The Romans built houses according to astronomy

Ancient Romans built their towns according to the paths of celestial bodies in the sky.

"We found that these towns were not randomly built. On the contrary, they were planned based on spiritual symbols, all related to astronomy," said Giulio Magli, at Faculty of Mathematics, Milan Polytechnic University, Italy, said.

The researchers examined the directions of about 38 towns in Italy. According to Magli, ancient Roman writers, including Ovid and Plutarch, also talked about how Roman towns were erected through flight paths and astronomical connections.

"But the relationship between the Roman town and the symbols in the sky has never been thoroughly investigated," Magli said.

The Romans built many towns, especially in the period of the Republic of Rome and the First Empire, from the 5th century BC to the 1st century AD.

(Photo: Discovery)

The diagrams of the towns are always the same. The city consists of a wall surrounded by rectangles, with streets lined up into a grid to form many different neighborhoods. There are two main streets that cross across the entire city. The intersection is a religious social center with 4 main gates located at 4 end points.

In towns with two clear streets, Magli looks at the direction of the squares in relation to the movement of the sun rising at the eastern horizon throughout the year."It shows that most of the towns of La Ma in Italy are in the path of the rising sun , " Magli said.

Basically, there are only 3 towns heading north : Pesaro, Rimini and Senigallia. These towns are also quite close to the west coast of central Italy. Only two northern towns, Verona and Vicenza, are located near the sunrise road in the summer solstice. Other towns are all within 10 degrees southeast of the sunrise, or close to the winter solstice point.

"These results show that the ancient Roman towns in Italy were never built randomly. It helps us understand how the Romans had an astronomical level," Magli said. determined.

(Photo: Discovery)

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