Moasaic depicting Alexander meeting the Jewish High Priest?

[Dave Beatty]

A new 5th century AD mosaic has been found at Huqoq. It depicts a blonde, bearded military commander and ruler (wearing a diadem, ornate uniform and purple cloak) accompanied by a rank of armed soldiers described as a "Greek phalanx" and "battle elephants" meeting an elderly figure wearing a Jewish ceremonial white tunic. Interpreters posit this could be a depiction of the supposed meeting between Alexander the Great and the Jewish high priest reported by Josephus and rabbinical writings.

I am searching for photos of the "Greek phalanx" so far with no luck.

Here is a link to the report with a photo of the commander.

http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/digs-2014/huqoq-2014-update-from-the-field/

[Duncan Head]

Representations of Alexander are pretty common in later centuries, and he's always shown clean-shaven, so the "military commander and ruler [who] is bearded" seems unlikely to be meant as Alexander. 

More photos at http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=39&Issue=5&ArticleID=9 That piece suggests a Maccabean link which at first sight I think might be more probable.

[Patrick Waterson]

Inclined to agree with Duncan here.  The relevant paragraph in the article observes:

"The top register, which was revealed in its entirety this summer, depicts an encounter between two large male figures. One figure is clearly intended to represent a military commander and ruler: He is bearded and has a diadem on his head, is outfitted in ornate battle dress, and wears a purple cloak (see accompanying photo). This figure leads a large bull by the horns, and he is accompanied by a row of soldiers arranged as a Greek phalanx and by battle elephants with decorated collars and shields tied to their sides. The commander/ruler is nodding to a bearded, elderly man wearing a ceremonial white tunic and mantle. The elderly man is escorted by young men holding sheathed swords or daggers who are also dressed in ceremonial white tunics and mantles."

Alexander (as the article later mentions) did not have battle elephants at the time of his meeting with the high priest.  For this to be a record of or allusion to that event, not only would Alexander have to be portrayed with a beard he apparently never wore, but in addition his forces would have to be significantly misrepresented.  I do not maintain this entirely excludes the possibility of the picture representing the famous meeting, just that the Macedonian monarch and his entourage look, as Duncan points out, more Seleucid, and hence more likely to refer to a different event.

[Dave Beatty]

I agree. I wondered why the archaeologists are thinking it is Alexander when I read the article. Perhaps merely to add to the sensationalism of the find. I'll send a note to the lead digger, Dr. Jodi Magness, with whom I am acquainted in my other life...