Mosaic of Roman Imperial age, from El Djem, and now in the Archaeological Museum, Sousse, Tunisia. The modern town of El Djem is located on the remains of the ancient Roman city of Thysdrus, which had a period of great economic development during the empire of Adrian (117-138 A.D.), mostly thanks to the commerce of olive oil. On the pavements of the rooms of about thirty Roman villas archaeological excavations have brought to light many mosaics with mythological subjects. One of these mosaics is formed by a series of medallions illustrating the seasons and the months of the year. The month of November represents the Egyptian god Anubis, a funerary deity to whom was entrusted the mummification of Osiris, and consequently of every corpse, and who accompanied the dead to the Afterworld (Heerma Van Voss 2005). He has at his sides two human figures with animal attributes (horns or long ears) who could probably be identified as dead persons. We can observe that the identification of November as the month of the dead shall register a considerable development in the Christian era.


[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sousse_mosaic_calendar_November.JPG]