A Mosaic of Daniel in the Lions’ Den from Borj el Youdi (Furnos Minus) Tunisia: The Iconography of Martyrdom and the Arena in Roman North Africa

Abstract

The Bardo Museum in Tunis currently holds one of the very rare representations in mosaic of the prophet Daniel in the lions’ den. Discovered at Borj el Youdi (Furnos Minus) in 1898, and probably dating to the fifth century, this mosaic is highly distinct in its conception, standing apart from representations of Daniel which were very popular in North Africa in other media, especially ceramics. I argue that while the mosaic does draw on standard iconography of Daniel, it also explicitly refers to amphitheatre spectacle, and especially to damnatio ad bestias to which earlier Christians were subject. This mosaic much more graphically than other representations of the story shows Daniel as a Christian martyr, and in doing so reflects the fourth-fifth century north African context when the Church was split by sectarian strife between Catholics and Donatists, the latter of whom viewed themselves as the Church of the Martyrs.