Israelite Spies in Huqoq Mosaic

Home > Magazines > BAR > November/December 2018

Season after season, excavations at the fifth-century C.E. synagogue at Huqoq in Israel’s Lower Eastern Galilee have revealed stunning mosaics portraying Greco-Roman and Biblical scenes, including what may be a depiction of Alexander the Great meeting the Jewish high priest.a This summer, the archaeological team uncovered yet more fascinating mosaics. In the northern aisle of the Late Roman synagogue, the team revealed a mosaic panel portraying a Biblical scene from Numbers 13:23: two men—sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan—carrying a pole with a cluster of grapes. A Hebrew inscription on the panel reads, “A pole […]

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Footnotes

1. See Jodi Magness, “Samson in the Synagogue,” BAR 39:01; Jodi Magness, Scholar’s Update: “New Mosaics from the Huqoq Synagogue,” BAR, 39:05; Jodi Magness, Archaeological Views: “A Lucky Discovery Complicates Life,” BAR, 41:02; Strata: “More Mosaics at Huqoq,” BAR, 43:01; Strata: “New Huqoq Mosaics,” BAR, 43:06.