Why the ancient Greeks built their places of worship to create equilateral and isosceles triangles on the map or to verify complex mathematical relationships remains a big question. The questions that arise are many: what was the purpose of these sacred sites and how did they calculate the vast distances (especially when the sea lay between them)?
And of course, two isosceles triangles may have all the glory, raising conspiracy theories about energy magnetic fields and more, but triangulation seems to have been a generalized practice in Greek life.
The isosceles triangle formed by the Temple of Poseidon at Sounio, the Temple of Aphaia Athena at Aegina, and the Temple of Hephaestus at Thissio of Athens, as well as the second one emanating from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the Parthenon, and the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina, has often been the subject of studying of modern scholarship, as the divine rule that seems to exist in this unexpected symmetry continues to puzzle researchers.
Both Aristotle and Strabo admit that the construction of the sanctuaries was not accidental but followed an internal regulation with its own occult methodology, though both seem reluctant to reveal the details of this divine analogy.
Was the knowledge common to all and in need of no further analysis, or was it an occult hierarchical doctrine to be possessed only by the initiated? The harmonious relationship of temples, oracles, tombs, and sanctuaries reaches us today only as a picture, which evokes shivers of emotion, though the well-concealed mystery refuses to reveal its traces.
It is often said that the wisdom of the ancient Greeks was envied and imitated by many nations (such as the Romans), but the occult intricacy of their places of worship seems not to have been learned. The matter is obviously unthinkable in both its conception and mathematical accuracy, as the perfect calculation of the locations of cities and temples only becomes relatively easy with the aid of modern human satellites and GPS technology.
What human mind could make such measurements and what human hand could put them to paper, reverently obeying the universal and eternal law of harmony? And above all, what was the purpose of this geometry, which may well be regarded as one of the most amazing - though relatively unknown - achievements of ancient Greeks?
Greek mysticism and mathematical thinking
Numbers, for the ancient Greeks (and especially the Pythagoreans), were metaphysical entities of divine grace, that is, bearers of truth that could determine the mortal destiny of men. From these mystical experiments with numbers emerged geometry, the divine design of the world that became the driving force of Greek mathematics.
Numbers, geometry, and astronomy were thus used to bring the discussion to ontology and reveal creation itself, since the divine design was symmetrical and harmonious, such as a circle or a triangle.
It is possible, therefore, that the point of contact of these sciences was impressed upon the land of the ancient Greeks both symbolically and materially, making the Greek map a model (or mirror image) of the heavens and its own immortal mysteries?
Altarpieces, shrines, oracles, temples, and even whole cities seem to obey this inner prescription of perfect geometrical relations or mathematical formulae, all reflecting the celestial harmony of the spheres and the laws of the universe.
How all this was discovered
Although we find scattered references to geometric triangulation in ancient texts, and the existence of these harmonic relationships was by no means secret, the matter seems to have entered the ancient Greek epic poetry.
The harmony and beauty of the imaginary connection of the ancient Greek sanctuaries came to the attention of the French researcher Jean Rissen in 1967, who explicitly referred to the "Ancient Geometric Triangulation". The challenge was later taken up by Theofanis Manias ("Unknown Masterpieces of Ancient Greeks") and shortly thereafter by A. Alexiou, who began to study the internal mathematical and astronomical harmony of ancient Greek monuments from the early 1970s.
The proof, of course, would come with the development of the use of GPS and geographic location, which simplified the calculations that were first made with rulers on the Greek map. Hundreds of on-site measurements at temples and sanctuaries in Greece by Professor Kosmas Markatos revealed that the isosceles triangle was probably the most important unit of geodetic triangulation, although other models were also used, such as the principle of equal distances between archeological sites, the orthogonal the equilateral and the golden triangle, the circle, the alignment, and so on.
Markatos confirmed some symmetries that prove the existence of triangulation in ancient Greek. The GPS showed that the equilibrium of the sides of the imaginary triangles was almost perfect since the deviations ranged from a few centimeters to a few tens of meters! The presence of so many geometrical correlations shows that the phenomenon is so frequent and harmonious that it cannot be there by chance. So say the ancients themselves, such as Heron Alexandreus, who leaves no room for misinterpretation when he asserts, "Geodesy divides not only with sameness but also into proportion and magnitude."
But even Aristotle says in his "Politics" (VII, 1331a): "The houses erected for the worship of the gods must not only be in the right place but in the same place too, with the exception of those whose place is separately determined by law or by an oracle under the auspices of the oracle of Delphi". Hipparchus agrees with the assertion when he says that he uses geodetic methods to determine every point on the earth.
Strabo says: "Those who deal with the positions of the various places take into account the indications of astronomers and surveyors as to shapes, sizes, and distances", while Pausanias tells us that: "The municipality of Marathon is at the same distance from Athens as Carystos, which is in Evia, is from Athens" ("Attica" 32: 3), references which leave no doubt as to whether the geometrical correlations were carefully pre-planned and entirely intentional.
As for the correlations themselves, the unit of measurement is, of course, the stadium (184.454 meters), the number π (3.14), the number of the golden ratio φ (1.618), but also various geometric proportions known in antiquity like 1: 1, 3: 2, 4: 3, 9: 8, 256: 243, 8: 3, 4: 1, 9: 2, etc.
The two famous isosceles triangles
The most famous and best-studied case is the isosceles triangle formed by the temple of Hephaestus in Athens, the temple of Poseidon in Sounio and the temple of Aphaia Athena in Aegina, with a distance of 242 stadiums (and the head of the triangle is Sounio). At the same time, 23 other pairs of ancient cities in Greater Attica and Viotia are 242 stadiums apart!
The research of Professor Markatos showed that firstly "the triangle Sounion-Athens (Thiseion - Temple of Hephaistos) - Aegina is isosceles, the distances Sounio-Athens (Thiseion) and Sounio-Aegina being almost equal" and secondly the triangle Delphi (Navel) - Athens (Parthenon) - Aegina (Prefecture of Aphaia) is practically isosceles ".
GPS, with the help of modern satellite technology, proved what the ancient Greeks seemed to know almost intuitively: how to build their cities and sanctuaries harmoniously!
The isosceles triangle with the apex of the temple of Poseidon at Sounio and the sides of the temple of Aphaia at Aegina and the temple of Hephaestus at Thiseio has a side length of 44.82 km (from the temple of Poseidon in Sounio to the temple of Aphaia Athena in Aegina ) and 44.96 km (from the temple of Poseidon in Sounio to the temple of Hephaistos in Thiseio).
As for the second and equally famous isosceles triangle, it has the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the temple of Aphaia at Aegina and the Parthenon. For the divergence of the length of the two sides, GPS tells us that the isosceles triangle has side lengths of 121.39 km (from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina) and 121.31 km (from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to the Parthenon)!
From the Acropolis of Athens, Aigai, ancient Olympia, the Lions of Holy Delos, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and ancient Thebes to Dion, the Temple of Apollo at Corinth, the Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia, the Temple of Poseidon at Sounio, Leo of Chaeronea, and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Greek topography is characterized by rich geometric relationships about which we do not know much.
Was it an attempt to represent the constellations of the sky? Were they instead trying to depict the entire zodiac on the Greek map, creating a perfect image of eternal celestial harmony on earth? Or did they use the natural energy currents of the earth's surface to direct energy to their cities and sanctuaries?
Research must continue to reveal the knowledge that the ancient Greeks seem to have possessed and to have been one of the most important features of the ancient Greek world. Beyond the natural and metaphysical "why", it is the "how" that should finally impress modern thought: How did the ancient Greeks accomplish the feat of geometrically connecting their sacred places?
A convincing answer to this will shed a different light on everything we know about science, but also on the mystical knowledge of one of the most brilliant civilizations ever to appear on planet Earth.
