New insights on the akragas’ complex of demeter and persephone: The role of the moon

We present here in details the results obtained-within a campaign held in August 2015, aimed at a complete re-evaluation of the temples of Akragas-on the Temple of Demeter and Persephone. This temple, built on the eastern slopes of the Athena Rock, belongs to the final phase of the Archaic period (480-470 BC) and is traditionally attributed to the Eleusinian divinities. The archaeoastronomical analysis hints at a connection with the Moon and opens up new perspectives in the problem of the attribution of the temple. In fact, the eastern front yields a declination very close to -27°, and therefore the building is one of the rare examples of Greek temples which is not oriented within the arc of the rising sun. Furthermore, the western front-which looks towards the Akragas acropolis-yields a declination very close to that of the Moon at the maximal northern standstill. A vast, artificial esplanade was built on this side and was very probably the place where nocturnal processions gathered after ascending to the temple.