Foxes Among the Beautiful Mosaic Floors in 1500 Byzantine Church

Being excavated in Horbat Midras, Israel.  The photographs aren't the best but the fine condition of the mosaic floor is astounding!

Story at pasthorizons.com
Salvage excavations in Israel uncover an impressive mosaic floor
Wednesday, February 2, 2011



Fox - center animal facing to the left (tail to the right), lower left.

 [Excerpted] Part of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine church, the mosaic floor was decorated with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks.

The excavation, conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority was necessary due to the site being the target of robbers, trying to access its underground tunnels.

The ruins are built on top of another structure which is believed to have been in use in Roman times. Its underground tunnels were thought to have been used by Jewish rebels around the 2nd century AD. Horbat Midras is believed to be the site of a large Jewish settlement that dates from the Second Temple period until its destruction during the Bar Kokhba uprising in 135 CE.

The later basilica comprises a large flagstone courtyard from which worshippers passed into a corridor. Entering into the nave there were eight breathtaking marble columns that bore magnificent capitals which were imported from Turkey.

For the past month the Israel Antiquities Authority has been engaged in exposing the magnificent structure, unravelling its secrets and preserving the mosaic floors.


I would be very interested to read the possible interpretation of fox images being present inside what I assume is an Orthodox Christian church!

Zodiacs in Ancient Jewish Synagogues

I don't remember if I've posted about this article, so here it is, just in case I have not.  It's from BAR and is a very interesting discussion of how and why beautiful mosaic zodiacs (pagan imagery) showed up on the floors of many Jewish synagogues.  There are several photographs of examples in situ, some very damaged (both deliberately by being defaced and just by way of time and exposure).

I snipped this image of the Ark of the Covenant from the floor at Beth Alpha because of its very interesting iconography.  While several elements of the mosaic are described in the snip, it is silent regarding the animals on either side of the Ark.  Just what they are - some kind of feline? - is not described and I'm not sure, exactly, from the images, but they seem to me to more resemble felines than dogs.  A goose on either side of the upper portion of the Ark cover is also an interesting use of a very ancient Egyptian symbol for the god Geb!  Of course, by the time this floor was created in about 500 CE, the remnants of the ancient Egyptian civilization was falling into ruins; the great temples of old had been closed, pharaohs reigned no longer, not even Greek pharaohs; the library at Alexandra has been burned to the ground, with who knows what ancient knowledge lost to the world forever. 

The mosaics themselves are quite beautiful, even in their sometimes very damaged state.  Visit the article and take a look!  Jewish Worship, Pagan Symbols: Zodiac mosaics in ancient synagogues, by Walter Zanger.