DECISORS (Hebr. póséq, pl. of póséq). — Talmudists who, drawing upon Talmudic and Talmudic-rabbinic literature, offer decisions on dogmatic, philosophical-religious, and exegetical matters, but particularly, and this applies especially to the later period, on matters of religious practice in the fields of law, morality, ritual, and ceremonial. Their decisions take the form of questions and answers (s’é’óth, t’é-šábbóth), compilations concerning a part or the whole of religious life, and sometimes even summaries or commentaries on the Talmud, deriving from its discussions the decisions for practice.
The decisors of the Geonic period (v. GÊ’ONÎM) are called “earlier decisors” (pôsêqîm ri’ônîm), while those from the 15th to the 18th centuries are called “later decisors” (p. ’ahârônîm).
During the Geonic period (mid-7th century to mid-11th century), the responsa of the heads of the Babylonian academies, and to a lesser extent those of the Palestinian academies, were considered normative in all respects, even for the most distant communities in Europe and Africa. In the 8th century, ’Ahaj of Shabha compiled the responsa he had given according to the order of the pericopes of the Pentateuch. A contemporary, Yêhûdhaj Ga’on, made the first systematic attempt to organize the scattered materials from Talmudic discussions for practical use. Another, Shim’on Qayyâra, presented the 613 positive and negative commandments of the Pentateuch according to the Talmudic concept. The Ga’on Sa’adiah authored a series of monographs on civil and ritual law; similarly, for liturgy and marriage law, did Shemû’el ben Hophni (d. 1034). The Ga’on Hiyya (940–1038) wrote responsa and works on Talmudic law. Brief decisions in smaller works were written by Nissim ben Ya’aqov and Hananel ben Hushiel (c. 990–1050) in Qayrawan (first half of the 11th century).
Later decisors of the Hispano-Arabic school include Samuel the Prince (993–1055); Isaac al-Fasi (1013–1103), who presented in his work *Halakhah* a summary of Talmudic discussions on all still-practiced commandments (thus omitting, for example, sacrificial worship). Many responsa were given by his disciple Joseph ibn Migash (1077–1141). Of particular importance is Maimonides, especially for his great ritual code.
Among Maimonides’ contemporaries in southern France were Abraham of Isaac of Narbonne (1110–78); Isaac ben Abba Mari (b. c. 1122, d. after 1193); Nahmanides (1195–1270); and his disciple Samuel Sardi. Of great authority was Solomon Adret. Aaron of Jacob ha-Kohen of Lunel and the anonymous author of the work *Kol Bo* dealt with liturgy, festivals, and other matters of religious life and law. After the deaths of the decisors Yeraham ben Meshullam, David Abudraham (on prayers, Pentateuch readings, festival calendar, 1340), and Menahem of Aaron of Serah, great authority was held by Isaac of Sheshet (1336–1408) and Simon of Shemah Duran (1361–1444).
The responsa of the Franco-German and Italian schools date from the 10th century onward. The most authoritative figure of the French school is R. Solomon ben Isaac, known as Rashi; besides Eliezer of Nathan (12th century), Baruch of Isaac of Worms (c. 1200), Moses of Jacob of Coucy (early 12th century), Isaac of Joseph of Corbeil (second half of the 12th century), and Eliezer of Joel Levi of Bonn (d. c. 1235), Isaac of Moses of Vienna (d. 1260) was also renowned.
In Italy, the following decisors distinguished themselves: Isaiah of Trani the Elder (13th century); Zedekiah of Abraham Anaw; Mordecai of Hillel (d. 1327); and the eminent Asher ben Jehiel (d. 1327); the latter two were disciples of R. Meir of Rothenburg. In Italy, Joseph Colon, originally from France, also worked and died in Pavia in 1480.
Other noteworthy figures include Isaac of Duren (d. 1320), Alexander Süsslein Cohen of Cologne (d. 1349), Eisik of Tyrnau, Abraham Klausner of Vienna (1380), and Jacob of Moses Mollin (d. 1427), who primarily addressed ceremonial laws and provided insights into the life of German Jews during the Middle Ages.
Among the decisors of the 16th–18th centuries: Jacob of Asher (d. 1343), who systematically expounded the legal material (halakhic) still of practical importance. The celebrated Joseph Caro or Karo (1488–1575), author of a commentary on the work *Arba’ Turim* of Jacob ben Asher, synthesized all that is contained in ancient and later rabbinic literature, providing an important compendium of decisions; on this basis, he composed his well-known *Shulhan Arukh* (“The Set Table”).
In the sculpture of sarcophagi, simple ornamentation found rather limited application. Apart from the use of strigils, wounded or human masks, and a few motifs of a vegetal, landscape, or architectural nature already employed in secular monuments, the decoration of Christian sarcophagi was preferably entrusted to figurative compositions. One must wait for the innovation of columnar (or tree-like) sarcophagi to see the way opened for a return of classical decorative relief, which rediscovers in pediments and friezes, in capitals and bases, in the columns themselves and even in the entire face of the sarcophagus a field of application. The old motif of vine tendrils was used to great effect. Rows of city towers, as well as the undulating band of the starry sky and the evocation of the celestial basilica, enjoyed great success during the Theodosian period; in the same period, the orant figure spread across all four faces of the sarcophagus. During the 5th century, in Ravenna sarcophagi, a progressive regression of figurative composition is noted, along with the Hellenistic repertoire, in favor of the Eastern use of schematic, symbolic, symmetrical, and stylized compositions in which plants, birds, and vases, in addition to symbolic intent, served decorative purposes more than ever. The same trend is seen later in Aquitanian products, where panels and lids are covered with stylized vine scrolls and acanthus to the point of leaving barely any space for an isolated figure. In the Sidamara group, the orant, having become rather bristly, concentrates in the architectural members.
II. MONUMENTAL DECORATION
In the period of peace, with the erection throughout the empire of basilicas, baptisteries, and martyria, Christian decorative art not only found ample opportunity to apply the most varied systems of wall ornamentation (mosaic, fresco, marble revetment, stucco, mosaic paving, marble and wooden sculpture) but also to follow its own path more freely. With a keen sense of adaptation to the proportions, dimensions, and above all the functional character of the available wall fields, it was able to alternate figurative compositions (to which the prevailing decorative task was entrusted) with others of a more allegorical or ornamental nature. The decorative function of the large surfaces of deep blue, gold, and green in the main compositions is evident to all. Pure orant figures, on the other hand, in mosaics and frescoes, are confined to secondary positions such as friezes, borders, soffits, or intercolumns and are limited to the already mentioned animal and vegetal, geometric, or fanciful motifs. Among the latter, beaded borders, running waves, canopies, ribbons, interlaced circles, etc., should be noted. The repertoire is completed by starry skies, monograms, and crosses. Finds in the basilicas of Aquileia demonstrate that in certain cases ceilings were also decorated with paintings. As for stucco, its function was probably limited to framing (more easily in centrally planned buildings than in basilica-plan ones), to some friezes or pediments, and above all to the well-known small shrines, of which the Orthodox Baptistery in Ravenna offers a well-preserved example. Rich use was made of marble incrustations (opus sectile) for wall revetment (in Rome, the Lateran Baptistery and Santa Sabina; in Parenzo, the cathedral; in Ravenna, the Orthodox Baptistery and San Vitale), in which mother-of-pearl and precious stones were eventually inserted. Sculpture found application not only in the architectural members of sacred buildings (capitals, friezes, bases) but also and above all in furnishings, as evidenced by numerous cancels, plutei, ambons, worked in low relief or openwork, with a rich selection of allegorical, geometric, vegetal, or interlaced ornaments, whose forms, even under Eastern or Northern influences, ultimately prepare the way for medieval abstraction.Of wooden sculpture, the famous doors of Santa Sabina in Rome and of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan have preserved precious examples.
For the rich resources that decorative art had at its disposal in the ornamentation of floor mosaics, see MOSAICS.