The patriarch and the emperor: the Elephant mosaic panel in the Huqoq synagogue reconsidered

The unique iconography of the Elephant mosaic panel in the Huqoq synagogue, considered by project director J. Magness as “the first non-biblical story ever found decorating an ancient synagogue”, has attracted a great deal of attention since it first began to be exposed in 2013. The synagogue is still under excavation and little has been published so far, but some of the mosaic panels of the late 4th-early 5th c. plainly depict Biblical scenes; there are also decorative motifs with inscriptions. The panel in question is set roughly in the centre of the E aisle, some 60 cm from the E wall. It faces east, to be correctly viewed by a person facing west towards the nave. Its orientation is similar to that of the nearby panel on the south, but it faces the opposite way from the Samson panel farther south.