High-quality Ancient Mosaic: Bible Story Discovered

HUQOQ, GALILEE — Archaeologists discovered during an excavation in an old Jewish village of Huqoq an ancient, stunning mosaic floor decoration depicting Samson, a biblical hero, who sought revenge on the Philistines. The mosaic decorates part of that Galilee synagogue which are said to be from A.D. 400 to 500, the Late Roman period.

In the Huquq Synagogue: Mosaic with female face and inscription. (Photo courtesy by Jim Haberman.)

According to archaeologist Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the mosaic “not only depicts an unusual scene — Samson tying torches to foxes’ tails in order to burn his enemies’ crops — it’s also remarkably high-quality.”

In a mosaic, “the smaller the cubes, the finer the work,” Magness told LiveScience. “Our cubes are very small and fine.”

Huqoq is an ancient Jewish village situated about two to three miles west of Capernaum and Migdal (Magdala). The mosaic can be found in an eastern wall part of a synagogue. At this point of

time, Magness along with her team (consisting of David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, under the sponsorship of UNC, Brigham Young University in Utah, Trinity University in Texas, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Toronto in Canada. Students and staff from UNC and the consortium schools are participating in the dig) were able to excavate that portion, but it still remains unknown how big the synagogue was in reality. But Magness suggests that the building must be of significant size since the structure was made of “beautifully cut” blocks of stone.

(photo courtesy: Yahoo.com)

In details, the mosaic seems to be incomplete. However, several scenes seems to showcase various events. There is one scene, wherein two female faces flank a Hebrew inscription about rewards for people who perform good actions. In another scene, Samson, of the biblical story Samson and Delilah, ties torches to pairs of foxes. This is a described scene in the Book of Judges in both the Christian and Hebrew Bibles.In chapter 15 of the Books of Judges, Samson, a hero, falls in love with a woman from the other tribe, the Philistines. The Philistines were people who ruled Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath in the ancient Middle East, which were depicted as the enemies of the Israelis in the Bible.

“This discovery is significant because only a small number of ancient (Late Roman) synagogue buildings are decorated with mosaics showing biblical scenes, and only two others have scenes with Samson (one is at another site just a couple of miles from Huqoq),” said Magness. “Our mosaics are also important because of their high artistic quality and the tiny size of the mosaic cubes. This, together with the monumental size of the stones used to construct the synagogue’s walls, suggest a high level of prosperity in this village, as the building clearly was very costly.” (a passage excerpted from http://www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=14)