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The excavations in the monumental synagogue in the ancient village of Huqoq have unearthed a series of colorful and vivid floor mosaics populated with figural scenes that have captivated scholars and non-specialists alike. Many of these works of art are not only remarkably well preserved, but also of surprisingly high quality.
The evidence amassed at the Huqoq synagogue since the inception of the project in 2011 is now ripe for initial investigations into the relationship of its decorative program to other contemporary synagogues, as well as to the visual and material culture of the wider eastern Mediterranean world. Indeed, the scenes depicted in the Huqoq mosaics differ sharply from what has long been considered the standard program for ancient synagogues in Galilee—both in terms of artistic themes represented and the ways they are employed. So to what extent are the stunning Huqoq mosaics unusual, and what do they reveal about Jewish society in Late Roman Galilee?
In tackling the challenges presented by what initially appeared to have been anomalous or unique features of the Huqoq mosaics, we have found it productive to consider the social, cultural, and economic contexts of the local village before assessing the extent to which the Huqoq mosaics reflect wider regional and transregional trends. In doing so, we have found that Huqoq provides evidence of a number of intersecting trends in mosaic production that, in our view, should prompt a thorough reassessment of ancient synagogue art.1
The two Samson scenes in the east aisle of the synagogue—Samson and the Gate of Gaza (040Judges 16:3) and Samson and the Foxes (Judges 15:4–5)—link Huqoq firmly to its immediate surroundings in Lower Eastern Galilee. The ancient synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Hamam, which lies just 4 miles south of Huqoq, likewise included in one of its aisles a mosaic pavement depicting Samson—the episode from Judges 15:15–17, where the Biblical hero strikes down the Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone.2 Similar to the Huqoq mosaics, the Wadi Hamam Samson is dressed like a Roman soldier and depicted as a giant towering over his Philistine enemies, whom he has killed or wounded.
In addition to their common interest in the Samson cycle, the Huqoq and Wadi Hamam synagogues share two more scenes that have not yet been found in any other ancient synagogue in Roman Palestine: the building of the Tower of Babel and Pharaoh’s soldiers being swallowed by the Red Sea. The Tower of Babel panel at Wadi Hamam depicts individuals and small groups of workmen engaged in many of the same construction tasks represented in the scene at Huqoq. Both mosaics include vignettes of two workmen striking each other with the same tools.
Both synagogues also depict the parting of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s soldiers being swallowed by large fish amid overturned chariots and horses. The focus on the drowning of the Egyptian army in the panels at Huqoq and Wadi Hamam stands in sharp contrast to most other Jewish and Christian depictions of this episode, which highlight the role of Moses and the experience of the Israelites.
The synagogues at Huqoq and Wadi Hamam have the same architectural layout and are paved with 041mosaics depicting some of the same Biblical stories arranged in panels. This reflects local trends and preferences among these Jewish congregations in Lower Eastern Galilee. If more of the mosaics at Wadi Hamam were preserved, the observed similarities between the mosaics in the two buildings would likely be even stronger. While the nave mosaics in the Wadi Hamam synagogue survive only in small fragments, it is probable that, as at Huqoq, there was a Helios-zodiac cycle in the center of the hall. However, the appeal that certain themes held for some Jewish communities in Lower Eastern Galilee does not explain all of the features of the Huqoq mosaics. Therefore, we must widen our geographic circle to understand their context within the larger region.
The Helios-zodiac cycle at the center of the nave of the Huqoq synagogue offers an illuminating example. Although a zodiac cycle is included in the mosaic floors of at least eight other ancient Palestinian synagogues,3 the design at Huqoq is rare. Zodiac cycles in other synagogues are usually arranged as two concentric circles, with the inner circle containing Helios, and the outer circle containing the zodiac signs in 12 wedge-shaped spaces. Such is the case, for example, at Hammath Tiberias, Sepphoris, and Beth Alpha. At Huqoq, however, the Helios-zodiac cycle consists of a central medallion surrounded by interlacing roundels.
The only other known example of this arrangement is at Yaphi‘a, near Nazareth. The similarities between the Huqoq and Yaphi‘a zodiacs are striking—from the interlacing circles to the dolphins in the triangular spaces between the circles. At Yaphi‘a, only two roundels are preserved: one containing a bull and the other a horned animal of which only the head and partial Hebrew inscription are 042preserved. Scholars were divided over whether these animals represented signs of the zodiac or the 12 tribes of Israel. Gideon Foerster, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, suggested in 1987 that the signs of the Yaphi‘a zodiac appear in the roundels alongside inscriptions referring to the 12 tribes.4 The zodiac cycle uncovered recently at Huqoq supports this suggestion, as the Helios medallion was once encircled by 12 trapezoidal panels, two of which contain partially preserved Hebrew inscriptions that appear to cite verses from Genesis 49 referring to the 12 tribes.
The links between Huqoq and Yaphi‘a go even deeper. A fragmentary mosaic panel at the northern end of Huqoq’s nave contains parts of a human figure and a horse (or a centaur, a human figure with a horse’s body). The figure supports a vessel on its head with its left hand. One small fragment of mosaic seems to show the partial wing of a bird that once stood on the vessel. If this is the case, the Huqoq mosaic resembles a panel in the nave of the Yaphi‘a synagogue, which displays an eagle with outspread wings standing on a volute-shaped pedestal with the head of Medusa at its center.
Just as the Huqoq mosaics aid in understanding the mosaics in the synagogue at Wadi Hamam, they also shed light on Yaphi‘a, whose significance has been underappreciated due to its poor state of 043preservation. The affinities between the mosaics at Huqoq and villages of Wadi Hamam and Yaphi‘a caution against focusing too exclusively on well-known urban sites, such as Sepphoris and Hammath Tiberias, as our primary sources of knowledge for the production of mosaics in the region. Indeed, these connections underscore how little we know about mosaic production in ancient synagogues, particularly in rural areas.
Local and regional contexts do not fully account for the choice of scenes in the Huqoq mosaics, which also display striking similarities with mosaics 044in other parts of the Mediterranean world. Transregional connections may explain the uncanny parallels between the mosaic floors at Huqoq and in a public building in Mopsuestia (modern Misis) in Cilicia, northwest of Antioch in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Since its discovery, in 1955, scholars have been divided over whether the Mopsuestia building is a synagogue or a church. Its mosaic floors include a panel depicting Noah’s ark (located in the nave), a Samson cycle (in the aisle), and possibly a Jonah scene (in the nave). Interestingly enough, this corresponds to the placement of these panels in the Huqoq synagogue.
The arrangement of the Noah panels at Mopsuestia and Huqoq is also similar: The ark is depicted as a wooden chest supported by four legs, is placed at the center of the scene, and is surrounded by animals. Noah’s ark was a popular theme in early Christian art. It was depicted on sarcophagi, in catacomb paintings, and in manuscript illuminations—but not in church floor mosaics.
In addition to the Noah panel in the nave, an aisle in the Mopsuestia building has an extensive Samson cycle that included as many as 11 scenes accompanied by inscriptions from the Book of Judges (especially Judges 14:6–16:30). Although the mosaic panels are not well preserved, it is clear that Samson appears as a giant. The excavator of the building at Mopsuestia suggested that a fish found in a fragmentary panel in the nave belongs to a depiction 045of the story of Jonah, citing as a possible parallel the Jonah cycle in the early fourth-century mosaic floor in the basilica at Aquileia in Italy. The popularity of the Jonah story in early Christian art has been used to support the identification of the building at Mopsuestia as a church. However, the discovery of the Jonah scene at Huqoq—which is the first definite depiction of this story in ancient Jewish art—strengthens the intriguing connections with Mopsuestia and supports the possibility that it was a synagogue, not a church.
The Huqoq mosaics indicate that local Jewish communities had a great deal of freedom in choosing and arranging the decoration of their synagogue buildings, apparently reflecting their particular interests. At the same time, the Huqoq mosaics make conspicuous use of subject matter drawn from Classical art, as well as figures from Greek and Roman mythology and history, suggesting that the villagers had a somewhat cosmopolitan outlook.
None of the Huqoq mosaics has elicited more interest than the enigmatic Elephant Panel, which may depict a historical event from the Hellenistic period.5 If so, it would indicate that interest in the past among the Jewish communities in Galilee could transcend the boundaries of sacred scripture and encompass historiographic traditions that circulated at the messy intersection of Classical, Jewish, and Christian cultures.
In addition to the most immediate connections to villages around Lower Eastern Galilee, the community at Huqoq appears to have had ties to the robust regional networks of mosaic production in the Eastern Mediterranean. Finally, the remarkable similarities with the fifth-century mosaics of the building at Mopsuestia point to contacts with other parts of the Mediterranean world. The Huqoq mosaics thus offer us precious evidence concerning the degree to which even modest rural villages in Galilee participated in the broader cultural and artistic trends of the late Roman world.
