Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

PALMYRA

SYRIA

an extremely rare occurrence before the
Christian period. It is laid in Palmyrene
cursive script, copied from a manuscript
model, apparently without understanding
as several letters are grossly altered. In
particular, the first letter does not allow for
a certain reading; I suppose the name of the
mosaicist to be Theodotos or Diodotos. At
any rate, he proudly announced to have
made the mosaic together with his sons.
The smaller panels in the floor are
distinctly made by less experienced hands.
Along each of the longer sides of the
central emblema, there is a picture of two
animals facing each other: two panthers
drinking from a kantharos and two female
griffins placing a paw on a bull’s head. This
last subject is well known from Roman
sarcophagi.
At the corners of the pavement there
are other parallel subjects: two pairs of
goats under a tree at the northern end, and

a lone buck in front of a tree in each of the
southern corners. Smaller panels show
fish, fruit, ducks, and peacocks, sug-
gesting that the hall had been used for
feasting. Indeed, fish shown on four of the
panels are clearly not in their element; in
ancient Palmyra fish must have been
a great luxury.
The date of the mosaic can be inferred
from stylistic parallels as the middle of the
3rd century. In fact, some of the decorative
bands resemble closely those on the only
pavements found in Palmyra before ours (in
the houses east of the Bel temple, now in the
local museum). Outside parallels would
allow a date perhaps more readily in the 4th
century, but in Palmyra such a dating is
most unlikely for historical reasons.
Before the end of the season, the mosaic
was buried under a thick layer of sand, and
huge stone blocks were piled over it to
prevent robbery.

CULT MEETING PLACE

Not a long time after the pavement was
laid, the building changed its destination.
At the southern end, a very different piece
of mosaic was- added. Though apparently
not much is missing from the original
pavement, a stretch over 2 m wide was
joined to it on the same level (cf. Figs. 2,3).
On either side of a light stone foundation
in the middle there is a rectangular
geometrical panel and in front of each a
small lozenge within a rectangle. The
workmanship of these simple patterns is

rather crude. There are moreover two
panels containing each a pair of open hands
in red, represented without any attempt at
rendering the anatomy. Such hands are, of
course, encountered in Palmyra on some
altars dedicated to the anonymous god.
There is, then, reason to believe that some
religious group had taken over the hall and
adapted it to its needs. The most likely
opportunity for such appropriation would
be in the time immediately after the
demise of Zenobia.

COLONNADED HALL

This second stage ended with destruction.
The central part of the mosaic in front
of the stone foundation was destroyed,

and the whole pavement covered with
stones, underlying a plaster floor laid
some 50 cm higher. The new floor

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