Table of Contents

Introduction.- ​Part I.- Methods.- Astronomy with the Naked Eye.- Acquiring Data.- Data Analysis.-  Part II.- Ideas.- Astronomy and Architecture at the Roots of Civilization.- Astronomy, Power, and Landscapes of Power.- The Scientific Foundations of Archaeoastronomy.- Part III.- Places.- Megalithic Cultures of the Mediterranean.- Ancient Egypt.- Pre-columbian Cultures.- The Classical World.- Exercises.

About the Author

Giulio Magli is an Italian astrophysicist/archaeoastronomer who works primarily on the relationship between the architecture of ancient cultures and the sky. After receiving his PhD in Mathematical Physics at the University of Milan, he initially conducted research in Relativistic Astrophysics but gradually moved toward Archaeoastronomy, with a special interest in the relationship between architecture, landscape, and the mathematical/astronomical lore of ancient cultures, especially among the Ancient Egyptians but also among the Incas, in Asia and in the Mediterranean. He became full professor of Mathematical Physics at the Politecnico of Milan in 2005, and he is currently Head of the Department of Mathematics there. Since 2009 he has taught the only official course on Archaeoastronomy ever established in an Italian University. His previous books include Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy (Springer 2009) and Architecture, Astronomy and Sacred Landscape in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge University Press 2013). He has taught the first ever massive open online course on Archaeoastronomy. The course is freely available on the Politecnico of Milan and Coursera’s MOOC platform, POK.