Zodiac mosaics in ancient synagogues

The Beth Alpha example has been called one of Israel's great artistic treasures,[8] so filled with feeling and so packed with information for scholars to study.

Lucille A. Roussin sees the sun deity depicted in the mosaics as continuation of an ancient faith in angels seen as entities interposed between the highest, seventh firmament understood as the seat of God, and the earthly realm.

[11] The combination of zodiac signs grouped around Helios and with personifications of the four seasons in the corners is typical for ancient synagogues from Eretz Israel.

[12] Additionally, two more similar examples from Greece are known, none of them synagogues, where the four seasons in the corners are however replaced by the four winds of heaven: one in Sparta (4th century), which also has the solar calendar (the twelve months), and one from Thessaloniki.

[12] Jacoby suggests that the depiction of the lunar and solar calendars, both in use at the time, must have been such common motifs that they reached even such a remote place as the island of Astypalaea.

[13][14][15] The mosaic comes from Bir Chana in the Zaghouan region of Tunisia (part of the Roman province of Africa at the time) and is on display at the Bardo Museum in Tunis.