Mosaic portraits and inscriptions honoring the church warden Theodoros and his wife Georgia from Gerasa (GER0112)

Mosaic portraits and inscriptions honoring the church warden Theodoros and his wife Georgia from Gerasa (GER0112)

Labeled pendant portraits on a mosaic floor, dated 533 CE, from the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damianus in Gerasa, depicting the παραμοναριος (paramonarius=church warden), Theodoros, and his wife, Georgia. Each figure appears in their one panel, and they are separated by a dedicatory inscription within an tabula ansata honoring Saints Cosmos and Damianus and other local church officials.

Georgia appears on the south panel, standing above (but not on) the ground line, flanked by two trees, with a Greek label including her name and relationship to Theodoros in the field above her. She is depicted standing in a long striped blue tunic, with black horizontal stripes along the openings of the sleeves. Britt (2008, 125) identifies small blue circles containing apotropaic swastika motifs along the bottom of her tunic. She wears a red cloak fastened at the center of her chest, and red shoes. Her arms are open and raised, a common gesture of praying (an 'orans' motif). Britt (1998, 124-125) notes the presence of a necklace and earrings, and Biebel (1938, 331), a hair net.

Theodoros appears on the panel to the north of the tabula ansata in a similar arrangement: flanked by two trees, standing above the basis. The Greek label at the top of the panel is interrupted by Theodoros' head. Theodore's is shown bearded, and with a mustache and close-cropped hair. He wears a long white tunic, with a long-sleeved white undergarment, and a red or orange cloak planeta or phelonion (a liturgical vestment; Biebel 1938, 331). He is shown at an angle, his right hand crossing his body to hold out an incense burner to one side.

Welles, C. 1938. "The Inscriptions," pg.482, nos.315-316, pl.LXXIII, in Gerasa: city of the Decapolis, C.H. Kraeling (ed.).

Image 1 courtesy of Carole Raddato via Flickr  
Image 2 courtesy of Sharron McClellan via Flicker

Mosaic

GER0112

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Two panels depicting the paramonarius (Theodoros) and his wife (Georgia); a tabula ansata honoring the eponymous saints of the church (the martyrs Saints Cosmas and Damianas), and patrons of the church (Bishop Paul), and donors (inscriptions and portraits). The remainder of the mosaic is decorated with geometric motifs, and a variety of animals and fish.

(1) ΘΕWΔΟ ΠΑΡΑΜΟ
ΡΟC ΝΑΡ

(2) ΓΕWΡΓΙΑΘΕΟΔWΡΟΥΠΑΡΑΜ

(1) Theodoros, param[onarius]
(2) Georgia (wife of) Theodoros, param[onarius]

Welles 1938

Church of Saints Cosmas and Damianus

Welles, C. 1938. "The Inscriptions," Gerasa: city of the Decapolis, C.H. Kraeling (ed.), 355-496. Baltimore: The American Schools of Oriental Research.

Biebel, F.M. 1938. "The Mosaics," in Gerasa: city of the Decapolis, C.H. Kraeling (ed.), 297-350. Baltimore: The American Schools of Oriental Research.

Britt, K.C. 2008. "Fama et Memoria: portraits of female patrons in mosaic pavements of churches in Byzantine Palestine and Arabia," Medieval Feminist Forum: a journal of gender and sexuality, 44(2): 119-143.