Etruscan Temples and the Sun: an Analysis on the Orientation of Etruscan Sacred Buildings

Since the Spring of 2012 a series of field campaigns were started aimed at measuring azimuths and, where possible, the horizon heights, of the main Etruscan sacred structures. The results achieved in this work have led to the hypothesis that the orientation of Etruscan temples was determined by the movement of the sun, with a clear preference for the sky arc where the sun never rises or sets but where it goes through every day of the year, lighting up the front of the sacred structures for multiple hours a day. Starting from these results, this contribution will be focused on a more specific analysis of the collected data, concerning the distribution of the orientations, and on a comparison with the temples of the ancient Greek world. Finally, through an interdisciplinary approach that combines data from the archaeological, epigraphic and literary record to those of the orientation, it will try to reflect both on the reasons that may have determined the general distribution of the orientation of Etruscan temples, both on the motivations and factors that may have influenced the orientations of the individual structures.