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Despite being one of the most recognisable buildings from ancient Rome, the Pantheon is poorly understood. While its architecture has been well studied, its function remains uncertain. This paper argues that both the design and the meaning…

The heartland of the Khmer empire is literally crowded by magnificent monuments built in the course of many centuries. These monuments include the world-famous state-temples, such as Angkor Wat, but also many other temples and huge water…

The astronomical orientation of the acropolis of Alatri, Italy, is analyzed. The results support the idea that this town, with its magnificent polygonal walls, was constructed well before the Roman expansion.

This work addresses the development of the astronomical observatory all through history, from an architectural point of view, as a building in relation to the observing instruments and their functioning as a heterogeneous work center. We…

Cultural heritage relating to the sky in the form of sundials, old observatories and the like, are commonly found in many cities in the Old World, but rarely in the New. This paper examines astronomical heritage embodied in the Barolo…

It seems that the ancient Roman towns were oriented with the sunrise. Here I propose a discussion on the orientation of Torino, the Julia Augusta Taurinorum, which has the ancient Roman structure perfectly preserved. According to this…

Daunia is a region in northern Apulia with many interesting archaeological sites, particularly of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Beginning from the fifth millennium BC, the farmers living in the wide plain of Daunia dug hypogea and holes in…

In no other epoch of Western history like in the Middle Ages, cosmology was so key an element of culture and, one way or another, the motion of the heavens ended up impregnating the literature of that time. Among the most noteworthy poets…

The Nabateans built several monuments in Petra and elsewhere displaying a decoration with a preference for astronomical motifs, possibly as a reflection of their religion. However, due to the lack of direct written accounts and the scarcity…

Prehistoric sanctuaries of Daunia date back several thousand years. During the Neolithic and Bronze Age the farmers in that region dug hypogea and holes whose characteristics suggest a ritual use. In the present note we summarize the…

Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, modern Aosta, was founded around 25 BC to celebrate the victory of Augustus army on the Salassi. Aosta is a city of the founder under many respects; for instance, one of the two twin temples of the forum was…

The third column of the left row in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, has a hole carved in it, of probable astronomical use. The tube aims at a point a 116 degrees of azimut, East-South-East and 17.3 degrees of altitude, the…

The dome of Saint Peter's Basilica plays the role of the Moon during a stellar occultation and Arcturus is the target star. This occultation-like phenomenon is useful for introducing to occultation astronomy a class of student up to…

Discussion of an astronomical orientation of Turin as Julia Augusta Taurinorum, based on the results previously given in 2012 and available at arXiv:1206.6062, and here refined according to the local natural horizon, the refraction of…

This essay demonstrates the key role of Astronomy in Botticelli's "Venus and Mars-NG915" painting, to date only very partially understood. Worthwhile coincidences among the principles of the Ficinian philosophy, the historical characters…

The Clementine Gnomon in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome has been realized in 1702 with the aim to measure the variation of the obliquity of the Earth axis along the forthcoming centuries. Since then the church and the…

The essay presents the results of a joint study of astronomy and archeology that has allowed to define the foundation date of the city of Turin as a Roman colony, called Iulia Augusta Taurinorum. This multidisciplinary research represents a…

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), NASA's next flagship science mission, follows in the tradition of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and other preceding great observatories. HWO will directly image and characterize Earth-like…

Astronomy is the study of the Universe and all the objects that it comprises. Our attention is therefore usually focused beyond Earth, home to the only form of life known today. However, how can we continue to explore the secrets of the…

As is well known, several Roman sources report on the existence of a town foundation ritual, inherited from the Etruscans, which allegedly included astronomical references. However, the possible existence of astronomical orientations in the…