Posted on 11/21/2009 1:38:46 PM PST by SunkenCiv
An investigation into temples built by Greek colonists in Sicily has found strong evidence that they were aligned to the East. The findings, by Alun Salt, of the University of Leicester, suggest that Ancient Greek religion may have included ritual elements inspired by astronomy, as well as illuminating the national culture of settlers who founded communities beyond the mainland. The study could settle a long-running dispute among archaeologists and classicists about temple orientation. Although it has long been known that most of these shrines face east, some academics have questioned whether this alignment reflected a deliberate plan. Critics of astronomical theories have pointed out that some temples face north, south or west, and argue that their orientation was not important to the Greeks. Dr Salt's research, however, indicates that the predominant east-west alignment is almost impossible to explain by chance... Efrosyni Boutsikas, of the University of Kent, disputed Dr Salt's conclusions. She said that her own analysis of 107 temples in Greece showed that only 58 per cent faced east... She added that Greek religion was not uniform and had many local manifestations. "Just saying that Greek temples are oriented towards the Sun is not enough," she said. "We need to say why this would have been important to the Greek cults and what this importance would have been. Any Greek archaeologist or classicists familiar with Greek religion will be able to tell you that there was no such thing as one Greek religion."
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
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Nonsense, modern science today tells us that the sun has absolutely nothing to do with our weather, climate or anything else... it’s merely there for decoration.
The explanation is "No Central Heat".
Might not seem important to most folks ~ who'd care whether or not a temple had central heat ~ but it was certainly very important to the poor priests and acolytes who lived there.
It was to their advantage to have the Sun rise and warm the main portico. Then they could be about their business early in the day.
Of course temples aren't the only ancient buildings (or modern buildings) built with an Eastern exposure for the purpose of warming up.
Didn’t work out so well for Icarus.
Good point. There’s also a tendency to try to find such orientation where it doesn’t actually exist, such as in the Pyramids of Giza, which leads to alleged researchers referring to a high degree of precision in such orientation where there isn’t any precision at all, just wishful thinking and mindreading the dead ancients. :’)
Don’t get me started on that fairy!
It certainly wasn't occidental....
Why do I suddenly feel that you are about to become the central figure in a FR death cult?
Whadda ya mean no precision? It is precisely - to the nanometer - where it is now:)
...add to that the fact that most of these temples had one main door - in the portico. If you want to say your morning prayers, or “be about their business early in the day” as you say, it’s nice to have the sun coming in to illuminate the place, no?
A little light in the kitchen area would be great for the cooks.
(NOTE: Little noted event ~ burnt offerings were common throughout the Classical World ~ particularly after they abolished infanticide and human sacrifice.)
This thread brings back memories of my visit to the Acropolis - so beautiful.
;’)
The orientation wasn't occidental.
Cheers!
I thought it was fairly well established that the orientation of the 3 pyramids of Giza had the relationship of the 3 stars of Orion’s belt, or is this not yet an accepted explanation?
No, that’s not generally accepted, except by Bauval and his fans. :’)
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