METROLOGICAL CANON OF ANCIENT MACEDONIA: Part II: Monumental Heroon Architecture and Imperial Modular Geometry of the Kasta Tumulus at Amphipolis

Abstract

Abstract:This paper investigates the metrological and geometric planning canon of the Kasta Tumulus at Amphipolis, the largest monumental burial mound in the Hellenistic world, dating to the late 4th century BCE and associated with the architectural school of Dinocrates of Rhodes. Integrating official field datasets (directed by K. Peristeri and chief architect M. Lefantzis) with rigorous archaeometric analysis, we demonstrate that the entire architectural complex—including the 158.40 m diameter circular marble peribolos wall, monumental dromos, entrance portal with sphinxes, Caryatid chamber, and burial vault—was laid out using a unified geodetic standard: the ideal Sacred Cubit (SL = 9 * sqrt(3) / 25 ≈ 0.623538 m) subdivided into 7 canonical palms (1 palm = SL/7 ≈ 0.089077 m), following the Newtonian septenary framework originally documented in A Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews. Structural elements exhibit a mean absolute deviation of merely Delta = 2.15 mm across all evaluated primary architectural axes. A stochastic Monte Carlo simulation (N = 1,000,000) decisively refutes the null hypothesis of random distribution (p < 10^-6), confirming that late 4th-century BCE Macedonian imperial architecture operated within a rigorous, geodetically grounded modular metrological framework. Keywords: Historical Metrology, Ancient Macedonia, Amphipolis, Kasta Tumulus, Dinocrates, Isaac Newton, Sacred Cubit, Archaeoastronomy, Monte Carlo simulation.