Person: Espinosa Espinosa, David
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First Name
David
Last Name
Espinosa Espinosa
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Geografía e Historia
Department
Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología
Area
Historia Antigua
Identifiers
2 results
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Item On the Orientation of Two Roman Towns in the Rhine Area(Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2016) Espinosa Espinosa, David; González García, A. César; García Quintela, Marco V.The aim of the present paper is to extend the archeoastronomical study sample on the orientation of Roman cities to the analysis of a number of cases in the Rhine area. The starting point is a study of the orientation of Augusta Treverorum (present day Trier; Goethert, 2003). Goethert assumed that the orientation of the decuma- nus maximus was towards sunrise at the autumn equinox, on September 23 rd as the dies natalis of the city. This event would deliberately coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Augustus, and would have de- termined the establishment and orientation of the new urban layout. However, our in situ measurements of the orientation of the urban network at several sites of the Roman town rule out this hypothesis. We find an orientation that is more in line with those documented for other Roman cities and camps elsewhere in the Roman provinces (González-García et al., 2014; Rodríguez-Antón et al., 2016). Moreover, measurements made in the Lenus Mars temple indicate a recurrent phenomenon of cultural hybridization. Here the temple, located outside the city walls on the west bank of the river Moselle, combines a possibly Celtic orientation with Roman symbolic beliefs. In reality, the alleged orientation towards the dies natalis of Augustus is veri- fied for Cologne. There are a number of circumstances that make this choice logical for a city that was initial- ly planned as the capital of the Augustan province of Germania and the seat of an ara of imperial worship.Item Urban Planning and Ritual Action in Colonia Ulpia Traiana (Xanten, Germany): Understanding a Non- Solar Orientation Pattern(Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2018) Espinosa Espinosa, David; González García, A. César; García Quintela, Marco V.There is increasing evidence to suggest that cosmological factors were applied in the planning and orientation of Roman towns, at least under Augustus. Among others, this is the case of Colonia Augusta Praetoria Salassorum (Aosta) in Italia, Colonia Urbs Iulia Nova Carthago (Cartagena) in Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis, Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum (formerly Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, Lyon) in Gallia Lugdunensis, Colonia Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Gallia Belgica, and Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (formerly Ara Ubiorum, Cologne) in Germania Inferior. For the sake of strengthening the sample of cities studied, and identifying orientation patterns from a chronological and astronomical perspective, a number of public structures from Colonia Ulpia Traiana (Xanten) in Germania Inferior were measured. This town was a Roman colony, founded in A.D. 98 by Trajan with a contingent of veteran soldiers and a group of Germanic people. The result was the establishment of a typical Roman settlement with an orthogonal urban grid, whose planning and orientation took cosmological factors into account. In this case, in contrast to the previous examples, we propose that the decumanus maximus was not oriented directly according to the solar arc, but that instead it was possibly linked with other celestial bodies. In addition, the Gallo-Roman temple supposedly dedicated in this town to the Matronae or the Matres was oriented according to the major lunar standstill (“lunistice”). Therefore, this study aims to present the first results regarding the urban orientation of Colonia Ulpia Traiana according to a non-solar pattern, and attemps to provide a preliminary explanation for it from a cultural perspective.