RT Article
T1 The “Elephant Mosaic” Panel from the Huqoq Synagogue: Ehud Ben Gera in Jewish-Galilean Traditions
JF Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
VO 52
IS 2
SP 257
OP 278
A1 Yoskovich, Avraham
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1757531122
AB Abstract The so-called Elephant Mosaic panel from the Huqoq synagogue floor has sparked intense scholarly debate regarding its interpretation. This article proposes a biblical episode as its topic: the killing of the Moabite king Eglon by Ehud ben Gera (Judges 3). Reading the panels as a unified composition, the biblical-midrashic interpretation offered here combines biblical elements with their rabbinic interpretations. The importance of the latter inheres in their reflection of the Galilean milieu contemporary with the Huqoq community. The suggested interpretation also shares common motifs with another source, Megillat Antiochus, thus raising the question of whether, as interpreted here, the Byzantine artistic elements shed light on how the Huqoq community portrayed biblical themes and transmitted later traditions, especially those connected to divine deliverance.
K1 Megillat Antiochus
K1 pictorial and written traditions
K1 Galilean Jewish communities
K1 rabbinic sages
K1 Byzantine Jewish art
K1 late antique synagogues
K1 Elephant mosaic
DO 10.1163/15700631-BJA10032