1. What is a Temple?

2. What is a Temple?

3. What is a Temple?

4. What is a Temple?

5. Let’s first look at the word temple?

6. The English word temple --

7. The English word temple --
The English word ‘temple’ comes from the Latin word ‘templum’

8. The English word temple --
The English word ‘temple’ comes from the Latin word ‘templum’ The Latin word templum referred not so much as to a type of building as to an area that was marked out for religious purposes – i.e., a sacred place.

9. The English word temple --
The English word ‘temple’ comes from the Latin word ‘templum’ The Latin word templum referred not so much as to a type of building as to an area that was marked out for religious purposes – i.e., a sacred place. Initially, a templum was the space or location for augurs to perform observations.

10. What is an augur?

11. Augurs

12. Augurs

13. Augurs
Augurs were Roman priests who observed birds to interpret divine approval or disapproval from the gods. A templum is the place in which augurs would make their observations.

14. Augurs An augur observing the birds
Augurs were Roman priests who observed birds to interpret divine approval or disapproval from the gods. A templum is the place in which augurs would make their observations.

15. The English word temple --
The section of sky observed by augurs was also called a templum.
The root word ‘tem’ means ‘to cut off.’
A templum was a space that was ‘cut off’ or separated for sacred purposes.
The Greek’s had a word similar in meaning -- temenos.

16. Greek Word Temenos A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell and Scott, 1940) :
I. “a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official doman, especially to kings and chiefs”
II. “ a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, precint”
III. “temple”

17. Greek Word Temenos
Most often, temenos referred to the precinct surrounding the temple. For example:

18. The Step-Pyramid of Djoser

19. The Step-Pyramid of Djoser

20. The Step-Pyramid of Djoser

21. Temple of Herod the Great

22. Temple of Herod the Great

23. Temple of Karnak

24. Temple of Karnak

25. Temple of Karnak

26. Borobudur Temple

27. Borobudur Temple

28. Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacan

29. Temple of the Sun, Teotihuacan

30. Temple of Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan

31. Temenos of Teotihuacan

32. Parthenon of Athens

33. Parthenon of Athens

34. Parthenon of Athens

35. Salt Lake Temple

36. Salt Lake Temple

37. Salt Lake Temple

38. Though templum and temenos can mean temple, these are not the normal words used in Latin or Greek for temple.

39. Latin:
templum
aedes (dwelling place of a god)
delubrum (dwelling place of a god)
sacellum (small shrine)
fanum (sacred space)

40. hieron (a consecrated place) naos (dwelling place of a god)
Greek:
temenos
hieron (a consecrated place)
naos (dwelling place of a god)
oikos (house)

41. beth or bayit (“house”) hekal (“palace”) har (“mountain”)
Hebrew
beth or bayit (“house”)
hekal (“palace”)
har (“mountain”)
quodesh (the “holy” place)
quodesh makom (“holy place”)
miqdash (sanctuary)
mishkan (sanctuary, divine abode)
ohel mo’ed (tent of meeting)

42. egal (“big house”, palace) temen (foundation pegs)
Sumerian
E (house or temple)
egal (“big house”, palace)
temen (foundation pegs)
E-temen-an-ki, "the temple of the foundation (pegs) of heaven and earth”
[temen referring to the axis mundi]
hou

43. So what does the English word temple mean?

44. So what does the English word temple mean?
In this course, we will define a temple as a structure as a dwelling place of a god or gods, or other objects of religious reference and a place where worship of that object may occur.