"Ad Caeli Regionem": heavenly towns in three continents

Abstract

Land and landscape apprehension probably find its utmost expression in the foundation and development of a new city. Several different concepts participate in that act, notably legal, topographical and mythical, not being mutually exclusive. How the urban grid is placed on the terrain might be dictated by previously existing dwellings, trade routes, rivers or winds. However, the sky is one factor that has often been diminish or forgotten. Several works have advocated in the recent years for the importance of studying the location and orientation of towns, and how these might have been influenced by the sky. The sky could have acted as a mythical/religious factor to sanction the foundation, a way to remember the particular day of foundation or to connect with the direction where ancestors are thought to have originated. In this sense, the study of the location and orientation of the urban grid today provides hints to glimpse into the possible sense of such layouts, providing clues to the social action behind those directions. In the present talk, I will review the location and urban layout of three important cities in antiquity in three continents. First, I will start by presenting the case of the first urban settlements in the Americas, by examining the location and orientation of several urban centers in the Supe Valley (notably Caral, Peru). Then, I will move to the Near East to observe how the sky appears to have been a determining factor in the location of some of the most prominent features of the Nabataean capital, Petra (Jordan). Finally, I will end by identifying some elements that are clearly connected with the nearby mythical environment and how these are also connected with the sky in ancient Rome (Italy).