Kourion Complex Palace (Mosaics) Fales, c. 1955 (1 of 2)De C. Fales (probably)

18

cistern was in all probability used contemporaneously with ours, [handwritten: building,] formed part of a larger mmm building and was connected with the ceremony of the blessing of the

waters.

When this cistern with its painting is compared with the pictures of our floor mosaics, the similarity of the birds and the fishes and the cross is at once obvious. The face of Christ was probably not depicted on our floor, for thexx simple reason that it would have been xxx a inappropriate to walk on the picture of His face. Also, the face of Christ may not have been in the repertoire of a mosaicist who laid floor mosaics. The birds and the fishes were not placed in the water out of which they were thought to have been created, probably for much the same reasonto portray them in a natural habitat and not encased in frames was beyond the power of the mosaicist who laid our, or else the price for a so much more complex design was beyond the amount of money available. In the Church of Saint John, the Baptist, in Gerasa, the birds and the fishes depicted in the floor mosaic are freely swimming or wading in a river. [handwritten: 97] These birds and fishes are probably, also, connected with the birds and the fishes as symbols of water connected with baptism xxxx because to Saint John, the Baptist, baptisteries were frequently dedicated, and because of the personifications of the seasons which are, also, depicted in the [handwritten: 98]