Sacred Landscapes of Imperial China

Giulio Magli is an astrophysicist/archaeoastronomer and currently a Full Professor of Mathematical Physics and Head of the Department of Mathematics at the Politecnico di Milano. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Milan, he initially conducted research in Relativistic Astrophysics but gradually moved toward Archaeoastronomy and, more generally, to the study of the relationships between architecture and landscape among ancient cultures. For many years, he worked on Egypt and the Mediterranean, but his current research focuses on Asia and especially on Imperial China. His previous books include Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy (Springer 2009), Architecture, Astronomy and Sacred Landscape in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge University Press 2013), and Archaeoastronomy - Introduction to the Science of Stars and Stones (Springer 2017). He taught the first massive open online course on Archaeoastronomy ever developed, freely available on the MOOC platform of the Politecnico di Milano and on Coursera, and has appeared as an expert on Archaeoastronomy in several TV broadcasts for CNN, the History Channel, and Discovery Channel. He was also one of the authors of the UNESCO-IAU document on Astronomy and Cultural Heritage.

Introduction.- 1. A mound and a terracotta army (Qin mausoleum).- 2. Pyramids on the river (Han dynasty).- 3. From pyramids to mountains (Tang and Song dynasty).- 4. Three stones for a king (Ming at Nanjing).- 5. 13 tombs, one landscape (Ming at Beijing).- 6. The last dynasty (Qing dynasty).

"Magli's discussion is commendably accurate and well-documented. ... This is a very good book for readers interested in monumental architecture in general, in geomancy in specific and in cognitive archaeology in the service of cultural astronomy and the siting of sacred sites in the landscape." (David W. Pankenier, Journal of Skyscape Archaeology (JSA), Vol. 6 (2), 2020)