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The Influence of Religious and Cosmological Beliefs on the Solar Architecture of the Ancient World

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The Influence of Religious and Cosmological Beliefs on the Solar Architecture of the Ancient World International Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology, 2014, 1, 3-11 3 The Influence of Religious and Cosmological Beliefs on the Solar Architecture of the Ancient World Ezequiel Uson Guardiola1,*, Joan Lluis Fumado Alsina1 and Josep Vives Rego2 1Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain 2University of Barcelona (UB), Spain Abstract: In the earliest civilizations of the Ancient World, sun worship developed in parallel with an understanding of the movement of the stars. That was the origin of an architecture that expressed a number of religious and cosmological beliefs. Studies of ancient archaeological remains have revealed that astronomical orientations strongly influenced the construction of some of the most important ancient architectural monuments. Besides its religious role, the sun regulated the culture of the Ancient World in many of its more practical aspects. For instance, the observation of solar and lunar cycles allowed people to anticipate seasonal change. This provided man with a means of organizing and improving agricultural and livestock activities and, in turn, influenced the construction of the large civil and religious buildings. The complex relationships that developed between cosmology, sun worship, early mathematics, and the orientation of buildings with respect to the position of the sun, also decisively influenced the birth and development of what has come to be known as passive solar design. This article describes some of these influences dating from the megalithic period to the development of Mesopotamian and Egyptian architecture. Keywords: Cosmology, sun worship, ancient world, passive solar design. INTRODUCTION element of their religious beliefs. The significance of this religious sentiment is reflected in the importance Since prehistoric times, man has looked to the skies given to the astronomically influenced orientations of to discover the mystery behind the movement of the their buildings. The need that they felt to keep a record stars. Their apparent trajectories around our planet and of celestial observations led them to systematize this their eclipses, solstices and equinoxes constituted an knowledge and to use it in the creation and spatial indecipherable secret that acquired a precise religious organisation of some of the most important cities and meaning in different primitive cultures. monuments in the ancient world. The fascination provoked by the Sun, the star that In the earliest civilizations, and as a consequence of gives us life, is understandable: it is our primary source these influences, the construction of monuments was of energy and life on earth depends on its light and not fortuitous or random; there were buildings whose heat. It also determines our climate and seasons, design, in addition to having religious or military generating day and night and constituting the most connotations, was influenced by astronomical relations direct source of human welfare. which emphasised the divine nature of the ruling elites. The layouts and structural principles of such In the Neolithic Period, humans were nomads who constructions do not generally follow merely casual had adapted their way of life to the Sun: migrating to patterns. Instead, they tend to have precise warmer areas when the winter season began so that orientations and are based on accurate geometric they could continue farming and raising livestock. One relations associated with solstices and equinoxes. As a of their primary concerns was to understand the solar result, the constructions assume the function of and lunar cycles so as to be able to predict seasonal astronomical calendars, capable of indicating seasonal changes. change with precision. Sun worship can be seen in the religious beliefs of 1. REMAINS FROM THE MEGALITHIC PERIOD the first urban cultures and in those that continue the Sun worship, even today. In these societies, the Sun is Stonehenge, which is located on Salisbury Plain, in venerated as a god, and constitutes the central central-southern England, is an impressive megalithic monument which is over 3200 years old and which *Address correspondence to this author at the Polytechnic University of exemplifies these intentions and provides evidence of Catalonia (UPC), Spain; Tel: +34 934016370; E-mail: [email protected] the complex astronomical knowledge of its builders. Its © 2014 Avanti Publishers 4 International Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology, 2014, Vol. 1, No. 1 Guardiola et al. Figure 1: Left: Stonehenge, 3200-1600 B.C, showing its alignment to sunrise at the summer solstice and (right) its sunset alignment at the winter solstice. exact purpose and origin are still not completely 2. COSMOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON THE understood, but it is generally assumed to have been a MESOPOTAMIAN AND EGYPTIAN CULTURES sacred site used for ritual purposes, representing the Remains of the Mesopotamian civilization have sublime power of the natural forces. It was also a been found between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. precise astronomical observatory with which the This was an advanced, agricultural society with a well- alignment of the planets and stars could be studied and structured political system. Archaeological excavations used to predict celestial and/or seasonal events such have revealed the first evidence of stable urban as solstices, equinoxes and lunar phases. As such, besides its religious significance, it also served a communities in which grain was produced and stored, commercial activities were developed and the leaders practical function: it helped its users to anticipate and governors were thought to have divine attributes. seasonal changes and thereby improve the scheduling of agricultural activities [1]. In this society, observing the stars and ritual orientations were part of daily life. References to sun 2 Archaeological and astronomical investigations worship have also been found in other related indicate that the circle formed by the enormous grey civilizations: the Sumerians and Babylonians. The stones, which were transported from a quarry more former worshiped the Sun God, Shamash, at the than 80 kilometres away, is aligned with both the Sippar sanctuary, in what is modern-day Iraq. The position of the sun at sunrise corresponding to the Sumerians were also the first astronomers who summer solstice and a sunset corresponding to the possessed what is known as a heliocentric vision. [3] winter solstice. Interestingly, the alignment of the In the Sumerian cities of the Tigris and Euphrates southern circle of Durrington Wall, which is another valleys, the close relationship that existed between the henge located three kilometres to the northwest, 1 divinity and the monarch was manifested through an corresponds to dawn at the winter solstice (Figure 1). Stonehenge was used as an astronomical calendar to intense urban landscape dominated staggered towers called Ziggurats. These constructions consisted of a predict eclipses of the Sun and the moon and was a series of long, wide, superimposed platforms, on top of place at which to worship the twelve Zodiac Gods. which a temple was built. They were considered to be Stonehenge is one of the dozens of monuments with the dwellings of the gods and had an astronomical astronomical alignments that have been identified to date [2]. function - stellar observation – as well as their symbolic 2In primitive Persian civilizations, Mithra was the Sun God. The Romans also accepted this god in their mythology, as a divinity to which they gave the title 1In 1901, the astronomer Norman Lockyer noticed that the altar stone and heel “God of the Undefeated Sun”. In India, a wheel, or a golden plate, represented stone were aligned with the sunrise at the summer solstice, on June 21st, with a the Sun. At dawn, the Sun was received with a silent dance, which sought to margin of error of only 56 minutes of an arch (if the builders of Stonehenge had imitate the Sun’s orbital movement. In primitive Scandinavian villages, a great aligned it with total accuracy at the moment of its construction, this would allow solar disc was worshiped; this is known from drawings found on rocks that date us to date the construction of Stonehenge, as a solar temple, to 1800 BC. from the Bronze Age. The Influence of Religious and Cosmological Beliefs International Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology, 2014, Vol. 1, No. 1 5 Figure 2: Ceremonial centres: Chogha Zanbil, or Dur Untash, the ziggurat built by king Untash-Napirisha, 13th century BC: (1) A large square building with 100 metre-long Sides; (2) Four monumental stars providing access to the temple located at the top; (3) The perimeter wall of the ziggurat (Source: National Geographic). significance: according to some authors, the Sumerians permits the incorporation of ingenious strategies of conceived them as cosmic axes that provided a vertical natural ventilation. It gives protection against winds connection between the earth and the heavens (Figure carrying dust or sand, and at the same time reduces 2). the impact of excessive solar radiation. Passive solar design originated from this civilization This typology was also well adapted to the context and as consequence of these complex relations and of of these first urban settlements, which grew up without the application of astronomical knowledge in daily life. planned layouts of any kind. The climatic and functional The courtyard housing provides an example of the efficiency of courtyard housing make this the most regulation of solar
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