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. © 2009 Alun M. Salt.
CITATION STYLE
Salt, A. M. (2009). The astronomical orientation of ancient Greek temples. PLoS ONE, 4(11). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007903
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