepphoris mosaic differs most significantly from these
by replacing the central image of Helios with the sun extending rays of
light in all directions. Possible explanations for this unusual feature
were offered, such as the connection between the zodiac and the Jewish
calendar, references to poetry in the synagogue, and associations with
growth and harvest. The twelve signs of the zodiac are each illustrated
by a symbol, inscription, a star, and in some cases a figure. In the four
spandrels are personifications of the four seasons with Hebrew and Greek
inscriptions. Hebrew names of the months are unique to the Sepphoris mosaic.
According to Weiss, the picture is allegorical and symbolizes the power
of God over the universe, the all powerful cosmocrator.
Three panels arranged in two bands beneath the zodiac, which are partly
destroyed, depict Genesis 18, the three angels' visit to Abraham. The scene,
known as the Hospitality of Abraham and the Annunciation of the Miraculous
Birth, would become important for Christian art. Comparisons were made
to the catacomb paintings and early Byzantine mosaics. The scene of the
Binding of Isaac is represented by two boys with a donkey and the sacrifice
of Isaac. Fragments that are extant of this scene include part of a tree
with the ram, two pairs of shoes (one larger than the other), and a garment
with a knife. The Sepphoris mosaic is the earliest example of this scene
in Jewish art, and according to Weiss its message is the promise to the
children of Abraham.
The upper panels (closest to the bimah) include two lions, each
holding a ram's head with one paw, flanking a wreath with the dedication
inscription. Below this is a panel depicting a building facade and incense
shovel, flanked by similar panels depicting menorahs, shofars and other
temple symbols. These were compared with similar images in the Hammat Tiberias
mosaic. The band further below shows a fountain, basin, altar, part of
a figure with inscription identifying him as Aaron, sacrificial bull and
lamb. This strip, and the left-hand panel below it which depicts another
lamb, a jar of oil, a container of flour and two trumpets, is interpreted
as the consecration of Aaron to the service of the tabernacle and the daily
offering. Comparisons were made with Dura Europas synagogue frescoes and
illuminated manuscripts. Completing the fourth band are panels depicting
the shewbread table with incense, and the basket of first fruits with pigeons.
According to Weiss, the message of these bands is that of rebuilding the
temple and redemption. The zodiac is interpreted as a link between the
past (promise) and the future (redemption, rebuilding the temple). Weiss
closed by noting that there are still open questions regarding the iconography
of this mosaic and its implications for ancient Jewish art.
Elisheva Revel-Neher presented a paper "From Dura Europas to Sepphoris:
Evolution and Continuity in Jewish Art". She compared the ground-breaking
discovery of the 3rd-century decoration of the synagogue at Dura Europas
in the 1930s to the discovery of the Sepphoris mosaic. Before the evidence
of Dura Europas, it was thought that there was no tradition of Jewish pictorial
art. She summarized some of the scholarship on Dura Europas, including
the major recent study by Weitzmann and Kessler who interpreted the imagery
to be, in some ways, a response to Christianity, and viewed the paintings
as based on a manuscript tradition. Revel-Neher compared the Sepphoris
mosaic and its arrangement of imagery to other synagogue mosaics of the
early Byzantine period. Later mosaics, she noted, show iconoclastic reactions,
where part of the mosaic is changed to geometric and animal patterns. The
absence of the sun god Helios in the Sepphoris mosaic, however, is not
due to iconoclastic restoration. Before Sepphoris, no figures are included
in the upper section, but here we have a fragment of Aaron identified by
inscription with the bell hanging from his garment. Another difference
at Sepphoris is the inclusion of sacrifices and the shewbread table. Comparisons
were made with an important group of Bibles from Spain and Portugal that
survive from the 13th and 14th centuries, but probably reflect an earlier
tradition. Reference was made to the use of three languages throughout
the mosaics. Revel-Neher suggested that perhaps the Hebrew used for shortened
biblical citations might have been copied from illuminated manuscripts
where it is common to use text as labels within illuminations.
Herbert Kessler's presentation, "The Sepphoris Synagogue Mosaic and
Christian Art," stressed there is no doubt that Christian and Jewish
art in the early period were in conversation with one another. He proceeded
to examine the nature of that conversation in light of the Sepphoris mosaic
and contemporary examples of Christian and Jewish art. Kessler observed
that no Christian counterparts exist to the extensive narrative cycle in
Dura Europas for over a century until Constantine's patronage in the mid-4th
century. The Sepphoris mosaic raises doubts of simple evolution of one
tradition to another and raises the possibility of cross-fertilization.
The source of Helios and the sun image was traced to Roman iconography,
which was adapted to Christian and Jewish contexts with different interpretations.
Other iconographic sources for new pictorial traditions included representation
of classical myths, as well as biblical text or commentary. Mosaicists
working for Christians and Jews in the 5th - 6th centuries relied on common
pictorial traditions. Because the contexts are different, the meaning is
changed. While Helios depicted in a tomb setting suggests resurrection
for a Christian, the sun in a synagogue mosaic is viewed in the context
of the four seasons and the zodiac. The omission of Isaac carrying wood
for the sacrifice was viewed by Kessler as an example of avoiding an image
common in Christian art of the period, with its typological Christian meaning.
The inclusion of Aaron in the Sepphoris mosaic was interpreted as an example
of rendering the imagery more vivid and uniquely Jewish.
Christine Kondoleon's paper, " Measuring Time: From the Roman House
to the Sepphoris Synagogue," focused on the zodiac and the four seasons
panel. Kondoleon demonstrated direct links to the art of the Roman period
and early Byzantine art. The radial calendar and zodiac imagery found in
synagogue mosaics, and then in Christian churches, was compared with imagery
found in domestic mosaics. In the domestic setting the central chariot
with Helios would have references to race horses and circus games. The
image would have communicated good fortune to guests and given a winning
notion of its patron. Kondoleon suggested a co-dependence of secular Roman
art and Jewish/Christian imagery. She also noted an overlap between public
and private art. Examples of domestic mosaics with representations of the
zodiac, the seasons, and/or sundials were shown from various sites throughout
the Roman world, from Syria to North Africa. Over sixty mosaics in Africa
alone represent the seasons, typically decorating Roman dining rooms. Associations
of abundance, the bounty of the earth as well as the sea, and eternal time
(past, present, future), symbols of creation and the Creator, were seen
as common themes.
The afternoon panel included the following three presentations: Ehud Netzer,
"The Significance of Mosaic Floors in the Architecture of Ancient
Synagogues"; Bernadette Brooten, "Women in the Ancient Synagogue";
and Lee I. Levine, "The Social History of the Synagogue in Late Antiquity
and the Role of Rabbis."
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