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a fowler, a bird-catcher. Of November, inscribed
Dios, the lower part of a figure survived, possibly
representing sowing. January, inscribed Audoneoos,
is a seated figure holding in his raised right hand
a small jar with a caduceus in his left. February,
inscribed Peritios, though destroyed is a falconer.
May, inscribed Artemisios, is a figure holding a
flower or fruits. August, inscribed Loos, shows a
figure holding a hoe or fan.
The two other Gerasa pavements were
almost completely destroyed: personification
of the months originally filled the rectangular
panels alternating with perspective meander of
the border of the central square at the church
of St. John the Baptist church (Wells 1938: 480,
inscription no. 307; Webster 1938: 29-30, no. 16);
inscriptions of the summer months and sketches
of two of the figures are the only surviving fragments.
In the chapel of the cathedral at Gerasa,
the months originally were rendered in the centre
of the nave in two rectangular panels; each panel
contained six squares in which the personifications
of six months were depicted. The images,
destroyed by iconoclasts, were either full figures or
busts, accompanied by their Macedonian names
inscribed in Greek, which survived (Biebel 1938:
313, 475, no.295; Webster 1938: 30, no. 17; Piccirillo
1993: 39, 284, figs. 528, 531). The Macedonian
names inscribed on the Gerasa mosaics
follow the calendar used in Antioch.
Personifications of the months are presented on
the ‘Mosaic of the Months’ at Antioch (fig. III-14)
(Webster 1938: 26-7; no. 2; Campbell 1988). The
calendar design is similar to the zodiac scheme
in the synagogues. Only January, March, April,
May, and June survived in the outer circle of
the design. March and May might be female figures.
The Macedonian names of the months are
inscribed in Greek letters.
Comparable personifications of the months
are depicted on the north and south aisles of the
mosaics in Qabr Hiram church, where the months
are represented by busts, with almost no attributes
and accompanied by Macedonian names in
Greek letters, each rendered in a round medallion
(Donceel-Voûte 1988: 412-415).
Personifications of the twelve months in squares
appear in an interesting rectangular geometric
design on a 5th-century mosaic pavement in the
main hall of the Tallaras Baths, on the Greek
island of Astypalaea (Jacoby 2001: 230, figs. 1,
5). The months, portrayed as crude busts, nine
male and three female, are arranged in four rows,
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three months to a row of the middle square. No
inscription accompanies these depictions of the
months.
Personifications of the months appear on secular
floors of the Greek East at Argos (c.500 CE),
Tegea (350 CE) and Thebes. The months are
represented as male figures holding attributes,
objects, or animals; at Argos all the months except
December survived; they are full-length standing
figures. At Thebes the four panels show running
figures of the four months July, February,
May, and April, while at Tegea the months are
presented by busts of young males (Åkerström-
Hougen 1974: 120-123, nos. 1,2; figs. 75-77).
Åkerström-Hougen (1974: 153) contends that the
calendar at Argos is ‘the earliest fully preserved,
already Byzantine in character’.
At Carthage three floors with personifications
of the months were found. The Carthage calendar
(c. 400) mosaic design of a square with two circles
is similar to the zodiac scheme of the synagogues;
the Four Seasons set in the spandrels of the square
are seated full-length figures. The months are in
the outer circle consisting of full-length male figures,
except February and May represented as
females; a seated figure, Mother Earth or Abundance,
is portrayed in the inner circle (Webster
1938: no.11; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 120-123,
no. 5, Carthage I). Åkerström-Hougen (1974:
120-123, no. 6, Carthage II) maintains that four
scenes on the Dominus Julius mosaic are personifications
of the months February, April, May,
and August. A fragmentary floor from Carthage
(3rd-4th century: in the British Museum; Webster
1938: no.10; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 120-123,
no. 7, Carthage III) originally contained two rings
of wedge-shaped panels in which the personifications
of the months were depicted round a central
medallion. Only the four months March, April,
July, and November survived.
Similar in most of these mosaics are the representations
of the Labours of the Months and
attributes (Avi-Yonah 1936: 25-26; Åkerström-
Hougen 1974: 83-4, Tables II-III; Roussin 1985:
93-109):
January is rendered as a consul with a mappa
on the mosaics of El-Hammam, the Monastery
of Lady Mary, Beth She"an and the Elias, Maria,
and Soreg church at Gerasa. The same image
appears on the Argos pavement and in the Vatican
Ms.1291. February has different images: the
Monastery of Lady Mary he carries a hoe, at the
Elias, Maria, and Soreg church he is bird-catching,