Astral Path to Soul Salvation in Late Antiquity? The Orientation of Two Late Roman Imperial Mausolea from Eastern Serbia

Abstract

The following study advocates an archaeoastronomical approach to interpreting the orientation of two Late Antique mausolea and associates them with the Mithraic circle of belief. The mausolea in question are the so-called Romula's mausoleum at Gamzigrad and the mausoleum at Šarkamen, both believed to have contained burials of women belonging to the imperial family. On the basis of measurement, comparison, and analysis of the orientation of these two structures, it is argued that they were intentionally orientated toward the same celestial event and that this orientation has a cultic explanation.