Re-Reading the Little Metropolis Calendar Frieze

Abstract This article is a reinterpretation of the iconography of an ancient calendar frieze that stretches across the west side of Athens’ so-called Church of Aghios Eleutherios, otherwise known as the Little Metropolis. This is the first article that identifies all forty-one figures that form at least three calendars. Symbols of the zodiac and other important constellations or stars (Boötes, Orion, and Perseus, as well as the Dog or Sirius) represent (1) the sidereal-year calendar; personifications of seasons represent (2) the solar year; and personifications of the synodic lunar months and their attending festivals represent (3) the Athenian festival calendar. It is the first thorough discussion of personified seasons as representatives of the solar year, accommodating both three- and four-season models, with the winged figure of Dikē/Eirene/Parthenos/Virgo serving as a season and constellation as well as a goddess. Festival representations include a victorious youth treading the grapes; Kronos and perhaps worshippers of Mēn, an imported moon god; a lampadophoros riding a donkey at the Hephaistia; the crowning of an Archon Basileus; and Hebe and Herakles at the Genesia. These and other figures, e.g. the zodiac figure Chēlai, rather than Zugos/Libra, encourage a Hellenistic date which, in consideration of the physical details of the frieze block, can be assigned to the prothyron or gateway of a gymnasium, most likely the Ptolemaion.