The Roman Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi (Timgad) and Trajan's Birthday

TL;DR

This study investigates whether the Roman town Timgad was aligned with the sunrise on Trajan's birthday using astronomical software to analyze its orientation.

Contribution

The paper introduces a method to analyze ancient urban orientations by comparing astronomical data with archaeological features.

Findings

Timgad's decumanus aligns closely with the sunrise azimuth on September 18.

The orientation suggests intentional planning related to Trajan's birthday.

The approach demonstrates how software can aid in archaeological orientation studies.

Abstract

It is told that the Roman Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi, that is Timgad in Algeria, had been oriented to the sunrise on the day of Trajan's birthday, that is 18 September 100 AD. Here we use software CalSKY to investigate the sunrise azimuth and compare it to the direction of the decumanus of the Roman town.