The city of Zippory in the lower Galilee in known by its Mosaic floors. The city that did not participate in the 66 AC rebellion that eventually caused the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple at 70 AC, remained almost intact.
Zippory was the capital of the Galilee inhabited by Jews, Romans and local Galileans, the city hosted the Governor of the north and all the governmental offices.
The city was divided in two, in the Higher City lived most of the Jews in houses with “Mikve” where they could wash and be “Pure” according to the Jewish faith and in the Lower City lived the Romans and the locals. The Lower City was large and had streets, shops, markets, houses of warship and even brothels!
Almost all the regular houses, the houses of warship and also the synagogues had a Mosaic floor with all kind of designs, in wonderful colors. The smaller the stones- the richer the owner.
The “Nilometer”:
In ancient Egypt the Nile river was the barometer of the whole region, if the water level was low, the people knew that the year would be lean, and if the water level was high, the year would be plentiful- the kingdom of Egypt and to the entire Mediterranean with Judea included.
In the Nilometer Mosaic you can see Egyptians one on the back of another marking the new number of 17 on the pole- that means the Nile was so high that year they needed to mark a new number and it meant the people of Zippory were expecting many supplies from Egypt that year.
There are two known “Nilometer” Mosaics in Israel- the first is in Zippory and the second is in the Church of “Multiplication of the Loaves & Fish” in “Tabgha” on the northern shores of the “sea of Galilee”.
