Description
Book SynopsisAsher Ovadiah is Professor of Art History at Tel Aviv University, and an authority on the Classical and Byzantine monuments of Israel. This selection of articles, published over the last twenty-five years, falls into four groups and is gathered around a number of common themes. A first group is concerned with the architecture of pagan temples, early churches, synagogues and a Roman theatre. A second deals with sculpture and reliefs, with the emphasis on iconography, style and symbolism, while a third group is concerned with mosaics in secular and religious contexts, with reference to the Classical heritage and anti-Classical trends, philosophical concepts and links with artistic centres. Finally, a fourth group treats the symbolic and allegorical significance of various works of art and Greek laudatory inscriptions.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Architecture: Some Observations on the Doric Temples of the 5th Century BCE
The Roman Temple at Kadesh, Upper Galilee: A Preliminary Study
Some Notes on the Roman Theatre of Beth-Shean (Scythopolis)
Observations on the Origin of the Architectural Plan of Ancient Synagogues
Ancient Synagogues in Asia Minor
Churches of the Age of Justinian in Israel
Two Notes on the Early Byzantine Complex of Kursi
Une église Byzantine à Matta
Tel 'Ira: The Monastic Complex and its Mosaics
A Restored Complex of the 12th Century in Jerusalem
Sculpture and Reliefs: Personifications in Hellenistic Sculpture
A Head of Ares in the B. Sofer Collection
Dionysos in Beth Shean
Une pyxide en albâtre du Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Genève)
Funeral Stele of a Seaman of the Roman Period
Miscellaneous Ornamental Architectural Elements in Roman Caesarea
The Relief of the Spies from Carthage
The Early Byzantine Reliefs of the Church of Deir el-'Adhra in Middle Egypt
The Zeus from Gaza Re-examined
Mosaic Art: The Origin and Development of Mosaics to the Time of Augustus
Mosaic Pavements of the Herodian Period in Israel
Two Mosaic Fragments with Marine Subjects
The Female Figure in the Dionysiac Mosaic at Sepphoris
Classical Heritage and Anti-Classical Trends in the Mosaic Pavement of Lydda (Lod)
The Mosaic Pavements of Sheikh Zouède in Northern Sinai
Orpheus from Jerusalem - Pagan or Christian Image
The Mosaic Workshop of Gaza in Christian Antiquity
The Mosaic Pavement of Kissufim, Israel
Observations on the Mosaic Art in Ancient Synagogues
Mosaic Pavements Discovered in the Last Decade in Israel (1970-1980)
Orpheus Mosaics in the Roman and Early Byzantine Periods
Symbolism and Allegory: Symbolism in Jewish and Christian Works of Art in Late Antiquity
The Meroth Mosaic Reconsidered
Allegorical Images in Greek Laudatory Inscriptions in Eretz-Israel
Additional Notes
Index
