New Study Shows Some Greek Temples Were Oriented to the Moon or Stars, Rather than the Sun

Ancient Origins

The Ancient Greeks, who designed temples in honor of gods, goddesses and heroes, usually oriented them facing the rising sun or to the cardinal directions. But a new study shows that a few of the Greek temples near the ancient Sicilian city of Agrigento are aligned to the stars, the moon and the layout of the city. A research team is exploring why.
The temples in question are in the Valley of Temples outside Agrigento, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was known as Akragas in ancient times. For many years scholars have speculated about the orientations of the temples. Ten temples remain standing in Akragas, including those of Herakles, Jupiter, Juno, Demeter and Persephone, Concordia, and Vulcan.
The research team of Robert Hannah of the University of Waikato in New Zealand, Giulio Magli of the School of Civil Architecture in Milan and archaeoastronomer Andrea Orlando published the results of their study in arXiv.org. They wrote in the abstract:

The issue of the orientation of Greek Temples has been the subject of several debates since the end of the 19^th century. In fact, although a general tendency to orientation within the arc of the rising sun is undeniable, specific patterns and true meaning remain obscure. … Our results include an important temple which was essentially yet unpublished, and most of all show that very different reasons influenced the orientation choices – some symbolical, but others by far more practical – besides the general rule of orienting “to the rising sun.”

Thirty-eight of the 41 temples that originally stood in Akragas were aligned with the rising of the sun, scholars believe.  But they wrote that they identified a temple oriented with the town’s grid, which was laid out on crossing lines of longitude and latitude. They also said two other temples with anomalous orientations, one aligned to a constellation and the other to the moon.
One of the three that apparently is not aligned with sunrise is the temple of Demeter and Persephone, later transformed into the church of San Biagio in the Middle Ages. It was built between 480 and 470 BC and is aligned with a lunar event called the azimuth.

‘The Return of Persephone’ by Frederick Leighton; the researchers are unsure why the temple of Demeter and Persephone, which they identified based on a statue, was oriented to the lunar azimuth. (Wikimedia Commons)

Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of nature. Her brother Hades, god of the underworld and afterlife, raped and abducted Persephone and took her to his realm. Demeter grieved and withheld grain from the people of Earth. Zeus, having mercy on humanity, sent Hermes to retrieve Persephone, who then lived in the world for eight months of the year and in the underworld during winter. In celebration at having her daughter back, Demeter established the Eleusinian mysteries—the most famous mystery rites in the ancient Greek world.

“We know very little about the relationship between astronomy and those secret religious rites. A connection with the moon-orientated temple is possible and will be at the center of further research,” Magli told Discovery.

The other is the temple of Juno or Hera, which the authors call magnificent, and which they say is oriented to the constellation Delphinus (the Dolphin). It was built in the middle of the fifth century BC.  Hera was Zeus’ wife and the supreme goddess of the Olympians.

The temple of Juno on the hill in the background (Photo by poudou99/Wikimedia Commons)

The third is the temple of Zeus or Jupiter, the supreme god much loved by the ancient Greeks. “There is therefore little (if any) doubt that one of the largest temples of the Greek world, the Akragas temple of Jupiter – azimuth 78° 30' – was orientated topographically in accordance with the street grid,” they wrote. “Incredible as it may seem, we have been unable to find this simple explanation in the literature.”
The Greeks built their temples in natural places, and admission was reserved to priests and a select few others. The authors say the temple was the god’s home. The statue of the god looked out from the main axis in the direction of the sun in the east in most cases.

“The god's domestic welfare (hence, the beauty and decorum of the building, correct insertion in the landscape, regular giving of daily offerings) was fundamental to assure benevolence and protection to the community,” they wrote. “The cult image, located in the central place of the temple, was in many cases an out-and-out masterpiece, like the famous ivory-and-gold statues of Zeus at Olympia and of Athena in the Parthenon in Athens.”

Featured image: One of the Greek temples in the Valley of Temples outside Agrigento, Sicily (Photo by Jos Dielis/Wikimedia Commons)
By: Mark Miller

Archaeologists in Sicily excavate an ancient Greek city remarkably preserved beneath earth and sand

Ancient Origins

In 409 BC, Carthaginian troops from North Africa slaughtered and enslaved the 16,000 soldiers and residents of Selinunte, a Greek metropolis whose ruins were preserved in ancient times by blowing earth and sand. Working for many years, archaeologists have examined and excavated the entire city to find 2,500 houses, the streets and harbor and an industrial zone that produced exquisite pottery.
Archaeologists have compared Selinunte to Pompeii in the degree of preservation. Pompeii, on the Italian mainland, was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
About 15 percent of Selinunte, including a spectacular acropolis and temples, had remained above-ground and was visited on what the British of the Georgian and Victorian used to call the Grand Tour. They called it the City of the Gods. More than 500 years ago a temblor knocked down those buildings. Two of the temples were re-built in the mid-20^th century and have been a tourist attraction ever since.

“Selinunte is the only classical Greek city where the entire metropolis is still preserved, mainly buried under sand and earth. It therefore gives us a unique opportunity to discover how an ancient Greek city functioned,” Martin Bentz of the University of Bonn, head of excavations now underway at Selinunte, told The Independent.

This pot, which was made in Selinunte, shows a rider with a spear and an attendant. (Photo by Marie Lan-Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons)

Before Selinunte, scholars had found not one single entirely intact ancient Greek city and were able to study only fragmentary city plans and ancient city life. The study of Selinunte has shed much light on the ancient world and its demographics and lifestyles. Researchers never knew how many residents there were in any ancient Greek cities until Selinunte.
Archaeologists found a half-eaten meal inside a dozen bowls around a hearth in a building that burned during the invasion and will analyze the food residue. They have also found dozens of unfired ceramic pots and tiles in the city, which was a major producer of ceramics. Terrified locals apparently left these products unfired because the invasion interrupted their work.
Recent excavations have brought to light pottery kilns and entire workshops. Archaeologists have found pigments used to paint the ceramics and 80 kilns, including large circular ones for producing roof tiles and amphorae jars and a dozen large rectangular kilns for firing giant amphorae and coffins. In smaller kilns, workers fired weights, tableware and small statues of the gods.
The ceramicists had a chapel for worshiping a working-class goddess, Athena Ergane of Athena of the Workers, and Artemis, Demeter and Zeus, the supreme deity.

A pottery piece made in Selinunte showing Artemis with a bow and arrow in front of an altar (Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons)

Scholars are examining pottery from around the Mediterranean to determine how much of it originated in Selinunte, which produced much more than it could use on its own. They estimate the city’s residents produced 300,000 ceramic pieces per year, but less than 20 percent of that was for domestic use. In addition, amphorae produced in Selinunte may have been used to transport the city’s surplus wheat and olive oil, The Independent says.
Researchers have been studying Selinunte’s man-made harbor and will use geophysical surveys to find the foundations of warehouses that would have been positioned around it. Artifacts in the city’s shops and houses, including pottery, glass and bronze pieces from Egypt, Turkey, southern France and northern Italy, show that ships from far and wide docked in the harbor.
The city, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea, didn’t exist for very long. Ancient Greeks founded it between 650 and 630 BC. A bit more than 200 years later, Carthage attacked and killed and enslaved its defenders and residents.
The Carthaginians, at war with Greece, besieged the city for nine days and then breached its walls and overwhelmed its defenders.

“What followed was an orgy of destruction, torture, rape, murder and looting that was considered abhorrent even by the standards of those days,” says the site Best of Sicily. “According to Diodorus Siculus, about 16,000 of Selinunte's estimated 25,000 or so civilians were butchered outright and 7,000 were enslaved. Only a scant two thousand managed to escape the bloodbath and make their way to Agrigento.”

The Carthaginians repopulated the city some, but it never regained its former power or prestige. During the first Punic War with Rome in 250 BC, Carthaginian forces destroyed the city before fleeing Roman troops.
Featured image: The interior of what researchers call Temple E in Selinunte (Photo by Evan Erickson/Wikimedia Commons)
By: Mark Miller

History Trivia - Temple of Apollo at Daphne destroyed by fire

 October 22

362 A mysterious fire destroyed the temple of Apollo at Daphne outside Antioch. 

741 King Charles Martel, the grandfather of the great emperor Charlemagne, died at age 53. 

History Trivia - The Parthenon in Athens severely damaged by a gunpowder explosion

Sept 26

 46 BC Julius Caesar dedicated a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in accordance with a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus. 

1181 St. Francis of Assisi, Italian Founder of the Franciscan Order, was born. 

1687 The Parthenon in Athens, unscathed since 432 BC, was severely damaged by a gunpowder explosion, caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini (Doge of Venice) who besieged the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.

Archaeologists unearth marble sarcophagus from ancient Thracian burial mound

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists from the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia in Bulgaria have discovered a massive ancient marble sarcophagus in the south east of the country. It once belonged to an aristocrat in Thrace, a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe, centered on the modern borders of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey.
The mound (tumulus) in which the tomb was found can be dated to the third century AD in the Roman period, and is located near the town of Boyanovo in Bulgaria’s Elhovo Municipality. The sarcophagus is 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) long and 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) wide with walls that are 15 centimeters (6 inches) thick and archaeologist Daniela Agre and her team have estimated its weight at around 6 metric tons (2,200 pounds).

The ancient Thracian marble sarcophagus once housed a coffin and a body, as well as numerous artifacts. It’s thought to date to the third century AD. Credit: ElhovoNews

The archaeologists have also discovered a colonnade, and a second tomb constructed of brick masonry which has murals painted on its walls. However, the mound has been raided on several occasions by treasure hunters, over at least the past couple of centuries, meaning that many artifacts that the tomb may have contained are now lost. One of the raiders was a local Turkish Bey (a governor during the period when the country was occupied by the Ottoman Empire). Nevertheless, the archaeologists managed to recover a number of minor items that the treasure hunters overlooked.
The Romans conquered much of the area south of the Danube in 46 AD. The Thracian rulers were subsequently absorbed into the Roman provincial aristocracy. Thrace itself was named after the Thracian tribes by the Ancient Greeks. The word may also refer to a mythological character who was a sorceress and daughter of Oceanus and Parthenope. Her sister was Europa, after whom the continent of Europe was named. Thrax, an ancestor of the Greeks who was a son of the war god Ares, was also said to reside in Thrace. In Homer’s Illiad, the Thracians allied themselves to Troy during the Trojan War and the city-state is also mentioned in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Painting depciting the legend of Europa and the White Bull, Zeus. The sorceress ‘Thrace’ was said to be daughter of Oceanus and sister to Europa. Public Domain

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“We have an exceptional archaeological site here” said Ms. Agre, speaking to The ElhovoNews, in turn reported by the Archaeology in Bulgaria website. “This mound also presents interesting events from Bulgaria’s more recent past. Its ‘excavation’ began in the middle of the 19^th century by the bey of Boyanovo who, in his search for treasures, had the local peasants dig up the mound. They found a very interesting sarcophagus, crushed its lid, and found inside a golden vessel, and several silver and bronze vessels.”
Agre added that these events were recorded at the end of the 19^th century by two Czech-Bulgarian brothers called Karel and Hermann Skorpil, who are widely considered to be the founders of modern Bulgarian archaeology following the liberation of the country from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. The treasure in the sarcophagus inspired the locals to start talking about the King’s Mound, which had been unknown until the present discovery.
When the archaeologists investigated the site, they found that the mound had been raided in 2000. Indeed, the investigation itself was triggered by reports of more digging by treasure hunters earlier this year. The local people heard that they had reached the sarcophagus and that’s when they alerted the authorities. Bulgaria’s Ministry of Culture decided a rescue mission was in order.
“Our goal has been to unearth the sarcophagus, and to prepare it for its moving to the Elhovo Museum of Ethnography and Archaeology” Agre continued. “In the course of time, the sarcophagus had filled up [with earth]. Inside it, we have found a very interesting fragment from an alabaster vessel, several fragments of glass vessels, a bronze buckle. All of these are item demonstrating the wealth of the buried Thracian aristocrat who lived during the Roman Age. Based on the materials that we have found, our estimation is the beginning of the third century AD.”
The occupant of the tomb was placed in a coffin inside the sarcophagus. Archaeologists have discovered fragments of its lid, which means it could be restored by a skilled craftsman.

The brightly painted murals inside the Thracian tomb of Aleksandrovo, at Haskovo Province, South-Eastern Bulgaria. Representational image only. (KLMircea, Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0)

The colonnade dates to the Roman period and may have been constructed in front of a façade, with columns on both sides. This may be related to the second tomb, built of masonry, and decorated with murals in a number of colors, including yellow, green, blue and shades of red. The murals also incorporate floral and geometric motifs. Unfortunately, this tomb has also been raided, first in the Antiquity period and also more recently.

Ruins of an ancient colonnade were found at the recently unearthed King’s Mound in Boyanovo, Bulgaria. Credit: ElhovoNews

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Bulgaria is home to hundreds of such rich burial mounds, such as the Thracian tombs of Sveshtari and Kazanlak, UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is thought they might represent royal burials.

Beautiful friezes are found within the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria. (KLMircea, Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Featured image: The commanding stone walls and doorways of the Thracian tomb of Kazanlak in Bulgaria. Such Thracian tombs are found across Bulgaria, such as the King’s Mound and marble sarcophagus as unearthed by archaeologists at Boyanovo recently. Representational image only. (KLMircea, Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0)
By: Robin Whitlock

4,000-Year-Old Relief Carvings and Decorated Stone Blocks Discovered in Temple of Serapis in Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered two 4,000-year-old reliefs in the Temple of Serapis on the Red Sea. The Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Eldamaty announced last week that discoveries also included blocks of stone engraved with a goddess and a bounty of flowers.
A team of Polish archaeologists found the two raised wall carvings in a Temple of Serapis which once belonged to the Ptolemaic Queen Berenice.
According to The Siasat Daily, the reliefs date to the Middle Kingdom (2050-1750 BC) and the Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC), eras long before the temple’s actual construction date, suggesting they were brought in later.
ZeeNews reports, “The first relief has a cartouche containing the name of the Pharaoh Amenemhat IV - the seventh and next-to-last pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty - whose reign was characterized by exploration expeditions for precious turquoise and amethyst, while the second relief, quite damaged, requires restoration.”

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The team of archaeologists at the temple also recovered several stone blocks which were originally bases for statuary. The stones are said to be highly decorated and engraved with lotus and papyrus flowers, a goddess image, and writing in Greek.

Partial titulary of pharaoh Amenemhat IV (end 12th Dynasty) on a relief from the temple of Medinet Maadi, Faiyum. Representational image. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Serapis was a Greco-Egyptian god and patron of Alexandria who was often depicted as a Greek man dressed in Egyptian clothing; a symbol of unity between Greeks and Egyptians under Ptolmey I in the third century BC. Even his name was a blend of the Egyptian Osiris and the Apis bull (Osiris + Apis = Oserapis/Sarapis). He represented abundance and resurrection.

Head of Serapis, from a 12-foot statue found off the coast of Alexandria. (CC BY 3.0)

Temples devoted to Serapis were called serapeum, and the cults of Serapis flourished under the Ptolemaic kings who ruled ancient Egypt. The grandest serapeum was said to be in Alexandria.

The remains of the ancient site of the Temple complex of Sarapis at Alexandria. It once included the temple, a library, lecture rooms, and smaller shrines but after many reconstructions and conflict over the site it is mostly ground level ruins.  (Iris Fernandez/CC BY 2.0)

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The establishment of the cult and temples of Serapis were one of many symbols of Ptolemaic legitimization in ancient Egypt. The Pharos of Alexandria was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the most famous lighthouse in antiquity. The incredible feat of ancient engineering stood at an impressive height of 130 meters (430ft) until it was destroyed by an earthquakes in the 14^th century AD.
Egyptian authorities have this year approved plans to rebuild the towering monument.
Featured Image: Relief carved from stone featuring Ptolemy XIII of Egypt and the deity Isis. Representational image.  (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Ancient Origins

Long Lost Egyptian Temple Found

 

A general overview of the temple.

The Gebel el Silsila Survey Project 2015

Discovery News


Remains of the long lost temple of Kheny have been unearthed at Gebel el Silsila, north of Aswan, Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities announced today.
Revealing the foundations and blockwork of the temple, the ruins are one of the few remnants of the settlement of Kheny or Khenu, which is the ancient Egyptian name — meaning “Rowing Place” — for Gebel el-Silsila.

Lost Egyptian Temple Ruins Unearthed: Photos

The site, located on both banks of the Nile between Edfu and Kom Ombo, was extensively used as a quarry from the New Kingdom until Roman times.
“We know that huge quantities of sandstone for temple building were quarried there,” Lund University archaeologist Maria Nilsson, director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project, told Discovery News.
Indeed, virtually all of Egypt’s great temples, including those at Karnak and Luxor, were built with sandstone from Gebel el Silsila.
“Now this finding changes the history of the site, and it firmly establishes Gebel el Silsila as not only a quarry, but also a sacred location,” she added.
While cult activities at the site were mainly associated with the Nile and its inundation, the principal deity was Sobek, the god of crocodiles who controlled the waters.
“At the moment we do not know to whom the temple was dedicated,” Nilsson said.
“We believe it marked the beginning of the east bank quarries. We hope further archaeological work and research will reveal more,” she added.

Photos: Egyptian Pharaoh Carved in Quarry

Nilsson and associate director John Ward have been working at Gebel el-Silsila since 2012, unearthing cartouches for Amenhotep III and Ramses II as well as hundreds of rock inscriptions.
The temple remains were recorded somewhere between 1906 and 1925 and described as a destroyed Ramesside temple in a map published by German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt in 1934. The temple was then forgotten.
Nilsson and John Ward located its remains by studying Borchardt’s rudimentary map along with an unpublished plan drawing by Egyptologist Peter Lacovara, curator at the M. C. Carlos Museum in Emory University.
They found foundations measuring approximately 115 feet by 60 feet. Blockwork included four visible dressed floor levels, column bases, inner and outer walls.
While obvious marks on the ground refer to five columns bases in the west side of the building, two painted sandstone fragments featuring the Egyptian star and sky indicate the temple boasted a starred ceiling.
Mummy-Making Began Long Before Pharaohs
According to Nilsson and Ward, the remains reveal evidence for at least four chronological periods, spanning about 1500 years, from the reigns of Thutmosis/Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, Ramses II to Roman times.

“The oldest building phase of the temple was made up by limestone, which is unique within a sandstone quarry, and may signify the official changeover from limestone construction to sandstone,” Nilsson said.

The archaeologists unearthed hundreds of decorated and painted blockwork, and over 300 decorated limestone fragments which showed iconography characteristic to the early Thutmosid period (1500-1450 BC). Hieroglyphic text mentioned the name of the site, Kheny.
“The limestone scenes had been destroyed during antiquity to be reused as foundation filling together with sand and pebbles for a later construction phase. A square decorated limestone base was still intact,” Nilsson said.
New Pharaoh Found in Egypt: Photos
Almost 300 raised and sunken painted relief fragments included the cartouches of two later rulers – Amenhotep III and Ramses II, providing evidence for two later temple phases. A fourth chronological period was testified by late Ptolemaic and early Roman storage activity.
In the temple area, the archaeologists also found 18th Dynasty beads, coloured plaster, faience sherds, thousands of pot sherds, and a blue-coloured scarab possibly dating to the 2nd Intermediate Period.
According to the archaeologists, further research is required to better understand the temple’s role and importance.

“We hope to continue the archaeological work on site, especially as its state of preservation is so poor and requires immediate documentation before it is too late,” Nilsson said.

Designs revealed for Iceland's first pagan temple in 1,000 years

By Matt Finn
Fox News

For the first time in 1,000 years a new pagan temple is being constructed in Iceland’s capital city that will house a shrine to the Norse gods Thor, Odin and Frigg.
“We see this as so much part of our heritage,” said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of the Asatru religion.

 

The temple is ten years in the making and is currently under construction. The 4,000 square foot facility will overlook the Icelandic capital and be completed in 2016. It will give Icelanders the opportunity to publicly worship at the shrine to gods.  

“Some people love the idea, they really want to go back to the Viking era,” Hilmarsson said.
Iceland was originally founded by pagan settlers. Asatru remained the sole religion of the country for over 100 years until it gave way to Christianity in the year 1000. Some Icelanders experienced religious conflicts with northern European countries.
“Some Icelanders converted to Christianity, but it was a business deicision because some business owners would not trade with pagans,” Hilmarsson said.
The high priest tells Foxnews.com Norse paganism experienced a revival in Iceland beginning in the 1970’s that’s paved the way for the new temple.
The temple will serve as a place of worship but it won’t be a lively or organized celebration.
“It’s more like coming together, sanctifying the movement, having a sacred space,” Hilmarsson said. “More close to Hindu ceremonies.”
Hilmarsson said Thor, Ordin and Frigg are important deities in the religion. Thor is the protector of mankind, Ordin is the god of wisdom and poetry, and Frigg is the goddess of domestic and love.
If names like Thor ring a bell, it might be because some Asatru gods have recently seen a surge in America thanks to Marvel’s blockbuster films about them.
“There is a skewed vision because the Marvel version is like a Shakespeare,” Hilmarsson said. “We certainly enjoy them but don’t see them as religious in any sense.
The priest said the gods are viewed as mystical and symbolic. Most modern worshipers don’t consider them to be living beings that are capable of flying down from the clouds.
“We don’t tend to be literal in our beliefs in Iceland, not even the Christian ones,” Hilmarsson said.
The Asatru religion might describe itself as poetic--but if some Christians, especially those in the Western hemisphere, were to take a literal look at the new altar to pagan gods they might consider it satanic. Hilmarsson says Norse is the opposite of devil worship.
“There is nothing remotely satanic or demonic in this,” Hilmarsson said. “This is a very gentle movement on how to be a good friend, good to your family and an honorable person.”
Hlynur Gudjonsson, the Consul General and Trade Commissioner of Iceland’s consulate in New York tells Foxnews.com that most American’s might not understand what Asatru is—but those who do realize it’s a peaceful practice.  
“I’ve never met anyone who has anything negative to say about it,” Gudjonsson said.

Illegal dig unearths ancient Egyptian temple

 

Seven men have been arrested in Egypt after digging up an ancient temple under a house in Giza, just outside Cairo.
Egyptian news website Ahram reports that the illegal excavation revealed the remains of a temple from the reign of Pharoah Tuthmose III.

 

The dig revealed huge limestone blocks covered in hieroglyphics, which belong to a massive temple, according to Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El-Damaty.
Ahram reports that two marble columns were also unearthed, along with seven reliefs and a large armless colossus of a seated person, made from red granite.
Major General Momtaz Fathi, an aide to the interior ministry and a director in Egypt’s tourism police, said that the find was made in mid October.
The arrests were made after Egypt’s tourism and antiquities police heard about the illegal excavation. Police found diving suits, diving masks and oxygen cylinders when they raided the dig, according to Ahram.
The unearthed artifacts were taken to the nearby archaeological site of Saqqara for restoration and further study. The Hod Zeleikha area of Giza where the illegal dig took place has now been declared an archaeological site, according to El-Damaty, who noted that more of the temple will be excavated.
Tuthmose III, known as “the Napoleon of ancient Egypt” as a result of his military successes, reigned from 1479 to 1425 B.C.
Located on the outskirts of Cairo, Giza is best known as the location of the Great Sphinx and the pyramids.
Fox News