BackSepphoris 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
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."
Jewish Heritage Report
Vol. I, Nos. 3-4 / Winter 1997-98
Message: A Synagogue Mosaic from Sepphoris.
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