ORIENTAZIONE. — In its sacred sense, o. is not the art of determining the cardinal points for practical purposes, but rather: 1) the art of knowing how to indicate the place that the divinity has chosen to receive the worship of human beings; 2) the direction that the person praying, whether a community or an individual, must take in order to enter into communication with the divinity.
I. O. OF THE PLACE. – Originally, a clearing surrounded by trees and enlivened by a spring, or a mountain or rocky recess, was regarded by primitive peoples as the dwelling preferred by the divinity and the place most suitable for divine manifestations. Therefore, whoever had to determine the place of worship did not choose it according to personal criteria, but consulted the divinity through appropriate rites in order to obtain its approval.
The term o. derives from the position occupied by the sun at its rising on the circle of the horizon, which, with its light, guides human beings from dawn to sunset. Thus solar o. is universal among all peoples; in some places, the rising in the sky of stars or planets other than the sun was also taken as a criterion for orienting sacred buildings.
In Mexico, the great temples (teocalli) were oriented with the principal door toward the west. In China, the temple of the sun was oriented toward the east and that of the moon toward the west, in accordance with the cardinal point from which each rose. In Egypt, generally speaking, the o. of the temples was toward the east, but considerable importance was also attached to the heliacal rising (19 July) of the star Sothis (Sirius) in the constellation Canis. The mastabas, small private tombs in the shape of truncated pyramids, had their doors to the east, in the direction of the « amenti » or underworld. In Assyria, it does not appear that the temples proper had a fixed o. The zigurats, towers with four to seven steps that formed an integral part of the temples, generally, though not always, had their corners oriented toward the cardinal points. Among the Hebrews, the tabernacle with the Holy of Holies was oriented toward the east, with its rear toward the west (Ex. 26, 22). In ancient India, too, o. toward the east was primary: of the three fires, two had to be lit in the open air for the sacrifice; the one oriented toward the east was the principal one.
Etruscan o. followed the north–south line, with the left to the east (the favorable side) and the right to the west (the unfavorable side), and reflected in the human world the division existing in the world of the gods, as is evident from the bronze liver of Piacenza. In Rome, the temple with Etruscan o. (north–south) was that of Capitoline Jupiter. The Romans preferred o. along the decumanus (west–east), and the augurs proceeded from an elevated observation point to determine the sacred space (templum) on which the sacred building was to be erected, or which was at least to be regarded as withdrawn from profane use; Vitruvius (IV, 8) observes that, if the nature of the site prevented the normal o., it should follow the most important part of the city and the part richest in temples of the gods. In Greece, the majority of temples dedicated to the gods were oriented toward the east; those of heroes or the dead toward the west, though they could also be oriented with reference to a star (Gemelli, Capra, Oras). Even the most ancient Christian buildings, whenever circumstances permitted, were oriented toward the east, in accordance with the direction of prayer.
II. O. DELL'ORANTE. — In prayer, orientation differs according to beliefs and circumstances. Primitive peoples orient themselves toward the object in which they believe the divinity to be present, whether it be a tree, a stone, a mountain, etc. The ancient Jews turned toward the Temple insofar as it was the dwelling of Jahweh. After the exile, and following the Deuteronomic reform that concentrated the sole seat of worship in Jerusalem, the Jews, including those of the diaspora, oriented themselves toward Jerusalem, taking care to pray on a balcony or terrace with the windows open (cf. Dan. 6:11), a prescription confirmed by the Talmud. In private homes and synagogues, an ornamental painting indicated the point of orientation (mizrāh). The great synagogue of Dura (A.D. 244) was likewise oriented toward Jerusalem, as is shown by the niche in which the scroll of the Law was kept, even though by that time the Temple had already been destroyed for more than a century. The Samaritans, when praying, turned toward their Mount Garizim, where they believed Jahweh dwelt. Babylonian priests, in prayer, turned toward the east; the Greeks toward the place where they believed the divinity to be present and, in temples, toward the image of the god (Homer, II, VIII, 364; Herodotus, I, 31; IX, 61); the Romans, when praying, turned toward the east (Virgil, Aen., VIII, 18; XII, 173); in prayer to Jupiter, they oriented themselves toward the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Livy, VI, 20). Among Muslims, the direction of prayer was originally toward Jerusalem; then Muhammad prescribed that it should be toward Mecca (Qur’an, II, 139). Hence in mosques there is the miḥrāh, which indicates the direction (qiblah) of Mecca. In mosques that are adaptations of ancient Christian churches (e.g., Hagia Sophia in Constantinople), this indicator may lie outside the axis of the building.
Orientation toward Jerusalem was maintained by Christians coming from Judaism (Irenaeus, Haer., I, 22), whereas Gentile Christians preferred orientation toward the east, also because, according to the eschatological vision of Christianity (Mt., 24:30), the Son of Man will appear with his sign (the Cross) on the last day like lightning that traverses the sky from east to west.
Thus the Cross marks the qiblah of Christian prayer; from this derives the practice of depicting the Cross in the apse of churches, where it recalls Christ who will come on the day of the supreme Judgment. It was therefore not astronomical orientation (which Christianity transcended: Tertullian, De orat., XI), but the eschatological significance of coming from the east that determined the orientation of the ancient Christian churches.