Classical and Archaeological Studies

The cities of Greece had their own calendars, so how did they all know when the god Apollo had returned from the northern realms and it was time to consult the oracle at Delphi? The authors show that the heliacal rising of the constellation Delphinus probably provided the annual marker, and that because of the mountains it appeared to rise a month later at Delphi than elsewhere, giving would-be visitors time to travel. The landscape of Delphi was itself instrumental in creating or enhancing the cosmology of Apollo.

This paper re-visits the generally accepted view that the normal orientation of ancient Greek temples is towards the east, through a general analysis of 107 Greek temple orientations collected by the author. The paper also attempts to establish whether there existed a general principle that related to specific astronomical observations and could have determined the orientation of Greek temples. The analysis applies archaeoastronomical methodology in investigating orientation patterns of Greek temples from the Geometric to the Hellenistic periods in Greece. These first results show that the sun does not seem to have played as a decisive role in the orientation of temples as currently thought. Instead, there appears to be a much larger variation than accounted for at present that cannot be simply explained by the concept of the predominance of eastern orientations. It is concluded that all-encompassing interpretations do not appear to apply in Greek religion and cult practices, and that the study of Greek cult needs to account for local variations, traditions and landscapes.

The study of astronomical knowledge and observations in ancient cultures has enabled and enriched archaeological interpretations in contexts as diverse as pre-Columbian America, later prehistoric Europe, Egypt, Babylonia, and the Far East. The application of archaeoastronomy to the study of ancient Greek religion has been less successful and has been hampered by poor practice. Through a case study that investigates the astronomy in Alcman’s Partheneion and its possible relationship with the Artemis Orthia rites carried out at her sanctuary in Sparta, we aim to show that a robust and methodologically sound archaeoastronomical approach can contribute to a better understanding of the role of astronomy in Greek religious practice and perceptions of the cosmos.

For the first time, the role of the night sky in the performance of nocturnal festivals in ancient Greece is considered. This study presents a reconstruction of the Athenian night sky as it would have been visible from the Acropolis during the celebration of the Panathenaia. A link is suggested between the timing of the festival held on the Acropolis, and the movement of the constellation of Draco, which would have been visible in the night sky during this time. This association is supported by the half-human half-snake early Athenian kings, the myths association with the festival, the snake that lived in the Erechtheion crypt, and the role of Athena in the Gigantomachy. The visible surroundings of the Athenian Acropolis that participants of the nocturnal rites would have seen offer a nuanced understanding of the relationship between Greek cosmology, astronomy, and ritual practice.

Whether the positioning of ancient Greek temples was deliberate and facilitated astronomical observations has been a concern for scholars since the nineteenth century. Twenty-first-century research on Greek archaeoastronomy has identified the shortcomings of earlier approaches and has built on a new methodology which integrates archaeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence on the
astronomical observations, in order to create interpretations that improve our narrative, understanding, and reconstruction of the role of astronomy in ancient Greek cult practice.

Aiming at a better understanding of ways through which the ancient Greek religious experience was shaped, this chapter investigates the role and use of darkness in religious belief and practice. The orientation and certain architectural features of Greek temples, Dionysiac and Mystery cults, divination, rites of passage, magic, and other nocturnal rituals are examined here in an investigation of the interplay between light, darkness, and shadow and the aims fulfilled by such associations. It transpires that darkness was a decisive element in the religious experience, one that intensified the emotional condition of the participants, whilst shaping the ritual experience and memory of the event.

The paper presents a new methodological approach to the study of ancient Greek religious sites. This involves the use of Virtual Reality software, combined with astronomical reconstruction software, in order to recreate ancient Greek religious environments at the time of ritual performance. Religious architecture and spatial movement at specific times in the year and day or night, determine experience of religious spaces and, consequently, emotions and spatial memory.

The temple of Epicurean Apollo in Bassae has long been suspected to have been constructed with astronomical considerations in mind, which were aimed at affecting ancient religious experience. Through the use of this temple as a case study for the application of the proposed methodology, the paper assesses the potential of such reconstructions to inform us on ancient spatial movement, emotionality and cognition, but also on ways through which natural light may have been manipulated in order to enhance experience of religious architecture.

The paper will reveal a great deal about the way the visitor's sense of reality was articulated, in the hope to facilitate discussion on the contribution of digital technology in understanding ancient Greek ritual experience.

Recent research has linked astronomical observations with religious performances in ancient Greece. These ideas have also been the subject of discussion in other cultures, such as Egypt and Rome. In the case of ancient Greece, the purpose of these observations appears to have been twofold: firstly as temporal markers signifying the arrival of the time for the celebration of the festivals, but more importantly, the same astronomical observations seem to have been linked with the foundation myths and deities worshiped during these festivals. This latter effect greatly influenced religious experience with regards to the senses, emotions and memories of these performances.

The paper investigates the impact of attested astronomical observations during religious performances on sensory memory, spatial movement, imagination, and cognition of the participating cosmos, in order to understand the reasons behind such a practice. Mythological narratives shaped memory, identities, and experience during nocturnal ritual performances and through movement within religious space. The study of multi-sensory experience of a space as influenced by the time of the day/night can reveal a great deal about the way the participant’s sense of reality is articulated. Religious architecture, spatial movement and astronomical observations provide the ground for experiencing and understanding the world. These three factors direct attention and shape experience. It transpires that certain ancient Greek religious sanctuaries can be seen as arenas where groups re-enact their mythical pasts using astronomical observations as the medium in achieving this. The analysis concludes that astronomical symbolism played a role not only in the experience of these rituals, but also in the construction of identities and perceptions of the cosmos.

The paper seeks to arrive at a synthesized image of ancient Greek ritual experience involving the development of spatial understanding affected by the experience of the night-sky from the specific vantage points, where the sanctuaries were built. By achieving this, it is hoped that this paper will facilitate a discussion on ritual experience.

Whether the positioning of ancient Greek temples was deliberate and facilitated astronomical observations has been a concern for scholars since the nineteenth century. Twenty-first-century research on Greek archaeoastronomy has identified the shortcomings of earlier approaches and has built on a new methodology which integrates archaeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence on the astronomical observations, in order to create interpretations that improve our narrative, understanding, and reconstruction of the role of astronomy in ancient Greek cult practice.

Clive Ruggles' work has challenged-and ultimately transformed-the way we study the astronomies of other cultures (Fig. 1). Before Ruggles' work, archaeoastronomy was seen by many archaeologists as a not very important ancillary discipline to the field of archaeology (Cotte, this volume) and many of them challenged the validity of archaeoastronomers' claims (Salt, 2015: 213). Clive's earliest work (Cooke, Few, Morgan, & Ruggles, 1977: 131) responded to this scepticism, speaking of the need to convince sceptical "outsiders to believe the claims being made" by archaeoastronomical researchers. His method at that time focused on pre-defining selection criteria, based on the characteristics of the site, and not on any astronomical indication, to determine which alignments were to be measured. These measurements were then converted into astronomical declinations which were used to identify which measured alignments signified possible astronomical alignments. This concern with defining methodologically rigorous procedures is an enduring theme in Ruggles' work, but at this early stage, cultural context played no role in his research, reflecting the common practice of contemporary British archaeoastronomers. Archaeoastronomy at that time largely consisted of the search for alignments of ancient structures towards positions on the horizon that seemed to be of obvious astronomical significance such as the rising point of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes or the extreme northern and southern rising points of the moon. In its early British version, this practice of "alignment hunting" was usually constructed

An analysis of 131 Greek temple orientations is presented with the aim to determine whether specific architectural orders can be linked to certain temple orientations, whilst seeking conventions for a number of Greek temples, which combine two or even all three architectural orders. The results of this study indicate an apparent preference of Doric temples towards the declinations visited by the sun during the year, although not necessarily towards all of the most important annual solar events in ancient cultures (e.g. solstices). The observed data concentration towards declinations within a week from the equinoxes calls us to revisit the importance of this time in ancient Greek thinking and to link its importance to the religious and cosmological spheres, aside from its calendric and timekeeping significance.

This paper deals with the cult and myths of the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who lived on the Acropolis. The myth, preserved in Euripides’ tragedy Erechtheus, establishes the deceased daughters as goddesses who are owed cult by the Athenians. It further equates them with the Hyades, a prominent star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, which they form after their deaths. We examine here the possibility that this myth not only narrates the placement of the girls after their death in the sky in the form of the Hyades, but also may have bound the constellation to certain festivals held on the Acropolis, which through their aetiological myths were connected to the daughters of Erechtheus and in which the participation of young girls (arrhēphoroi) was important. To explicate this cult, we explore its context on the Acropolis as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myth, the festival calendar, and the natural landscape and night sky, so as t...

The paper deals with the cult of the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who lived on the Acropolis. This myth establishes the deceased daughters as goddesses who are owed cult by the Athenians. It further equates them with the Hyades, a prominent star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, which they form after their deaths. We examine here the possibility that this myth not only narrates the placement of the girls after their death in the sky in the form of the Hyades, but also may have bound the constellation to certain festivals held on the Acropolis, which through their aetiological myths were connected to the daughters of Erechtheus and in which the participation of young girls (Arrhēphoroi) was important. To explicate this cult, we explore its context on the Acropolis as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myth, the festival calendar, and the natural landscape and night-sky, so as to determine whether the movement of the constellation of the Hyades was indeed visible from the Acropolis during the time when the young maiden cult rites were performed on the hill.