The best preserved of such complexes is that of king Khafra, with two temples made of giant limestone blocks and cased in granite. Each of the pyramid complexes of Giza included two temples located on the east side of the pyramid, looking towards the Nile: a “valley” temple, downhill near the line of maximal flood of the river, and a “funerary” temple located uphill the two were connected by a monumental causeway. In the present lesson we shall learn about the spectacular way in which this connection is still today visible, at Giza, once a year. View SyllabusĪs we have seen, the Pyramid Texts speak very clearly of a connection of the Pharaoh with the Sun God Ra. The course also provides the necessary background on Astronomy with the naked eye and a general introduction to the role of Astronomy in religion and in the management of power among ancient cultures. The course provides the first complete, easy introduction to this fascinating discipline.ĭuring the course, many spectacular ancient sites of archaeology – such as Stonehenge in England, Giza and Karnak in Egypt, Chichen Itzá in the Yucatan, Macchu Picchu in Peru and the Pantheon in Rome – will be visited and the fascinating events occurring there in special days of the year (such as solstices, equinoxes, or the day of the foundation of Rome) will be shown and explained.
It studies the relationships between the ancient monuments and the sky, in order to gain a better understanding of the ideas of the architects of the past and of their religious and symbolic world. It is an interdisciplinary science in between architecture, archaeology, and astronomy. Archaeoastronomy is the “science of stars and stones”.
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