Comments on: East is East? http://alunsalt.com/2009/11/19/east-is-east/ “Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another” - Plato Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:41:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: alun http://alunsalt.com/2009/11/19/east-is-east/comment-page-1/#comment-1920 alun Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:21:46 +0000 http://alunsalt.com/?p=3292#comment-1920 That's certainly a plausible idea, especially as the ancient Greeks considered Delphi the centre of the world. Off the top of my head temples in Turkey also tend to point east - but I don't know if anyone has looked at them systematically. I think there are good physical reasons for a temple to point east, like facing the sun so that it drives out the damp more quickly. Even so that wouldn't rule out more temples facing west than would be expected.<br><br>It's an interesting idea and could help if there are two general motives in play, astronomy AND topography. That's certainly a plausible idea, especially as the ancient Greeks considered Delphi the centre of the world. Off the top of my head temples in Turkey also tend to point east – but I don't know if anyone has looked at them systematically. I think there are good physical reasons for a temple to point east, like facing the sun so that it drives out the damp more quickly. Even so that wouldn't rule out more temples facing west than would be expected.

It's an interesting idea and could help if there are two general motives in play, astronomy AND topography.

]]> By: Aaa http://alunsalt.com/2009/11/19/east-is-east/comment-page-1/#comment-1919 Aaa Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:12:16 +0000 http://alunsalt.com/?p=3292#comment-1919 Dear Dr. Salt,<br><br>I'm not an (archeo)astronomy expert, but I am a Greek astrophysicist, with a good understanding of statistics to be convinced by your argument and puzzled by the greco-italian divide. So I'm bugging you because I have a crazy hypothesis: can it be that in Italy they point to Greece? If so others (in Africa, Middle East) should point Northwards, Westwards, etc.<br><br>Athanasios Batagiannis Dear Dr. Salt,

I'm not an (archeo)astronomy expert, but I am a Greek astrophysicist, with a good understanding of statistics to be convinced by your argument and puzzled by the greco-italian divide. So I'm bugging you because I have a crazy hypothesis: can it be that in Italy they point to Greece? If so others (in Africa, Middle East) should point Northwards, Westwards, etc.

Athanasios Batagiannis

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