Exquisite animal mosaics found in Judean Byzantine remains

Mosaic floor of a 1500-year-old Byzantine Church in Hirbet Madras, Israel.
Image courtesy of the Associated Press.

Just in from the AP:

"Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks.

The Byzantine church located southwest of Jerusalem, excavated over the last two months, will be visible only for another week before archaeologists cover it again with soil for its own protection.

The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., said the dig's leader, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority." - Associated Press

The article includes more images including some closeups that are well worth examining.

I also found an interesting web page about Judea under Byzantine rule.  An excerpt:

"It was official Christian policy to convert Jews to Christianity, and the Christian leadership used the official power of Rome in their attempts. In 351 CE the Jews revolted against the added pressures of a bad ruler named Gallus. Gallus put down the revolt and destroyed all of the major cities in the Galilee where the revolt had started. Tzippori and Lydda (site of two of the major legal academies) never recovered..."

"...The Jews of Judea received a brief respite in 363 CE when Julian the Apostate became Emperor of the Eastern Kingdom. He tried to return the kingdom to Hellenism and encouraged the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. The Jews were ecstatic, but their joy was short-lived; Julian was assassinated, and Christian emperors took over, never to lose control again."

Image via Wikipedia

Coin with portrait of Theodosius I

In the beginning of the fifth century, Emperor Theodosius ruled that because the Jews were the perfidious group that had rejected Jesus, they were to be persecuted. Jews couldn't own slaves (making agriculture difficult). They couldn't build new synagogues. They couldn't hold public office. The Jewish courts couldn't try cases between a Jew and a non-Jew. Intermarriage between Jew and non-Jew was a capital offense as was a Christian converting to Judaism. In addition, Theodosius did away with the Sanhedrin and abolished the post of "Nasi." The Jews received extra tax burdens as well.

Image by mharrsch via Flickr

Ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire

"...Justinian added some details to the list in two Edicts. Regulation 37 prohibited Jews from occupying North Africa. The most outrageous edict, however, was Regulation 146, created in 553 CE. Jews were forbidden to read the torah or any other book in Hebrew. Only the Greek version (the Septuagint) could be used. The "Shma" was forbidden. Studying of the Mishnah was forbidden. Justinian encouraged Christians to destroy synagogues, stores, and Jewish houses." - Judea Under Byzantine Rule, The Jewish Virtual Library

Related articles

• Byzantium and Its Sphere (socyberty.com)

        

Possible Home of Allectus found on Isle of Wight

Remains of a Mosaic inside the Brading Roman Villa discovered at the site in 1879
Photo: Clara Molden

The discovery is one of the largest and best-preserved Roman villas yet discovered in the country.

Shaped like a church, the building was discovered on the Isle of Wight, and has been likened to a medieval hall.

Its
remains were discovered at the site of another Roman villa in Brading,
and are believed to have been constructed 150 years before the other
building.

The later Brading villa's remains had disappeared from
sight until 1879 when a couple of local men stumbled across them by
chance.

Its ornate decorations are unrivalled in Britain and the
building may have belonged to Allectus, who in AD293 murdered his
predecessor Carausius, a Roman army commander who had proclaimed
himself Emperor of Britain. - Telegraph.co.uk

Mosaic Floors of Roman villa unearthed in Austria

As mosaics are one of my passions, I tried to find a picture of some of the mosaic floors discovered at this villa but no luck so far. I do wish archaeologists on major digs would consider including a field digital photographer as part of the team so news releases could be properly illustrated.

"Archaeologists in the western Austrian province Tyrol unearthed the remains of a large-scale Roman villa, complete with extensive floor mosaics that may have been also a source for a number of local legends.

The archaeologists from Innsbruck University stumbled upon references to the 1 800-year-old, long since forgotten building situated near the town Lienz in a manuscript penned in Latin, dating back to the mid-18th century. Tyrolean proto-archaeologist Anton Roschmann wrote that he found Roman remains in 1746, but his findings were lost, the Austrian Press Agency reported.

During a dig in October the remains of five rooms of a building dating back to Roman times wear unearthed on a 300-square-metre plot. The remains of the walls show colourful wall paintings, the archaeologists said, but the most astounding find were large-scale floor mosaics in three of the rooms.

The mosaics were unique in the region regarding their dimensions and state of preservation, the archaeologists said. Furthermore, the villa had been partly equipped with wall and floor heatings.

The heating vaults under the floors remained partly intact. The fact that they had not collapsed as usual added to the good condition of the mosaics.

In the 18th century, the low-ceilinged vaults were believed to be the home of dwarfs, leading to the creation of local legends about a "dwarf city" in the region.

The alpine region that today represents the Austrian province Tyrol was conquered by Rome in 15 BC While it profited from Roman trade, the region was never particularly attractive for Roman settlers."