Dr Efrosyni Boutsikas features in new National Geographic documentary

Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, Dr Efrosyni Boutsikas, has contributed expert insights to the new National Geographic documentary Chasing The Equinox.

This is a new programme examining the reasons behind ancient cultures associating religious structures with astronomical occurrences. It considers their function, their origins and how these traits combined expressed the culture’s cosmovision. The documentary investigates how ancients may have incorporated their knowledge of astronomy in temples and palaces, built to align with the rising sun on the equinoxes worldwide, demonstrating humanity’s preoccupation with the sun across thousands of years and every continent.

Dr Boutsikas was approached by the show’s producers as her research and expertise were considered vital to their ambitions of delving thoroughly into the subject. This includes her insights into the expression of ancient Greek perceptions of the cosmos in myths, religious performance and architecture, and the temporal and spatial organisation of religious festivals.

Dr Boutsikas also teaches on the new History and Archaeology of the Greek and Roman Worlds MA, featuring the Ancient Greek Sciences: Astronomy, Cosmology and Physics module, from the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies, which explores the development of astronomy, physics and cosmological ideas in ancient Greece. This MA introduces students to the beginnings of rational thinking about the cosmos and how ancient Greek philosophers understood the mechanics of the cosmos as inseparable from what was taking place on earth.

Like Chasing The Equinox, this MA explores how early philosophy yielded cosmological ideas about the creation of the world which departed from traditional religious beliefs and sought explanations based on ancient understanding of physics, astronomy and mathematics. These, along with the application of ‘scientific’ knowledge in religious practice (engineering, architecture, the astronomically-timed religious festivals) are examined in this MA.

Please use this link to see more of Chasing the Equinox.

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