Juan Antonio Belmonte
Great planetary conjunction in the constellation Leo at dawn on October 9, 2015, observed from the peaks of the island of La Palma. / Daniel Lopez /IAC.
El Monday October 26, 2015, at dawn, will be seen in the sky, very close to -the brightest star Regulus in the constellation Leo, a unique phenomenon. That day, the planet Venus as Morning Star will be at its maximum elongation (moment of greatest angular separation from the Sun) dominate the skies shortly before and during the morning twilight. Not only that, it will be as bright and will be so far from the sun that can be seen during the day! (Provided it is over the horizon, of course). But the most unique is that not only find, but less than a degree away (just under two lunar diameters) will rival the brightest light in the night sky “star” (with the permission of the Luceros Alba and Evening), the planet Jupiter, producing one of those striking phenomena of nature known as planetary conjunctions. It promises to be spectacular.
Interestingly, this conjunction will be just the culmination of a series of meetings occurred during the month of October in which Regulus has progressively waving Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, and waning moon, as it passes through Leo. Ecstasy occurred early October 9, 2015 (see picture) when all these luminaires are “drawn” in the sky simultaneously creating a spectacle of unique beauty that is repeated a few times in the life of a person. If to top it off, the peak of Teide, Axis Mundi of the Canary Aboriginal people, dominates the skyline, the manifestation of the sacred, the religious experience that read Mircea Eliade, is indisputable.
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It is therefore appealing to realize that a virtually identical phenomenology which would perhaps inspire the construction of one of the most enigmatic monuments that are known: the Hierothesion (mausoleum) of Antiochus I of Commagene in Nemrud Dag, built in the first century BC on the northern edge of Mesopotamia. This monument, world heritage, is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating historical enigmas of humanity. The situation (in the summit of the highest mountain of the environment), available (in the form of terraces oriented to the east, north and west) and the various elements (series of colossal statues of King Antiochus and the gods of Commagene with representations Astronomical dial symbolic character) that characterize this impressive monument scientific interpretations have challenged for decades.
Among these elements the famed “horoscope” the lion, which has often been used in various attempts to interpret included and date the ruins. The scene depicts a lion with stars in your body -very probably the constellation Leo, together with a crescent moon carved on his chest (see picture). Above the lion’s back, are identified in Greek three stars Pyroeis of Heracles, Apollo and Phaeton Stilbon Zeus, representing Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, the three protagonists with Venus and the moon, of our image October 9, 2015. In the 50s, Neugebauer and Van Hoessen argued that the scene could represent a kind of horoscope, associated with a planetary conjunction, which occurred on 6 or 7 July of the year 62 BC at the beginning of the reign of Antiochus I, the date that has been traditionally admitted historiography of the monument.
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But science evolves, reinvented and new hypotheses, better-informed and based on the inscriptions found on the mausoleum itself, allow a new interpretation . The group’s work Archaeoastronomy IAC in place has allowed postulate that the Hierothesion of Nemrud Dag reflects the situation of heaven on precise dates the year 49 BC, at the height of the reign of Antiochus I. In that year, a planetary conjunction produced in July Leo would be located in the Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus and the crescent moon, in conjunction with the star Regulus, avatar the king. In particular, he represents the lion horoscope western horizon July 12 shortly after sunset; while a few days later, on July 23 of the year 49 BC, the date of the festival’s ascension to the throne of Antiochus I, the great statues of the eastern terrace of the monument have turned their gaze to the solar ortho, and Regulus own in conjunction with the four planetary divinities represented by the king himself in the colossal statues and whose names are described by the inscriptions of the place: “My homeland Commagene” for Venus and the Moon; “Zeus-Orosmasdes” Jupiter; “Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes” Mercury and the Sun; and “Artagnes-Heracles-Ares” by Mars.
Today the “meetings of worlds” we admire for its beauty and uniqueness, but in ancient times could arouse genuine manifestations of religious ecstasy the divine that would lead to the construction of some of the most beautiful buildings ever erected by man: Nemrud Dag is in this a paradigm
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Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés is researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), which conducts exoplanet research and cultural astronomy. In the last decade has been the Spanish representative in the Spanish-Egyptian Mission Archaeoastronomy of ancient Egypt.
Source: elpais.com
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