Orientations of Pre-Islamic Temples of Northwest Africa

See Krupp E. C. , ‘Astronomers, pyramids, and priests’, in In search of ancient astronomies, ed. by Krupp E. C. (New York, 1978), 203–39; Belmonte J. A. , Las leyes del cielo (Madrid, 1999), 154–66.

Nissen H. , Das Templum (Berlin, 1869); Dinsmoor W. B. , ‘Archaeology and astronomy’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, lxxx (1939), 95–173.

Aveni A. Romano G. , ‘Orientation and Etruscan ritual’, Antiquity, lxviii (1994), 545–63.

Aveni A. Romano G. , ‘Temple orientations in Magna Graecia and Sicily’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 25 (2000), S51–57.

Esteban C. , ‘Astronomy and the ancient Iberians: Archaeoastronomical fieldwork in Iberian sacred enclosures’, in Actes de la V^eme Conference de la SEAC, ed. by Lebeuf A. Ziołkowski M. S. (Warsaw and Gdansk, 1999), 111–29.

Malta: Agius G. Ventura F. , ‘Investigation into the possible astronomical alignments of the Copper Age temples in Malta’, Archaeoastronomy (Center for Archaeoastronomy), iv (1981), 10–21; Serio G. F. Hoskin M. Ventura F. , ‘The orientations of the temples of Malta’, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxiii (1982), 107–19. Menorca: Hoskin M. , ‘The orientations of the taulas of Menorca (1): The southern taulas’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 14 (1989), S117–36; Hoskin M. Hochsieder P. Knösel D. , ‘The orientations of the taulas of Menorca (2): The remaining taulas’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 15 (1990), S37–48. The material in these articles is assembled in Hoskin M. , Tombs, temples and their orientations: A new perspective on Mediterranean prehistory (Bognor Regis, 2001).

The are several articles by Hoskin M. and colleagues on orientations of megalithic tombs in the western Mediterranean, all of them published in Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy) or Journal for the history of astronomy; again, these materials are assembled in Hoskin's Tombs, temples and their orientations. Outline reviews of the main results of this extensive research can be found in: Hoskin M. , ‘Mediterranean tombs and temples and their orientations’, in Astronomy and culture, ed. by Jaschek C. Barandela Atrio F. (Salamanca, 1998), 19–25, and idem, ‘Tombs, temples and orientations in the western Mediterranean’, in Astronomy and cultural diversity, ed. by Esteban C. Belmonte J. A. (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2000), 27–34.

For the English reader, a good introduction to Berber history is Brett M. Fentress E. , The Berbers (Oxford, 1996).

Belmonte J. A. Esteban C. González Jiménez J. J. , ‘Mediterranean archaeoastronomy and archaeotopography: Pre-Roman tombs of Africa Proconsularis’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 23(1998), S7–24.

Belmonte J. A. Esteban C. Cuesta L. Betancort Perera M. A. González Jiménez J. J. , ‘Pre-Islamic burial monuments in northern and Saharan Morocco’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 24 (1999), S21–34.

Rakob F. , ‘Numidische Königsarchitektur in Nordafrika’, in Die Numider, ed. by Horn H. G. Rüger C. B. (Bonn, 1979), 119–84, p. 119.

Picard G. , ‘Le temple du musée de Makter’, Revue archéologique, i (1985), 13–28.

See Rebuffat R. , ‘A propos du quartier des temples de Lixus’, Revue archéologique, i (1985), 123–8.

Nissen , op. cit. (ref. 2); see Figure 1 of Aveni and Romano, op. cit. (ref. 3).

Aveni Romano , op. cit. (ref. 3).

Fantar M. H. , Kerkouane, une cité punique au Cap-Bon (Tunis, 1987), 161–95.

Rebuffat , op. cit. (ref. 13).

See M'Charek A. , Aspects de l'evolution démographique et sociale à Mactaris aux II^e et III^e siècles ap. J. C. (Tunis, 1982).

Coltelloni-Trannoy M. , Le royaume de Maurétanie sous Juba II et Ptolémée (Paris, 1997), 78–93.

Akkari-Weriemmi J. , Gigthis (Tunis, 1994), 14–15.

Rebuffat R. , ‘Bu Njem’, Encyclopédie berbère, xi (1992), 1626–42; Haynes D. E. L. , The antiquities of Tripolitania (London, 1965), 140–1.

There are different ancient written references to this custom, see: Isidorus Hispalensis (Sevillanus), Liber etymologiarum 15. 4n. 7; Durandus G. , Rationale divinorum officiorum (Lyons, 1584); Chauncy H. Sir , The historical antiquities of Hertfordshire (London, 1700), i, 88.

Herodotus , Histories, Book IV, 37.

Cicero , De republica, IV, 4.

Camps G. , Les Berbères: Mémoire et identité (Paris, 1995), 158–60.

Camps , Les Berbères (ref. 25); Lancel S. , Cartago (Barcelona, 1994), 183–6.

Esteban C. Schlueter R. Belmonte J. A. González O. , ‘Pre-Hispanic equinoctial markers in Gran Canaria, Part I’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 21 (1996), S73–80; ‘Part II’, Archaeoastronomy, no. 22 (1997), S51–56.

Esteban , op. cit. (ref. 5).

Gaspar Tejera A. Antón González R. , Las culturas aborígenes canarias (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1987), 17–35; Belmonte J. A. Bunk Springer R. Betancort Perera M. A. , ‘Statistical analysis and comparative study of the Libyc-Berber writings of the Canary Islands, the north west of Africa and the Sahara’, Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias, x (1998), 9–33.

See Padilla Pallarés A. , ‘Nueva teoría sobre el poblamiento de las Islas Canarias’, Almogaren, vii (1976), 15–26; Martín Mederos A. Cobo Escribano G. , ‘Fuentes escritas sobre el poblamiento de Canarias: Deportación de poblaciones desde la Mauritania Tingitana’, in VIII Jornadas de estudios sobre Lanzarote y Fuerteventura, ii (Arrecife, 1999), 339–64.

See Gaspar Tejera A. , La religión de los guanches (ritos, mitos y leyendas) (La Laguna, 1988); González Jiménez J. J. , ‘Sistemas calendáricos, mitos astrales y prácticas adivinatorias en las Islas Canarias prehispánicas’, in Time and astronomy at the meeting of two worlds, ed. by Iwaniszewski S. Lebeuf A. Wiercinski A. Ziołkowski M. S. (Warsaw, 1994), 402–18; Belmonte J. A. Esteban C. Aparicio A. Tejera A. González O. , ‘Canarian astronomy before the conquest: The pre-Hispanic calendar’, Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias, vi (1995), 133–56.

Esteban C. Pérez Cortell E. , ‘Consideraciones arqueoastronómicas sobre el santuario ibérico de La Serreta’, Recerques del Museu d'Alcoi, vi (1997), 131–40; Esteban C. , ‘Archaeoastronomical approach to the pre-Roman Iberian religion: First steps’, in Astronomy and culture, ed. by Jaschek C. Barandela Atrio F. (Salamanca, 1998), 157–64; Esteban , op. cit. (ref. 5).

Bellido García A. , ‘El culto a la Dea Caelestis en la Península Ibérica’, Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, cxl (1957), 451–85, p. 476.

Esteban , op. cit. (ref. 5).

Belmonte , op. cit. (ref. 1), 122.

The usual orientation to the east of the temples dedicated to Saturn was noticed by Leglay M. , Saturne Africain: Monuments (Paris, 1961, 1966); see also Morestin H. , Le Temple A de Volubilis (Paris, 1980), 56–57.