How do We Know the Ancient Slavs also Knew Gnomons?

Abstract

I will attempt to demonstrate that the ‘sacred triangles based on the solar angle’ hypothesis cannot be regarded as a serious scientific proposition because it seems uncorroborated by any solid evidence. It is more an example of circular reasoning, which entails supporting the idea that the ancient Slavs knew about the obliquity of the ecliptic by pointing to the purported existence of ‘sacred triangles’, while also proving the existence of these ‘sacred triangles’ by demonstrating the ancient Slavs were familiar with the value for the obliquity. Certain structures portrayed as gnomons in ancient Slavic contexts are shown to have been overzealously interpreted by modern scholars. This is revealed in a detailed analysis of several of these ‘gnomons’. Finally, it is observed that the ‘sacred triangles’ scholarship engages with neither the modern history of science nor modern studies of myth, the very disciplines that could provide the scholars involved with a better perspective on the subjects to which they are so passionately committed.

Keywords

• ancient slavs
• ancient astronomy
• sacred triangles
• solar angle
• gnomon
• circular reasoning