Untitled

Figure III-12. Part of a stone ceiling with zodiac at
Palmyra.
(Gaukler 1910, no. 447; Lehman 1945: 5, n.
29; Hachlili 1977: fig. 9; Dunbabin 1978: 161,
pl. 162; Gundel 1992: no. 210). However, rather
than forming a continuous pattern, the zodiac
signs on the Bir-Chana mosaic are framed in
separate units.
The next phase, represented by the 3rd-century
Münster-Sarnsheim mosaic floor, has the same
basic pattern (pl. III-12a). However, the frontal
sun god has replaced the seven planets, and in
the outer circle the zodiac signs are divided into
individual units (Parlasca 1959: 86-87, pl. 42, 84:
2; Gundel 1992: No.84). The sun god in the central
circle at Münster-Sarnsheim is the focal point
of the design. In both the examples of Palmyra
and Münster the central circle is the focal point,
the zodiac signs are rendered as a narrow outer
circle, and the objects situated diagonally in the
corners of the square are similar in composition.
The final phase, showing a more balanced re -
pre sentation of the same pattern, is found in the
2nd-century mosaic floor from the triclinium in
the ‘House of the Calendar’ at Antioch (fig. III-14).
The central circle has become smaller, the outer
circle larger (Webster 1938: 26, 119, pl. 2: 2; Levi
1941: 251, 281, fig. 3; 1947: 36-38; Stern 1953:
224-227, 256-258, 296, pl. XLII, 2; Campbell
1988: 60-62, fig. 24-25; pls. 183-185). 2 The Antioch
mosaic pavement depicts the representations of
the months rather than the zodiac signs. The
4 Hanfmann (1951: 248) maintains that ‘no later than
the 2nd century CE, a type of composition in which the
sun god is standing in his chariot, surrounded by the signs
of the zodiac and the months with the tropai placed in the
corners…the Seasons are not yet Seasons, but astronomical
the zodiac panel and its significance 51
outer circle is divided into radial units containing
the figures of the months, while the corners
contain representations of the seasons. The inner
circle has not survived.
The development of the design in these examples
of Roman art can be traced from ceiling to
pavement, from Palmyra to Antioch; the growing
number of calendar representations on mosaic
floors proves an increasing attraction in the cyclic
movement of time (Lehman 1945: 8- 9).
The basic form remains the same: two concentric
circles within a square. What changes is the
composition of the various parts and the balance
among them. A central circle containing the planets
in a geometric design undergoes a transition to
a centre with the sun god. A continuous, running
zodiac in the outer circle is transformed gradually
into one divided into radial units with a zodiac
sign in each. The purely aesthetic design of sirens
or fishes in the corners of the square is replaced
by the functional, but still aesthetic, design of the
seasons. Eventually the total design develops from
those of Palmyra and Münster, where one section,
the central circle, is dominant, to the more
harmoniously balanced design of Antioch.
The Jewish zodiac mosaic design, with the earliest
Hammath Tiberias panel, thus seems related
to the Antioch school and has its origins in Roman
art. Each part of the design (central circle, outer
circle, corners of the square) has comparable representations
in the art of the preceding Roman
period.
Several examples of the calendar’s balanced
circular design have survived from the late
Roman and Byzantine periods. On the 4th-5th
century mosaic pavement from Carthage the
central circle contains a seated figure, probably
representing Mother Earth. The outer circle renders
in a continuous frieze the Labours of the
Months, with their names inscribed above their
heads. The outside spandrels contain four seated
seasons inscribed with their names (Webster 1938:
20, pl. 5; Åkerström-Hougen 1974: 124, no. 5,
fig. 80; Hachlili 1979: fig. 11; only a drawing of
this mosaic is known).
The most striking resemblances to the Jewish
zodiac are found on two contemporary Roman-
Byzantine mosaic pavements in Greece:
tropai, the turning points of the sun during the year… Since
these ‘Turning Points’ were represented with the attributes
of Seasons, they are constantly confused with the seasons
in later renderings’.