temenos
Sign in to saveAlso known as sacred precinct, temenoi, temene
A temenos (Greek: ; plural: , temenē) is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy grove, or holy precinct.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- sacred place
Show 4 more facts
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- Commons category
- Temenos
- facet of
- hieron
- name
- τέμενος
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Examples
- Historical development
- Psychological interpretation
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- Sources
A temenos (Greek: ; plural: , temenē) is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy grove, or holy precinct.
A temenos enclosed a sacred space called a hieron. It was usually surrounded by a wall, ditch, or line of stones. All things inside the demarcated area belonged to the designated god. Greeks could find asylum within a sanctuary and be under the protection of the deity and could not be moved against their will.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “temenos” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.