The Sun and Orion Shaking hands

Ancient code for two well known constellations

Location of Arsameia

The Turkish village of Arsameia hosts a truly fascinating astro-archeological treasure, or rather two of them, but they are linked together.

Arsameia or Arshamashat are the ancient names of a little town known today as Eski Kale, in the Eastern- Turkey Adiyaman district.

While Arsameia is now a dusty and nearly forgotten place, it was once part of the Greco-Persian kingdom of Commagene which flourished in the 2nd century BCE and located just in the middle between the kingdoms of Armenia, Parthia (Persia), Syria and the Roman Empire.

On the crossroad between different cultures and religions, the place has long been associated with the Persian (mystery) School, linked to religious syncretism. But this was also the region of the ancient Magi, a Chaldean tribe known for their knowledge of astronomy, alchemy and healing powers. And of course, neither Göblekli Tepe nor the city of the Moon tower, Harran, are far away.

King Antiochus I (Mithridates)

Arsameia is known for its Hierothesion (mausoleum on a hill) of King Mithridates, also known also King Antiochus I.

The first remarkable piece of art for which Arsameia is famous for, is a stone relief.

The official description of this stonework is “King Antiochus shaking hands with Hercules”.

The celestial king

Now, if we look closer, the king is not just a “normal” king. He wears five lion heads as ornaments at his belt.

Furthermore, his shirt is decorated with stars. He is therefore described not just as a “royal” figure” but also as a celestial figure or a king moving toward the celestial realm.

The other figure holds a big club in his left hand and is hence easily recognizable as Hercules, the Greek semi-God associated with the 12 labors. However, a giant with a club in his hand had been associated, long before the Greeks, with other Super Heroes, for example Gilgamesh, or Nimrod. And all of them were linked to the celestial Hunter par excellence, Orion.

And now it gets more juicy. We are talking here about a burial place. Not just a “rest in peace” place but basically a place where a person or, in this case, the king himself, was believed to pass on, to ascend to heaven, or to become a star;

The planet associated with kings is the Sun, while the star associated with royalty is Regulus and the sign associated with nobility is Leo. The king here is shown with a belt made of lions, pointing to Regulus in the constellation of Leo. We therefore find the Sun conjunct Regulus in Leo. This gives us a first indication of time.

Now, the other man has already been described as representing Orion.

But why are they shaking hands?? The two constellations Leo and Orion are not even close to each other!

This brings us tow the second and most intriguing point of interest.

An astronomical aligned well

Not far from the handshaking relief scene we can find something that has often been described as an ancient well. A strange well, indeed, because difficult to access, pretty tight and not vertically cut into the ground but rather oblique, more like a tunnel. Indeed, it doesn’t seem to be made for water supply at all.

A stairways conduces inside this strange place, but carrying an empty bucket down there or lifting it upstairs would not be easy: the opening is low and one would need to duck pretty much. In fact, no water has been found at the bottom of the “well”, nor any artifact that could give us a hint about its significance. So why is this place interesting at all?

The “well” has a length of about 158 m and an inclination of 35°. This alone would not be of particular interest, but this burial ground faces West, to the setting place of the Sun, traditionally associated with death.

Adrian Gilbert1 found out that this precise inclination was used as a telescope: only on two days of the year, at the precise latitude of Arsameia, the Sun would reach 35° elevation and therefore illuminate the floor of the well.

The first date is May 27

If we look again at the our stone relief, we can see that the King is on the left and Orion on the right. If we face south, east is to our left and west is to our right. At that very day at down, the Sun rises parallel to the arm of Orion, hence the King is shaking hands. Now we have to consider that Orion was not only identified with the celestial hunter, but he was also Osiris, the Egyptian God of the Underworld. So, on May 27th, the King dies and meets Osiris who carries him through the Netherworld. Indeed, the Sun reaches 35° around 1 p.m while it is in the western quadrant of the sky.

The other date is July 28th.

Now the Sun is conjunct Regulus. When the Sun reaches 35° latitude, Leo is in the eastern quadrant of the sky and is therefore rising.

The King is now on the other side, in his celestial realm, or figuratively reborn.

Since the two celestial crossings happen at the same solar elevation but in opposite direction (one setting, the other rising), it was remembered as “the shaking of hands”. The technical name for this particular artistic theme is Dexiosis. And since there is a proper terms for the “shaking of hands” we can only imagine how important is must have been for artists of the past.

Indeed, the same shaking hands we find in Egypt, for the celebration of the birth of Horus.