Joy of the Land

In the central horizontal strip of this image note the following from right to left.  On the right is a branch of the Nile flowing from Nilus above, through the land.  Several animals are attacking each other—a bear attaching a pig and a panther pouncing on a deer.

In the center of the middle horizontal strip is a column/pillar on the top of which is a statue—a man holding a sword and a torch.  Netzer and Weiss (p. 41) think this may be the Pompeii Column in Alexandria Egypt that was dedicated to the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the third century.  Note the ΙΖ (= 17) to the left of the statue.

To the left of the column is a tunic clan man who is watching two horsemen racing to the city of Alexandria (on the far left) to announce the good news of the great inundation.  The horseman on the left carries a torch, or perhaps a bouquet of flowers.

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The "Nile Festival Building" is the name given to a large house, or public structure, that was uncovered by a team from the Hebrew University led by Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss.  It measures 165 x 115 ft.  Rooms were built around a central courtyard and the structure may have served as a Basilica.  It is situated near the center of the Byzantine city on the east side of the Cardo—the main street of the city. It was built around A.D. 400 and was destroyed by an earthquake in the seventh century.

Netzer, Ehud and Zeev Weiss. “A New Mosaic Art from Sepphoris.” Biblical Archaeology Review 18, no. 6 (November/December, 1992): 36–43, 78.