In 2011, archaeologists discovered the remains of a 5th-century synagogue in the ancient Galilean town of Ḥuqoq. They have since been slowly uncovering its elaborate mosaics, which include a three-tiered illustration of a battle (complete with elephants) and what seems to be a Greek king meeting with a Jewish religious leader. Experts have offered competing interpretations of what is being depicted, as A.R. Williams writes:
The excavation’s director, Jodi Magness, . . . believes the leader of the army is none other than Alexander the Great himself. His meeting with the high priest of Jerusalem . . . was a piece of [legend] that would have been very familiar to the residents of ancient Ḥuqoq. . . .
Magness believes the mosaic should be read from bottom to top. In her view, the lowest tier, or register, depicts one of the many battles that Alexander the Great fought as he expanded his empire into the eastern Mediterranean. . . .
[But the art historian Karen] Britt and Ra’anan Boustan, a UCLA historian of religion who’s also a member of the excavation team, . . . interpret the mosaic as the depiction of a Seleucid attack on Jerusalem led by King Antiochus VII in 132 BCE.
Like Magness, Britt and Boustan read the mosaic from bottom to top. But in their interpretation, the lowest register depicts a battle in which Seleucid soldiers as well as an elephant and a bull have been killed by spears. The fighting took place outside Jerusalem proper, and the city’s Judean defenders hurled the spears at the invading army from the top of the city walls. . . . In this interpretation, the Judean leader is a high priest named John Hyrcanus I [a nephew and successor of Judah the Maccabee].
In the top register, the two leaders . . . conclude negotiations for a truce in the company of their respective troops.
Read more on National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/mysterious-mosaic-alexander-the-great-israel/