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192 calendar grouped with the Sun and Moon (Monastery of Lady Mary at Beth She"an). Similar designs of the Labours of the Months appear on mosaics in the Greek East and at Carthage. Examples are found at Hall A of Lady Mary Monastery and in the narthex of the funerary chapel at El-Hammam. Both render the Labours of the Months but the two are of different design (Fitzgerald 1939: 6, pls. VI-VIII; Avi-Yonah 1936: 22-26, pl. xv). The months in the El-Hammam narthex are depicted on a panel in two rows of six, each row divided into two separated groups (pl. VIII-3). The months consist of active, full-length standing figures, each with its Latin name and number of days inscribed in Greek; between the figures are plants with coloured leaves (Avi-Yonah 1936: 22-26, pl. XV; Webster 1938: 24-25, no.15; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 122, no. 3). The left part of the mosaic with the first six months is badly damaged. Only nine months: January, February, April May, July, August, September, November and December are preserved, some only in fragments, while the inscriptions partly survived. July is depicted as a youth dressed in a tunic holding a big leaf full of fruit. August is a youth clad in a decorated short tunic; he holds a fan in his right hand and an amphora in his left. September is a youth clad in a decorated tunic, his right arm encircling a two-handled jar on his left shoulder while the left hand holds a cock head downwards. November is a figure dressed in a decorated tunic and holding a yellow basket. December is represented as a female (Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 122, no. 3 maintains the figure is undoubtedly a man) clad in a robe and a mantle drawn over her head, wearing green slippers; she holds a mattock in her left hand; this hooded figure was probably influenced by the representation of Winter. In the Monastery of Lady Mary the personification of the months appears in the centre of the carpet in Hall A (pl. VIII-4, fig. VIII-8). The design of the central composition is two concentric circles, the outer divided into twelve units. Within each unit is a single figure in frontal pose and in full activity; at its feet appear the Latin name of the relevant month and the number of its days in Greek letters. The inner circle contains the personifications of Sun and Moon, as female busts bearing torches (Fitzgerald 1939: 6, pls. VI-VIII; Webster 1938: 23-24, no. 18; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 123-4, no. 4). chapter eight The months are personified as full-length male figures with short curly hair; only February has a beard. January is almost completely lost but shows the head and a shod foot. February wears a short tunic and carries a hoe. March is personified as a warrior, clad in a tunic and perhaps a cuirass, a huge mantle, and a helmet; he leans on his shield. April is a shepherd garbed in a short tunic and barefoot. He carries a goat in his arms and a bucket for milk in his left hand. May is dressed in a long tunic and trousers; a dalmatic held up in front carries flowers. June is a partly damaged figure, wearing in a sleeveless tunic and holding a seed-box (?) in his left hand and a sickle (?) in his right. July wears a short tunic and cap. He carries a sheaf of corn over his left shoulder and a sickle in his right hand. August is damaged, only the head and the lower garment having survived. September is a vintager wearing a short tunic, and holding a bunch of grapes in his right hand and an object in his left. October is a fowler clad in a short sleeveless decorated tunic and barefoot. A basket-like object or a net is slung over his left shoulder, and he holds a stick in his right hand. November is a man dressed in a short decorated tunic and a mantle; a string of birds hangs down from his right hand and some object rests on his left shoulder. December is a sower clad in a short decorated tunic and holding a sack in his left hand, from which he scatters seed. The two Christian examples from El Hammam and the Monastery of Lady Mary at Beth-She"an are different in their basic form but similar in the general depiction of the personified Labours of the Months. The emphasis in these personifications is on the figures’ rural occupations. The attributes for each month are different in the mosaics, but the Latin names of the months and the number of days written in Greek letters are identical, and are found only in Byzantine mosaics in northern and southern Palestine and the Negev. The inscribed names of the months remain Macedonian until later (Avi-Yonah 1936: 22-25). Avi-Yonah (1936: 24) maintains that both pavements are an independent variant of the transition from Roman to Byzantine style, and that the monastery mosaic anticipates the later Byzantine tradition more than does the El-Hammam pavement. The Christian pavements at Beth-She"an represent civil and agricultural calendars, probably following earlier Roman calendar designs
personification of natural forces 193 Figure VIII-8. Months: Monastery of Lady Mary, Beth-She"an. (Webster 1938: 23-26, catalogue nos. 15, 18; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 85-86). In Jordanian church mosaics the Labours of the Months appear on three mosaics at Gerasa, of which two are almost completely disfigured: in the Elias, Maria and Soreg church they appear in twelve square panels of an interloped ellipsis in the first three eastern rows of the nave (Biebel 1938: 480; Saller and Bagatti 1949: 275-278, 284-285, fig. 17, pls. 46, 47, 50, 3-4-51, 4; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 127, no. 9; Piccirillo 1993: 39, 296 fig. 571). The full-length images of seven months and their Macedonian names written in Greek survived. The first month on the left is September, inscribed Garpiaios. It is represented as a vintager, a youth carrying grapes, a bunch in his right hand and a basket on his shoulder; he wears a tunic and chlamys. October, inscribed Hyperberetaios, almost completely destroyed, perhaps represented
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personification of natural forces 193<br />
Figure VIII-8. Months: Monastery of Lady Mary, Beth-She"an.<br />
(Webster 1938: 23-26, catalogue nos. 15, 18;<br />
Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 85-86).<br />
In Jordanian church mosaics the Labours of<br />
the Months appear on three mosaics at Gerasa,<br />
of which two are almost completely disfigured: in<br />
the Elias, Maria and Soreg church they appear<br />
in twelve square panels of an interloped ellipsis<br />
in the first three eastern rows of the nave (Biebel<br />
1938: 480; Saller and Bagatti 1949: 275-278,<br />
284-285, fig. 17, pls. 46, 47, 50, 3-4-51, 4;<br />
Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 127, no. 9; Piccirillo<br />
1993: 39, 296 fig. 571). The full-length images<br />
of seven months and their Macedonian names<br />
written in Greek survived.<br />
The first month on the left is September,<br />
inscribed Garpiaios. It is represented as a vintager,<br />
a youth carrying grapes, a bunch in his right hand<br />
and a basket on his shoulder; he wears a tunic<br />
and chlamys. October, inscribed Hyperberetaios,<br />
almost completely destroyed, perhaps represented
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