No abstract

Five temples of Apollo on Mainland Greece and Ancient Ionia (Asia Minor), namely Delphi, Didyma, Hierapolis, Delos and Rhodes, have been examined regarding their functioning through astronomical orientation. Recent research has shown that the rise, setting, orbit and observation of certain constellations in the celestial sphere, as well as the solar stands, can be directly related to the architecture of the temple, i.e. construction, orientation, and keeping a calendar of the most important Apollonian oracular temple at Delphi. Here this lunar-solar-stellar configuration has been applied to other significant temples of Apollo. It is shown that at Didyma, Hierapolis and Delphi, the celestial pattern, as well as the landscape, local geology and architecture are similar, but different in temples without oracular function (Delos and Rhodes). Measurements were carried out by in situ readings and by Google Map tools.

Life and Death at Hierapolis. Norwegian excavations in a Hellenistic–Roman–Byzantine town in Asia Minor From 2007 to 2015 the University of Oslo, invited by The Italian Archaeological Mission at Hierapolis in Phrygia, conducted archaeological research in the North-East Necropolis at Hierapolis. The aim of the project was to document all visible tombs and sarcophagi of the necropolis and excavate selected tomb areas and tombs. The research, including osteological, DNA- and isotope-analyses, investigated the life of the inhabitants over a long period of time (ca. 100–1300 A.C.) with reference to tomb architecture, landscape perception, organization, entrepreneurship, ritual practices, genetic relations and origins, demography, health, sickness, diets, and individual movement patterns. Many of the aims are answered in the article, here shall only be mentioned two important discoveries: cremation has been documented as late as the 5th/6th centuries A.C., in periods of crisis perhaps used to signal pagan opposition to imposed Christian practices; the life conditions in the Roman/Early Byzantine period were much better than in that of the Middle Byzantine period.