Image Details

Photographer: Sandu Mandrea, courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority

Inlaid with pearls of tesserae, this elaborate mosaic was paved over part of the southern entrance vestibule of the church/mosque during the Muslim period. In each corner a cornucopia is depicted supporting an acanthus rose, from which sprout several fruit-bearing vines. The scene is surrounded by a guilloche border, which consists of two or more curved interlacing bands. The round, white pearl-like stones, as well as the cornucopia and vine motif, are similar to the contemporaneous mosaics in the Dome of the Rock, just a few miles away in Jerusalem.