Image Details

A mosaic carpet bearing interlocking swastikas and framed by a wave pattern decorated a floor in the Middle Block. Unlike mosaics in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, from where the mosaic technique was imported, the mosaics in the Herodian quarter contain no human or animal representations, only floral and geometric ones. This was in accord with the interpretation at that time of the Second Commandment’s injunction against graven images.

The furniture in this room is arranged according to a contemporaneous depiction on a table fragment. A pair of hefty, lathe-turned stone jars, more than 2 feet tall, stand under the stone pedestal table; two smaller stone tables and a stone tray, supported by modern wooden legs, stand nearby.