The Astronomical Orientation of Ancient Greek Temples

Despite its appearing to be a simple question to answer, there has been no consensus as to whether or not the alignments of ancient Greek temples reflect astronomical intentions. Here I present the results of a survey of archaic and classical Greek temples in Sicily and compare them with temples in Greece. Using a binomial test I show strong evidence that there is a preference for solar orientations. I then speculate that differences in alignment patterns between Sicily and Greece reflect differing pressures in the expression of ethnic identity

Alignments of Greek temples in Sicily.

<p>All dates are in years or centuries BC. The Hellenistic period is traditionally defined as the period from the death of Alexander 323 BC to the Roman conquest which would be around 212 BC in Sicily.</p

Probability of <i>k</i> temples facing east in a set of 41, if aligned randomly.

<p>Probability of <i>k</i> temples facing east in a set of 41, if aligned randomly.</p