25
This outcome is quite robust, given the number of churches measured: 167 in
total (Fig. 10). Indeed, it would be interesting to test these conclusions thorough
investigation of the orientation of the early Romanesque churches in the same geographical area. Further investigation along the Camino de Santiago is being carried
out in order to analyse whether there was a persistence or a change of the orientation
customs of the religious buildings erected in the new style coming from the other
side of the Pyrenees. In conclusion, the ‘equinox’ seems to have many faces.
There is a place in the Mediterranean region where the different possibilities for
the term ‘equinox’ are extraordinarily manifested: the rose city of Petra. Research
in the area evidenced the probable role of astronomy in the orientation and design
of Nabataean sacred buildings, which mixed with the analysis of ethnohistoric, ethnographic and epigraphic sources, suggested that Nabataean religion, and its related
architecture, could have a pilgrimage component. This could be related to major
festivals and a well-developed lunisolar calendar. This phenomenon persisted under
Roman rule and the adoption of a new—Julian type—calendar for the province of
Arabia. Indeed, a concept close to the equinox, or the ‘entering of the sun in the sign
of Aries’, played a major role in the design of these calendars. The Khirbet et Tannur
almanac is a nice example of this phenomenology (Belmonte, González García, &
Rodríguez-Antón, 2019, and references therein).
Recently, direct observations at various sunsets in March 2018 on days close to
the spring equinox have made it possible to verify and somehow qualify earlier
outcomes at Petra (Belmonte, González García, Rodríguez-Antón, &
Perera Betancor, 2020). For example, on the one hand, the sunset ‘equinoctial
marker’ at the Urn Tomb could justify its conversion into the Cathedral of Petra in
the fifth Century AD, since the day midway between the solstices or even March
25th Julian apparently are the dates marked on site, although, on the other hand, the
precise equinoctial alignment of the Obelisks in Jabal Madbah at sunrise in the
astronomical equinoxes could have been used as a perfect milestone for timekeeping and calendar control.
However, it is at Al Madras where Nabataean ingenuity may be most evident
(Fig. 11). The observation of spring and autumn equinox sunsets on top of Jabal
Haroun, the highest peak in Petra neighbourhood and probably a very important
sacred spot for the supreme Nabataean god Dushara, could have acted as the perfect
harbinger of the main pilgrimages and feasts to be celebrated in the lunar months of
Nisan and Tishri, as confirmed by later ethnohistoric and even ethnographic sources.
Al Madras has usually been considered as a secondary suburb of Petra, but these
outcomes suggest it was among the most important sacred sites in the city. The day
midway between the solstices could also be considered as an alternative, but a true
equinoctial alignment seems a much better candidate (Fig. 11). Al Madras equinoctial phenomenology is indeed paradigmatic. It strongly suggests that people in the
Middle East were able to determine the precise moment of the astronomical equinox and use it for architectural and symbolic purposes.
What Equinox?
This outcome is quite robust, given the number of churches measured: 167 in
total (Fig. 10). Indeed, it would be interesting to test these conclusions thorough
investigation of the orientation of the early Romanesque churches in the same geographical area. Further investigation along the Camino de Santiago is being carried
out in order to analyse whether there was a persistence or a change of the orientation
customs of the religious buildings erected in the new style coming from the other
side of the Pyrenees. In conclusion, the ‘equinox’ seems to have many faces.
There is a place in the Mediterranean region where the different possibilities for
the term ‘equinox’ are extraordinarily manifested: the rose city of Petra. Research
in the area evidenced the probable role of astronomy in the orientation and design
of Nabataean sacred buildings, which mixed with the analysis of ethnohistoric, ethnographic and epigraphic sources, suggested that Nabataean religion, and its related
architecture, could have a pilgrimage component. This could be related to major
festivals and a well-developed lunisolar calendar. This phenomenon persisted under
Roman rule and the adoption of a new—Julian type—calendar for the province of
Arabia. Indeed, a concept close to the equinox, or the ‘entering of the sun in the sign
of Aries’, played a major role in the design of these calendars. The Khirbet et Tannur
almanac is a nice example of this phenomenology (Belmonte, González García, &
Rodríguez-Antón, 2019, and references therein).
Recently, direct observations at various sunsets in March 2018 on days close to
the spring equinox have made it possible to verify and somehow qualify earlier
outcomes at Petra (Belmonte, González García, Rodríguez-Antón, &
Perera Betancor, 2020). For example, on the one hand, the sunset ‘equinoctial
marker’ at the Urn Tomb could justify its conversion into the Cathedral of Petra in
the fifth Century AD, since the day midway between the solstices or even March
25th Julian apparently are the dates marked on site, although, on the other hand, the
precise equinoctial alignment of the Obelisks in Jabal Madbah at sunrise in the
astronomical equinoxes could have been used as a perfect milestone for timekeeping and calendar control.
However, it is at Al Madras where Nabataean ingenuity may be most evident
(Fig. 11). The observation of spring and autumn equinox sunsets on top of Jabal
Haroun, the highest peak in Petra neighbourhood and probably a very important
sacred spot for the supreme Nabataean god Dushara, could have acted as the perfect
harbinger of the main pilgrimages and feasts to be celebrated in the lunar months of
Nisan and Tishri, as confirmed by later ethnohistoric and even ethnographic sources.
Al Madras has usually been considered as a secondary suburb of Petra, but these
outcomes suggest it was among the most important sacred sites in the city. The day
midway between the solstices could also be considered as an alternative, but a true
equinoctial alignment seems a much better candidate (Fig. 11). Al Madras equinoctial phenomenology is indeed paradigmatic. It strongly suggests that people in the
Middle East were able to determine the precise moment of the astronomical equinox and use it for architectural and symbolic purposes.
What Equinox?