Somehow the stunning mosaics unearthed at the Huqoq synagogue during the last 12 years have escaped my attention. Reader Richard Mahler pointed them out to me, and I have been thinking about them all week.
(Why? Roman woodworking is the subject of my book “Ingenious Mechanics.”)
The mosaic I have been poring over is the one depicting the construction of the Tower of Babel. There are stoneworkers (yawn). A crane taking materials to the top (kinda yawn). A guy adzing a post (!). A guy planing on a bench (!!). Sawing boards Egyptian style (!!!). And a fight with mallets vs. a bowsaw (!!!!). And an interesting window.
First, if you want a quick overview of the excavation project, here’s a short article. And this one.
There is some interesting woodworking stuff in these mosaics. Let’s start with the guys ripping a board that is standing upright.
The synagogue was built in the early 5th century (C.E.), and yet here we have two guys ripping a plank in a clearly ancient Egyptian style. The plank is vertical and secured in place at the ground, and the workers are sawing down with a wedge in place to help keep the kerf open.
Ancient Egyptian sawyers were depicted working exactly this way with one exception. The ancient Egyptians used a bronze saw – it looks like a Japanese saw. With the teeth set to only one side of the blade.
The Romans here use a frame saw. As far as we know the Romans and Greeks invented frame saws and handplanes. So this is a real interesting transitional scene.
Next we have a guy working the side of a plank with an adze. The post is vertical. Again this is something you see in ancient Egyptian imagery. Later, adzes were shown with longer handles with the work on the floor. Though the handheld adze used vertically still survives in some cultures to this day.
And the workbench. My immediate reaction was: Look at that low Roman workbench. But 2 seconds later my head said: But why is the worker standing up as he planes a board on it? Do we have a problem here because this is a pre-perspective image? (Yes.) But does that explain why he is standing up? (No.)
So we just have to accept that maybe we don’t know what the artist saw. The worker holds the board with his left hand as he planes with his right. There is no evidence of a planing stop.
And finally we have a nice window and a fight between two workers: one holding a bowsaw and the other holding a mallet. The story of the Tower of Babel is about humanity’s attempt to build a tower to heaven. God cursed the workers and made them speak different languages. Chaos ensued.
One amazing thing: Early black woodworker. The earliest image I know.
Second thing: My money is on the guy with a mallet.
— Christopher Schwarz
“Second thing: My money is on the guy with a mallet.” 😂
Looking at the picture you supplied, isn’t the bench on a different level to the woodworker. He appears to be on a lower step. Maybe that’s why he’s upright.
That’s a curious vise/clamp holding the vertical board being ripped.
It looks a little like the brake Follansbee and others use for splitting. I wonder if it’s a similar thing, but upright.
My first thought looking at the guy with the adz was that it was an axe and he was working down the side of the board. It’s hard to tell.
“Team Mallet” checking in
I don’t know. I think I’d go with the frame saw, depending on how heavy it is.
Never bring a saw to a mallet fight.
Could it be the mallet depicts the masons and the bow saw depicts the woodworkers ? Maybe just as in today’s world the site workers were at logger heads with each trade thinking they were better and this is the artists way of showing that ? Just saying.
The plot thickens
I wonder if there was a cultural or artistic reason not to depict someone “sitting down on the job”. Better to raise the bench up than to have someone sitting on it.
The plank rippers. It looks sort of like a spring set up. Guy on the left pumping ala pole lathe, guy on the right propped up as well.
The left-hand guy with the bow saw — who among us hasn’t done some 3am work in the shop, in our underwear?
Also reminds me of the toga partes in college, though we didn’t have a frame saw for the ham,
We sure could have used one
This is fantastic. Kudos to Richard Mahler for sending it our way.
Nice, it is interesting to see the Romans represent a story that has cultural been associated with the Old Testament mono-theism. The fight black woodworker in the fight might be a reference to cultural differences that you can immediately recognize visually. Interesting mosaic, thanks for posting.
Cheers
Chris – thanks for sharing this mosaic. One of the first things I noticed too about the guy planing the board is that the workbench is on an elevated level, which would then make sense as to why he is standing.
“My money is on the guy with a mallet.”
I’ll take that bet ;).
Wonderful article!
No planing stop? The dark tile at the end of the workpiece?
The plane and the bench itself also have dark tiles on the top and front, so I think that is the artist’s way of accentuating the extent of the work.
The handle at the back of the plane indicates a push cut rather than the pull cut of the Japanese style.
Is this a case of hiring Roman prostitutes to pose for the tile mosaic artist (just going off posture alone)? I’ve never planed any boards like I was ironing a shirt. Doesn’t two man ripping require putting some back into it? And my lord the limp-wrist grip on the frame saw does say the fight is concluding with the next mallet blow, this will clearly be the third or fourth head bludgeoning.