Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East

On 2017, during a salvage excavation ahead of telephone cable infrastructure placement, archaeologists uncovered a rare Greek mosaic, about a kilometer north of the Old City on a road leading to the Damascus Gate.

The inscription on the mosaic reads, "In the time of our most pious emperor Flavius Justinian, also this entire building Constantine the most God-loving priest and abbot, established and raised, in the 14th indiction."

In the nearby Church of the Agony (built originally in the last decades of the 4th century) a colorful mosaic floor was discovered in 1920 which follows a geometric design.

Fragments of a similar geometric mosaic floor were preserved in the Basilica of St. Stephen (outside the Damascus Gate) which was built by Empress Aelia Eudocia in the first half of the 5th century.

On the outskirts of modern Jerusalem, in the Monastery of the Cross, a section of the elaborate 5th century mosaic floor survived, incorporating pictures of peacocks, plants and geometric patterns.

An exceptionally well preserved, carpet-like mosaic floor was uncovered in 1949 in Bethany, at the early Byzantine church of the Lazarium, which was built between 333 and 390.

In 2003, during the construction works of the Israeli West Bank barrier in Abu Dis, workers damaged the remains of a Byzantine monastery, which was subsequently excavated.

Its floor mosaic has octagons with representations of birds, quadrupeds, and scenes from the story of Jonah depicting the prophet being thrown out of the boat or resting.

[5] In nearby Emmaus Nicopolis, two Byzantine basilicas were built in the 6-7th centuries above the traditional house of Cleopas, which was venerated by Christians as the place of the breaking of bread by the risen Christ.

In 1995-99 two large Byzantine churches were discovered in Khirbet Yattir (ancient Iethira) in the southern part of the Judean hills, close to the northern Negev.

Two phases can be distinguished in the mosaic floor of Church C. The earlier was decorated with four birds and medallions of vines while the later one was divided into 23 strips which contain magical symbols and holy names.

From the Byzantine-period perspective, the west side of the lower Jordan Valley near Jericho was included in the same region, although geographically it can be regarded as separate.

At Archelais (now Khirbet el-Beiyudat), on the west bank of the lower Jordan Valley, a Byzantine church was paved with mosaics during the 560s, as stated in votive inscriptions.

The intact floor mosaic in the Byzantine monastery, built on the foundations of an even earlier chapel from the third or fourth century CE, was laid down in circa 530.

It covers an area of 9 x 3 m and depicts the monastic pastime of wine-making, as well as hunters, with a rich assortment of Middle Eastern flora and fauna.

The floor of the cruciform main church is decorated with wonderfully intact, multi-colored mosaics with floral and geometric motifs (flowers, leaves, scrolls, braided patterns, amphorae) without any representations of animals or humans.

One large mosaic floor inscription in white letters on a red background says that the presbyter Saba and his wife offered the church to God as an expression of their faith, in the year 622.

[12][13] The monastic complex above Lot's Cave (near the southern end of the Dead Sea), which was uncovered after 1988, contained five mosaics, one dated April 606, another May 691.

[15] Particularly interesting is the nilotic mosaic of the presbytery of the North Church where the mosaicists have created a motif of a turtledove set on a nest made of an imaginary flower.

The large mosaic floor of the Church of the Ark (completed in 420, re-discovered in 2006) contains geometric designs, flora representations and three Greek inscriptions, among them a salute to the residents of Seilun (Shilo).

Among the mainly decorative motifs of its mosaic floor there are two animal scenes: a boar grazing on a field and a hare eating grapes (the latter is very uncommon).

Many rooms and the church itself was decorated with mosaic among them a great zodiac, a circle of 12 figures representing the months, with the sun god Helios and the moon goddess Selene in the centre.

The church stood upon a small hill above Wadi Guzze and has an elaborate floor decorated exotic animals in medallions and two beautiful peacocks.

In the first only the remains of glass tesserae prove that its walls were decorated with mosaics while in the other one an almost intact geometric floor survived with three inscriptions dating to years 493 and 498.

Mosaic covered churches prove that the towns along the Nabatean spice road in the Negev Desert flourished in the Christian era.

The apse is surrounded with bands containing medallions of apostles and prophets, and two contemporary figure, "Abbot Longinos" and "John the Deacon".

As part of the ancient region of Syria, present-day Lebanon shared the same great tradition in Roman and Byzantine mosaic art as neighbouring areas.

An important Byzantine mosaic collection was established in Beiteddine Palace, mostly from discoveries in the coastal town of Jiyyeh (ancient Porphyrion).

The designs are often geometric and stylized but there are also interesting depictions of animals, including leopards, gazelles, lions, hares and birds, as well as religious figures.

The mosaic floors of the Acropolis Church at Ma’in (ancient Belemounta), dated by an inscription to 719–20 include depictions of 11 buildings representing cities in the Holy Land, as identified by Greek toponyms.