THE MEGALITHIC TEMPLE OF DIANA ON THE CEFALÙ ROCK (SICILY)

Abstract

The megalithic temple on the Rock of Cefalù, known as the name of the Temple of Diana, is a structure of which up to now has not been able to understand the real function. The megalithic temple has a main entrance direct to the west, through which starts a corridor leading to the rocky cistern characterized by a dolmenic coverage. After the first drawings and reliefs between '700 and '800, respectively of Jean Houel and George Nott, the first official archaeological excavations were made by Pirro Marconi in the first half of the twentieth century. These excavations allowed to acquire more informations about the age of the temple and the cistern. The authors have developed the first complete archaeoastronomical study of the building, allowing to find out how the facility would serve as vestibule to the cistern of proto-historic age, and in particular how the megalithic architecture is a real sun temple. The front door of the temple is indeed oriented to the point where the sun sets at the equinoxes. This finding suggests that in these periods of the year the solar hierophany most likely invited to come inside the temple to reach the cistern, where they carried cults and rituals related to water. This study allows the identification of the temple as a Artemision.