Efrosyni is a Classical Archaeologist with research interests in Greek ritual, religion, and mythology (especially catasterism myths), ancient astronomy (archaeoastronomy), and religious timekeeping. Efrosyni undertook her studies at the Universities of Sheffield and Leicester and joined the Department in 2009 as a lecturer in Archaeology. Her current research focuses on the ways in which the ancient Greeks perceived themselves in the cosmos, and how these perceptions may have been expressed through their use and manipulation of the natural landscape, cult performance, the construction of religious architecture, the temporal and spatial organization of their religious festivals, and the composition of myths.

Efrosyni’s research on the role of astronomical observations in the timing of religious festivals was featured on Greek national press, in the BBC’s magazine Sky at Night, and National Geographic (France).

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Boutsikas, E. and Hannah, R. (2011) 'Aitia, Astronomy and the timing of the Arrhēphoria' Annual of the British School at Athens (in press)

Boutsikas, E. and Hannah, R. (2011) 'Ritual and the cosmos: astronomy and myth in the Athenian Acropolis' in C. Ruggles (ed) Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy: Building Bridges Between Cultures. Proceedings of the 278th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union & 'Oxford IX' International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy held in Lima, Peru January 5–14 2011, Volume 7, Issue S278: 342–348. Cambridge University Press. 

Boutsikas, E. (2011) ‘Astronomical evidence for the timing of the Panathenaia’ American Journal of Archaeology. April 2011, vol. 115.2: 303–309

Boutsikas E. and Ruggles C. (2011) ‘Temples, Stars, and Ritual Landscapes: the Potential for Archaeoastronomy in Ancient Greece’ American Journal of Archaeology. January 2011, vol. 115.1: 55–68.

Barker, G. Barton, H. Boutsikas, E. Britton, D. Davenport, B. Ewart, I. Farr, L. Ferraby, R. Gosden, C. Hunt, C. Janowski, M. Jones, S. Langub, J. Lloyd-Smith, L. Nyìri, B. Pearce, K. and Upex, B. (2009) ’The Cultured Rainforest Project: the second (2008) field season’ Sarawak Museum Journal.

Boutsikas, E. (2009) 'Placing Greek Temples: An archaeoastronomical study of the orientation of ancient Greek religious structures' Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture, vol. 21 pp 4-16.

This paper re-visits the generally accepted view that the normal orientation of ancient Greek temples is towards the east, through a general analysis of 107 Greek temple orientations collected by the author. The paper also attempts to establish whether there existed a general principle that related to specific astronomical observations and could have determined the orientation of Greek temples. The analysis applies archaeoastronomical methodology in investigating orientation patterns of Greek temples from the Geometric to the Hellenistic periods in Greece. These first results show that the sun does not seem to have played as a decisive role in the orientation of temples as currently thought. Instead, there appears to be a much larger variation than accounted for at present that cannot be simply explained by the concept of the predominance of eastern orientations. It is concluded that all-encompassing interpretations do not appear to apply in Greek religion and cult practices, and that the study of Greek cult needs to account for local variations, traditions and landscapes.

Boutsikas, E. (2008) ’The cult of Artemis Orthia in Greece: a case of Astronomical Observations?’ In M.P. Zedda and J.A. Belmonte (eds.) Lights and Shadows in Cultural Astronomy. Proceedings of the SEAC 2005, Isili, Sardinia, 28 June to 3 July. Isili: Associazione Archeofila Sarda, pp 197-205.

Two case studies are presented in this paper that aim to discuss the significance of the orientation of ancient Greek temples. The structures examined are the temple of Artemis Orthia at the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta and the two temples of Artemis Orthia at the Asklepieion in Messene. The cult of Orthia was introduced in Greece during the tenth century BC and remained active for more than a millennium. The surviving archaeological, written and mythological evidence are presented and possible astronomical connections are examined in terms of the role they may have played in the cult.

Boutsikas, E. (2007) ’The orientation of Greek temples: a statistical analysis’ In E. Pasztor (ed) Archaeoastronomy in Archaeology and Ethnography. Papers from the annual meeting of SEAC (European Society for Astronomy in Culture) held in Kecskemet in Hungary in 2004. BAR International Series 1647: pp 19-23.

Salt, A. and Boutsikas, E. (2005) ’Knowing when to consult the oracle at Delphi’ Antiquity 79, No.305: pp 564-572.

The cities of Greece had their own calendars, so how did they all know when the god Apollo had returned from the northern realms and it was time to consult the oracle at Delphi? The authors show that the heliacal rising of the constellation Delphinus probably provided the annual marker, and that because of the mountains it appeared to rise a month later at Delphi than elsewhere, giving would-be visitors time to travel. The landscape of Delphi was itself instrumental in creating or enhancing the cosmology of Apollo.

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Religious landscapes and space:
Spatial analysis and distribution of religious sites in Greece and their landscapes
The role of landscape and night sky in the performance of Greek cult
Use of epigraphic and literary sources in reconstructing cult performance
The importance of landscape in the positioning of religious buildings

The development of Greek astronomy and cosmology:
Greek astronomy and Pre-Socratic astronomy
Greek calendars and time-keeping
Astronomy in religious time-keeping (religious calendars)
Development of Greek cosmological thought and philosophy and their influence in religion and cult
Mythology and catasterism myths

Greek religion and religious architecture:
Religion and cult practice
Architectural and building organisation within sanctuaries
The expression of religious identity through the performance of and participation in cult

Current Projects

Myth, Cult and Cosmos: astronomy in ancient Greek religion (Marsden Fund)

That astronomy and agriculture were connected in the ancient mind is apparent in Hesiod’s Works and Days, and the parapēgmata star-list inscriptions, which continue the tradition. That astronomy and religion were also connected in ancient Greece is less obvious. The religious life of sacred sites and structures, as defined by their rites and aetiological myths, are taken to reflect and be conditioned by basic environmental conditions (including sunrise, sunset, day and night time activities, timing of festivals, etc.). This concept of ‘total landscape’ that includes also the sky allows an integration of the modes of knowledge that we now distinguish as ‘science’ and ‘religion’, a distinction that would have been incomprehensible to antiquity, when religion permeated life far more deeply than we can fully comprehend nowadays. This project argues that astronomy, myth, the content and timing of religious cult, and landscape in its totality all combine to provide a richer understanding of ancient science in its cultural context, and indeed of the interplay between science and religion in ancient Greece. The project innovatively uses astronomy as a methodological tool to help elucidate and explain Greek religious belief and practice through data collected from across the western and eastern Greek worlds, from Sicily to mainland Greece to Turkey and Cyprus. It aims to make a significant contribution to the history of science as a cultural tool, specifically at the interface between astronomy and religion in ancient Greece.

The project draws together evidence from a wide variety of sources:

• archaeological surveys of the spatial layout of religious structures, conducted in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece and Sicily;
• historical evidence of the cults that can be associated with the temples under investigation;
• the literary evidence of the aetiological myths associated with the cults;
• the epigraphic and calendrical timing of religious festivals associated with the cults;
• the beliefs of the cults that are known to us through literary sources;
• and the reconstruction of the night sky observable from the cult sites around the physical remains of the sacred landscape of temple and sanctuary

Myth, Ritual and the Cosmos: Greek astronomy in ancient Athenian culture (British Academy)

By bringing together archaeology and Classics, this project initiates an inter national, interdisciplinary collaboration in the study of ancient Greek astronomy. The project brings together UK and New Zealand scholars, in order to initially review the role and function of ancient Greek astronomy in religion, as well as the division between religious and civic uses of Greek astronomy along with the types of astronomical observations that each involved (e.g. solar, stellar, lunar). The project will produce and develop a new and integrated methodological approach to the study of ancient Greek astronomy in religion, by mainly focusing upon a case study concerning the re-examination of literary and archaeological data from the Athenian Acropolis; in particular, by focusing upon the links between the Greek myth of the formation of the constellation of the Hyades, the astronomical movement of the constellation, and the timing of maiden festivals on the Acropolis. This collaboration will create a sound interdisciplinary methodological approach that will improve current knowledge on the practical uses of Greek astronomy and will be applicable to future studies of Greek astronomy, Archaeology, Ancient History and Classics.

Ritual Performance and the cosmos: the case of Ancient Greek Mystery Cults (British Academy)

Most ancient Greek religious festivals were held at night, in the open, with little artificial light, before an altar. The celestial dome would therefore have been crucial to the festival, integrating the night-sky within the cult experience. The potential importance that this might have had for those attending rituals has so far been ignored in studies of ancient Greek cult performance. This project (funded by the British Academy) brings together the spiritual and cosmological tenets of the cults (known to us through literary sources), the survey of the spatial layout of religious structures, and the surrounding landscape, in order to address how important cosmological concepts were communicated through the rituals of the Greek Mystery cults of Demeter in Eleusis, the sanctuary of the Great Gods in Samothrace, and sanctuary of Kabeiroi in Lemnos.

The Astronomical Dimension of the Cults of Apollo Delphinios (Society of Antiquaries of London)

Efrosyni has been examining in detail the sanctuaries of Apollo Delphinios in Greece and Asia Minor and the festivals associated with the cult, in order to complete a study on the relationship between astronomical observations, landscape, religious timekeeping, and the design and construction of religious structures. The project investigates the correlations between landscapes chosen for the construction of the temples of Apollo Delphinios and the rationale behind temple design as part of astronomical observance and cult performance. This project has been partly funded by the Society of Antiquaries of London.

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At undergraduate level, Efrosyni is teaching and convening modules on ancient Greek religion and Mystery cults (CL652), ancient Greek Art and Architecture (CL608), and contributes to the Introduction to Archaeology course (CL329).

At postgraduate level, Efrosyni teaches Ancient Greek Astronomy (CL821) and contributes to the Archaeological Theory course (CL805).

Efrosyni is keen to supervise students interested in Greek archaeology, especially religion, cult practice mythology, astronomy and cosmology using literary and/or archaeological sources, as well as Greek rural, civic and religious landscapes and architecture.

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Marsden Research Grant, 2010 Marsden Fund, New Zealand (NZ$590,000) (with Prof. Robert Hannah).

British Academy/ACU Grants for International Collaboration, 2010 British Academy (£5,000) (with Prof. Robert Hannah).

Small Grants 2009, British Academy (£4,500).

William Lambarde Fund, 2008 Society of Antiquaries of London.

The Richard Bradford McConnell Fund for Landscape Studies, 2004 British School at Athens.

Honorary Visiting Fellowship, 2008–2010. School of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Leicester.

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