Athens-based independent scholar Demetrius Savvides has shown that in Amphipolis, northern Greece, where the Kastas Monument rises in tiers of sculpted marble, sunlight appears to have been drawn into the heart of the tomb timed to the winter solstice.
Athens-based independent scholar Demetrius Savvides has shown that in Amphipolis, northern Greece, where the Kastas Monument rises in tiers of sculpted marble, sunlight appears to have been drawn into the heart of the tomb timed to the winter solstice.
There was a time when humans paid a great deal of attention to the heavens. When the movement of stars and play of light across seasons held great meaning and mystery. Ancient architects often set stone to the rhythm of celestial events.
Millennia-old sanctuaries at Nemrud Dağ, Nabataean Petra, Apollo’s island temples, and Rome’s Pantheon still bear witness to designers who tracked sunlight with astonishing precision and inspired the current generation of cultural astronomers.
Previous studies have proposed that solar events were architecturally encoded to reinforce ritual meaning or divine association. Researchers use tools like GIS, photogrammetry, and 3D reconstructions to map sunlight across sacred spaces. These past efforts have provided evocative visualizations seemingly planned by ancient builders, but still lacked a quantitative rigor needed to test intentionality with precision.
In 2014, archaeologists uncovered the Macedonian Kastas Monument at Amphipolis in northern Greece. Built around 300 BCE, the structure includes a marble dromos leading to four vaulted chambers, each marked by its own guardians: headless sphinxes at the threshold, Caryatids (marble pillars carved into female figures) standing mid-way, and a mosaic of Persephone abducted into the underworld at the tomb’s heart.
