The mosaic carpets decorating Palestinian synagogues in late antiquity took various forms but tend to focus on three recurring visual themes: the zodiac, a motif with origins in Greco-Roman religious art; the Jerusalem Temple, long in ruins but still very much alive in the Jewish imagination; and the Biblical story, often classics and easily identifiable to those well-versed in scripture. The latter was the programmatic focus of the frescoes of the Dura Europos synagogue and would maintain hegemony in episodic art on synagogue floors through late antiquity. The paradigm was thought to have shifted in 2013-14 when excavations at Huqoq uncovered a mosaic panel featuring war elephants that was claimed to portray the first extra-Biblical scene ever found in an ancient synagogue. Huqoq was a thriving Jewish village in the Late Roman period. Its basilica-type synagogue was paved twice with mosaic, the earlier of which is better preserved and includes the “elephant panel”. Most of the rest of the floor has not been fully published, although news releases and preliminary reports mention them and assign the floor a date in the 5th c. The floor does include well-known Biblical scenes along with a zodiac panel and two undated dedicatory inscriptions with decorative framing elements that include putti.

中文翻译：

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吉甲的塞缪尔和扫罗：对 Huqoq 犹太教堂大象马赛克面板的新诠释

古代晚期装饰巴勒斯坦犹太教堂的马赛克地毯有多种形式，但往往集中在三个反复出现的视觉主题上：黄道带，起源于希腊罗马宗教艺术的主题；耶路撒冷圣殿，早已成为废墟，但在犹太人的想象中仍然充满活力；和圣经故事，通常是经典，对于那些精通圣经的人来说很容易识别。后者是 Dura Europos 犹太教堂壁画的规划焦点，并将在古代晚期在犹太教堂地板上保持情节艺术的霸权。这种范式被认为在 2013-14 年发生了转变，当时在 Huqoq 的挖掘工作发现了一个以战象为特色的马赛克面板，据称该面板描绘了在古代犹太教堂中发现的第一个圣经外场景。Huqoq是罗马晚期一个繁荣的犹太村庄。它的大教堂式犹太教堂两次用马赛克铺设，其中较早的保存较好，包括“大象面板”。尽管新闻发布和初步报告中提到了它们并在 5 世纪指定了会场的日期，但其余的大部分内容尚未完全发布。地板确实包括着名的圣经场景以及生肖面板和两个未注明日期的奉献铭文，装饰框架元素包括 putti。