Ancient Iranian astronomers with strong astronomical motives and divine prophecies have always sought to relate celestial phenomena to human behaviors. They believed that there was a strong ...relationship between what was in the sky and what happened in their lives. About 6,000 years ago, the ancient astronomers recorded celestial movements. It is obvious that their attention to the sky has been manifested in various ancient art forms. Accordingly, the research questions of the present study are as follows: How did the astrological symbols (e.g., the sun, moon, sky, change of the seasons, and thirty days of each month) have changed and used since the Medes period to the end of the Achaemenian period? Why cosmic symbols were used repeatedly in ancient art? Is the continuous use of astronomical symbols and the existence of constellation in ancient Iranian art can be associated with the people's concern for their livelihood? The most relevant sources for the current study include a study entitled "Analysis of constellation patterns in Iranian paintings" in which the researchers examined the remaining patterns of the ancient Persia until the Qajar period. In addition, the origins of astronomy in religions and ancient traditions were studied. Moreover, the researchers' main focus was to know the place of astronomy in ancient visual art and painting and did not explore other artistic aspects. The present study aimed at examining the same issue (Sabetkar, 2011).
This paper discusses two kinds of research implemented to federate different disciplines and knowledge in support of archaeological research and the protection of the tangible and intangible heritage ...of ancient Tarquinia. The first part of the work examines the results obtained from the archaeological analysis, the concrete implications on the sustainability of ancient cultural landscapes and their possible transmission over time as an expression of the culture of a community. The second part of the work presents the reading and analysis of the ancient landscape and sites through chrono-stratigraphy, especially regarding two case studies in Tarquinia: the ‘monumental complex’ and the Ara della Regina sanctuary. The work focuses on the intangible aspects of the landscape as a result of archaeological research in the archaeoastronomical field. The orientation of the sacred structures and landscapes is presented herein regarding Etruria and the two case studies. The results shed light on the city’s perception by the population, identifying it as an entity that held and sheltered every aspect of the community’s life. The preliminary results of this study have made it possible to recognise aspects of significant historical and cultural value, which are the heterogeneous expression of a solid identity to be safeguarded and developed in a sustainable way.
The temple of Epikourean Apollo in Bassae has long been suspected to have been constructed with astronomical considerations, aimed at influencing ancient religious experience. The study presented ...here involves the use of Virtual Reality software to reconstruct the temple in its original position and orientation, combined with an accurate reconstruction of the sun’s position during the Classical period. The aim is to test the hypothesis of deliberate solar considerations associated with the temple’s east entrance. The reconstruction also discusses the application of Virtual Reality Models (VRM) and their potential impact on understanding ancient spatial movement and memory, emotionality and cognition. In addition, it explores the possibility of ancient natural light manipulation in enhancing experience of religious architecture. This paper not only presents the first VRM of Apollo’s temple, but also a model with an accurate reconstruction of the sun’s position at specific moments in the year. The importance of such reconstructions in understanding religious experience is exemplified. A great deal is revealed about the proposed solar effect in relation to human observation, and the connotations of such an effect in specific religious contexts. This study could facilitate discussion on the contribution of digital technology in understanding ancient Greek ritual experience.
This paper engages with MS Harley 647 in the British Library, London, a manuscript produced probably at the imperial court in Aachen during the reign of Louis the Pious (814-40 CE), which contains ...the surviving portion (about four hundred and eighty lines) of Cicero's Latin translation of the Greek poem Phaenomena, written by Aratus of Soli between 275 and 250 BCE. The poem is a description of the night sky based on the earliest celestial globe, manufactured by the astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus in the first half of the fourth century BCE. The text itself, however, is not the most important element of the manuscript: in fact, its dominant feature are the full-page images of constellations, to which Cicero's text, at the bottom of each page, functions as a caption. This article examines the interaction between words and images in the astronomical illustrations of the manuscript, showing how their scientific content is conveyed to the user (at the same time viewer and reader) through the unity of the verbal and the visual. The long-debated question of the originality of their peculiar layout is also addressed, with conclusive evidence supporting the theory of a late Roman model. Finally, the insertion of the text within the illustrations will be interpreted as an allusion to the idea, presented in the proem of the Phaenomena, that the constellations are God's message 'written' in the sky to help humans in their basic activities, above all agriculture: a key concept in Stoic theology that could also appeal to a Christian audience.
Philolaus’mysterious astronomical system Russo, Lucio
Atti della Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze fisiche e naturali,
2022/6, Letnik:
33, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
It is argued that the mysterious astronomical system traditionally attributed to Philolaus is in fact the result of a misunderstanding.
In Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, renowned scholars address questions about what the ancient science of the heavens was and the numerous contexts in which it was pursued.
The archaeology, Egyptology, and archaeological sciences of the SE Mediterranean are ongoing research fields. This book highlights eleven articles that discuss new and contemporary new issues that ...are diverse in nature and that are linked to the interdisciplinary nature of the presented subjects and that honor the contributions that Prof.I.Liritzis’ has made to the field in advance of his retirement. The content of these articles ranges from Egyptian colonialism and Greek–Egyptian contact to archaeoastronomy, the conservation and restoration science of organic and inorganic material culture, fieldwork in Egypt and Jordan, ancient construction technology, the identification of ancient dyes, and multiscientific techniques to study ancient Egyptian materials to Coptic art.
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