"…one who professes himself as an architect should be…acquainted with Astronomy and the theory of the heavens."
Vitruvius (d. ca. 15 BC)
De Architectura Libri Decem, I:i:3
Because according to Vetruvius,
Input:
Res Gestae
Date = 30 Jan 9 BC consecrated (4 July 13 BC commissoned)
Google Earth image (16 June 2013) & Site Plan (Gatti 1938)
Latitude = North 41 54' 10.47"
Azimuth True = 75.3
Horizon Altitude = +1.10
Elevation ASL (estimated original) = +10m
Output:
Horizon Alignment = +11.3º declination
Astro-Archaeology
Program Stonehenge
(Gerald S. Hawkins 1983, 328-330)
Lunar Eclipse, 27 Sep 2015
© Pete Glastonbury
Gerald S. Hawkins
Site Plan by
Giuseppe Gatti 1938
Az True? = 75
Az Mag Correction 1937 = 9 W
If Az is Magnetic,
Az True = 75 - 9
= 66
Map error is an additional unknown.
The Problem of Site Plan Orientation:
Magnetic or True Azimuth?
Solution: Site Plan Orientation is to True Azimuth
as seen in layer on Google Earth image
Mod
Modern Rooftops
Horizon Altitude = +1.01º
Distance = 1,700 meters, Horizon Height = 62 meters
(Altitude is calculated, as Google Earth Elevation Profile not 1:1 scale)
Horizon declination = +11.3º
Sun declination = +11.0º
Δ declination = - 0.3º
Finding:
21 April & 27 August
Problem: 21 April or 27 August ?
Solution:
Astro-Iconography?
Cygnus
Aquarius
Pisces
Cetus
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Zodiac at Sunrise
21 April 9 BC
Rome
ARA· PACIS ·AVGVSTAE
An Astro-Archaeological Analysis
Vance Tiede
Astro-Archaeology Surveys
[email protected]
Presented to the Société Européenne pour l'Astronomie dans la Culture (SEAC)
Roma, Italia, 9-13 XI 2015
"When I returned from Spain and Gaul after successfully settling the affairs of those provinces, in the consulship of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilius [13 BC], the Senate decreed that the Altar of Pax Augusta should be consecrated for my return near the Campus Martius, and ordered that the magistrates, priests, and the Vestal Virgins should there make an annual sacrifice."
Augustus 14 AD
Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Panels 2 & 3, XII:ii
Ara Pacis & Solarium Augusti
Campus Martius, 9 BC
(Foresta 2011, 338)
Why should Astronomy inform
Roman Architecture?
Research Question:
Problem:
Interpreting
The Tellus Frieze:
The Tellus relief is a Mother Earth figure surrounded by stalks of wheat, fruit, a cow, a sheep, and ancanthas. Art historians variously interpret her as Tellus, Venus, Ceres or a "mixed iconography could reflect religious syncretism."
Dea Tellus?
Italia?
Venus Genetrix?
All The Above?
Pax?
Roma?
Mars, Lupercal,
Romulus & Remus
Aeneas,
Numa Pompilius
North
East
West
South
(Rhyne 2011)
?
2000th Birthday of Caesar Augustus
23 September 1938, Rome (ALINARI / CORDON PRESS)
Hitler
Mussolini
Himmler
Goebbels
Ribbentrop
Bianchi
Bandinelli
Vetruvius on
Hypaethal Edifices
"…in the case of hypaethral edifices, open to the sky, in honour of Jupiter Lightning, the Heavens, the Sun or the Moon: for these are gods whose semblances…we behold before our very eyes in the sky when it is cloudless and bright."
Vitruvius (d. ca. 15 BC)
De Architectura Libri Decem, I:ii:5
Original Site of the Ara Pacis Augustae
Astrological Iconography
Cygnus
Taurus
Aquarius
Aries
Venus
Gemini:
Castor & Pollux
Tetra-Gamma
Cetus
Pisces
Velificante
Velificante
93rd Iteration of the 8-Year Earth-Venus Cycle
is 21 April 753 BC or Dies Natalis Romae
93 x 8 = 744, and -744 - 9 BC = -753
Venus/Morning Star
&
Dies Natalis Romae
Veneris genetrix & Gemini
Augustus of
Prima Porta
"The quarter toward which temples of the immortal gods ought to face is to be determined on the principle that…the temple… should face the western quarter of the sky. This will enable those who approach the altar with offerings or sacrifices to face the direction of the sunrise in facing the statue in the temple…."
Vitruvius
De Architectura Libri Decem, IV:v:1
Vetruvius on
Astro-Orientation
"The second [month]was April: so called of the name Aphrodite, that is to say Venus, unto whom they make open sacrifice in this moneth. And the first day of the same, women do wash themselves, having a garland of myrtle upon their heads. "
(Plutarch, "Numa Pompilius," Plutarch's Lives (Sir Thomas North, trans.),
vol, I, London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1898, 262-3)
Astro-Architectural Analogies ?
Garland : Bucrania
:: Venus : Taurus
:: 21 April : Dies Natalis Romae
ΒΩΜΟΣ ΔΩΔΕΚΑ ΘΕΩΝ
Altar of the XII Gods, 522-521 BC, Agora of Athens, Greece
http://www.agathe.gr/guide/altar_of_the_twelve_gods.html
http://project.athens-agora.gr/index.php?view=ktirio&pid=3&lang_id=en
http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/places/agora/altar12gods_en.html
http://www.greece-athens.com/page.php?page_id=258
N 37º 58' 33"
E 23º 43' 22"
Elev. 54 m
Year: 522 BC
References
Andersen, Wayne
2003 The Ara Pacis of Augustus and Mussolini, Boston: Editions Fabriart.
Foresta, Simone
2011 "La policromia dell'Ara Pacis e I colori del Campo Marzio settentrionale,"
ttps://www.academia.edu/945654/La_policromia_dell_Ara_Pacis_e_i_colori_del_Campo_Marzio_settentrionale
Galinsky, Karl
1992 "Venus, Polysemy, and the Ara Pacis Augustae," American Journal of Archaeology 96:457-475.
Hannah, Robert and Giulio Magli
2011 "The Role of the Sun in the Pantheon's Design & Meaning," Numen 58:4, 486-513.
Hawkins, Gerald S.
1983 Mindsteps to the Cosmos, New York: Harper & Row.
Kleiner, Diana E. E.
1992 Roman Sculpture, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Moretti, Giuseppe
1947 L'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato.
Rossini, Orietta
2012 Ara Pacis: Guide (3rd ed.), Milan: Mondadori Electa, S.p.A.
Stampini, Pino
1970 "Ara Pacis Augustae," Dibattiti Rotariani, III:5-6, Roma.
Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus
c. 15 BC De Architectura Libri Decem (M.H. Morgan, trans.), New York: Dover Press, 1960.
QUAESTIONES
ερωτήσεις?
Perguntas?
問題 ?
Вопросьі?
Fragen?
¿Preguntas?
Questions ?
Omnis·ars·naturae·imitatio·est
(All Art is but an imitation of Nature.)
Seneca, Roman Stoic Philosopher (14-65 AD)
Letter LXV: On the first cause, line 3.
(Antikensammlung Berlin)
FINIS
Tetra-Gamma
Mycenaean figure with solar disc & tetra-gamma Bronze Age
(Musée du Louvre)
Etruscan pendant with 4 Tetra-gamma
Bolsena, Italy, 700-650 BC
(Musée du Louvre)
Tetra-gamma Mosaic Floor
Villa Romana c. 350 AD
La Olmeda 007, Pedrosa de la Vega
Saldaña (Palencia), España
Summer Solstice. VI 22
Winter Solstice, XII 22
Vernal Equinox III 20
Autumnal Equinox IX 23
Ursa Minor
&
IV Seasons
Pisces
Ara Pacis
Rome
Future Research
Tetragamma motif
Bucrania & Garland motif
Altar of the XII Gods, Agora, Athens
Imperial Roman Polychrome:
Venus in Blue – I (cf. Rossini 2012, 134-141)
Venus & Mars
House of Sallust
Pompeii, VI.ii.4, TAQ 79 AD
Venus & Mars
House of Mars & Venus,
Pompeii, VII.ix.47, TAQ 79 AD
Hypothetical Polychrome
Ara Pacis Augustae
Roma, 9 BC
Venus & Eros
House of Polybus,
Pompeii, IX.xiii.3, TAQ 79 AD
Pisces
Carthage & Rome
Imperial Roman Polychrome:
Venus in Blue - III
Mars & Venus
House of the Golden Bracelet
Pompeii, VI/xvii/17
TAQ 79 AD
Venus Velficatio House of P .V. Siricus
Pompeii, VII/i/25-47 TAQ 79 AD
Imperial Roman Polychrome:
Venus in Blue - II
Seated Venus & Eros
House of Punished Love
Pompeii, VII.ii.23
TAQ 79 AD
Seated Venus & Eros
House of Punished Love
Pompeii, VII.ii.23
TAQ 79 AD
Venus (?)
House of (?)
Pompeii, (?)
TAQ 79 AD
Venus & Eros
House of G.P. Habitus
Pompeii, VI.xvi.7
TAQ 79 AD
Conclusions
Astro-Archaeology should be considered in the interpretation of Imperial Roman monumental architecture, i.e., calendric orientation & astrological iconography.
The Museo dell' Ara Pacis should present a digital 3D exhibit demonstrating the astronomy behind the altar's original orientation and cosmo-politico meaning of its Venus frieze.
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