22

CHAPTER 2 TEMPLE: BIBLICAL VOCABULARY AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND Introduction

In the last chapter we tried to give Indian cultural background of the temple and how they affect the social, political, economic and religious life of the people. Today religious institutions have become the media of conflicts and violence in the present world forgetting religious tolerance of the past. This section has been entitled Temple: Biblical Vocabulary and Cultural Background, and here we shall discuss those terms and religious institutions that are used by the Semitic people for the worship of God. However, we are not concerned about how they practiced their religion. Our aim is to give background for the Biblical Theology about the Temple. We shall describe first, the older Hebrew and the Greek terms that are used in the Bible for the temple. Secondly, the notion of the temple for the worship of god is common in all the Semitic religions, because cult is the outward homage paid to a god. In order to give this homage to god, they built the temples. Thus as basis for the study of the temple of Israelites, now let us see how it was expressed among the Semitic religions.

2.1. Biblical Vocabulary of the Temple

In this section a history and description of the temple is given based on the Hebrew and the Greek words for the temples. Primarily let us try to understand the Hebrew terms and later, explain the Greek terms, for in the Hebrew Old Testament uses the Hebrew terms and in the LXX and in the New Testament, the Greek terms.

2.1.1. Hebrew Terms

The Hebrew Old Testament uses more general terms to denote the temple. The terms that used by the Hebrew OT for the temple include the following: bayith, Hekal, qodesh, miqdas, maqom, etc.

23

2.1.1.1. bayith
The primitive Semitic bait is quite prevalent in the Semitic languages. The word bait was probably a primary noun. It cannot be derived from any known verb. On the contrary, denominative verbs (like Akkadian Biatum/ batu and Arab Bata, both meaning to spend the night) were derived from the noun bait. Since the uses of Hebrew bayith were so diverse and varied, it is impossible to state any adequate synonym for it. Here we mention only approximately synonymous words ohel, tent, meant more than a movable dwelling. Frequently it has to be translated home, dwelling or family. It would hardly be possible to show that bayith had an earlier original meaning other than house. If the primitive Semitic word bait was used in the period of the cave dwellers, there hardly remains a trace of bait in the sence of cave. Instead the ordinary Hebrew word for cave is mearah1. Bayith is a building made of wood and stone in which a man and his family live (house). If the main occupant of the building was the king, the building was called beth hammelekh, the kings house, the palace. When a building to receive the deity or his servants, it was called a beth haelohim, house of god, temple. The concept of temple is also expressed simply by beth before the divine name: beth yhwh, temple of Yahweh. And finally if the house (that is palace or temple) was very large and was composed of several buildings, each building in the complex could be called a bayith2. Bayith is used in the Bible for the temple of a god, the house of god, in shiloh, and at Jerusalem, and Ezekiels vision of the temple3.

2.1.1.2. Hekal
Hekal is derived from the Sumerian, meaning a great house, and used for a palace and also the temple, the building at Shiloh, Yahwehs abode, and the temple at Jerusalem. It is used of Ezekiels vision, of the temple buildings generally. The expressions hekal qodsha, thy holy temple and hekhal qodsho, his holy temple, occur in the Old Testament4. In the OT, hekal has three meanings: palace, temple, and the middle
1 2

Cfr. Hoffner, bayith, in: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, II, Michigan, 1975, 107-108. Cfr. Ibid., 111-113. 3 Cfr. W. von Meding, naos, in: Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, III, Michigan, 1992, 786. 4 Cfr. Ibid.

24 area in the temple of Solomon, also called the holy place. The word hekal is often used interchangeably with bayith; it refers primarily to royal palaces. Since a temple is often considered a gods dwelling place, the distinction between palace and temple is only minor. In the OT, hekal in the sense of temple refers to the temple of Yahweh. The phrase hekal yhwh alternates with beth yhwh, but never occurs in parallel construction. Several temples are referred to as the temple of Solomon and the temple of Zerubbabel. In the accounts of the building of the temple during Solomons reign, the word hekal never refers to the temple as a whole, but to the area that is also called the holy place, qodhesh. The same is true in Ezekiels temple vision. In these texts, the word bayith is always used for the temple5.

2.1.1.3. qodesh
The noun qodesh connotes the concept of holiness, the essential nature of that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred and which is thus distinct from the common or profane. It can be used almost as a synonym of deity. His holy name is the name of god. The inner room of gods dwelling is called the holy of holies. But the Biblical viewpoint would refer the holiness of god not only to the mystery of his power but also to his character as totally good and entirely without evil. A basic element of Israelite religion was the maintenance of an inviolable distinction between the spheres of the sacred and the common or profane. That which was inherently holy or designated so by divine decree or cultic rite was not to be treated as common. That which was dedicated to god was conceived of as entering the sphere of the holy. The holy god came to man in redeeming love within the context of regulations and proscriptions that were designed to maintain the purity of holiness that characterized Gods essential nature. The cults also affected the holiness of those who participated in it. Because of His holiness, God is above the weakness and imperfections of mortals and thus can accomplish the deliverance of mortal. Thus the maintenance of the integrity of the holy was a function of the Israelites6.

2.1.1.4. miqdash
5 6

Cfr. Ottosson, Hekhal, in: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, II, Michigan, 1975, 383. Cfr. Thomas E. Mccomiskey, Miqdash and Qodesh, in: Harris R. Laird et al. (Eds.), Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, II, Chicago, 1980, 787-788.
6

25 The noun miqdash is used most frequently in the OT as designation of the tabernacle and the temple. It is frequently translated sanctuary. Miqdash denotes that which has been devoted to the sphere of the sacred. When it refers to the sanctuary, it connotes the physical area devoted to the worship of god. This area was sacred because it was the place where god dwelled among the people and its sanctity was not to be profaned. The word also designated sanctuaries that were devoted to false worship, to the abode of God and metaphorically to a place of refuge7.

2.1.1.5. maqom
This noun represents the physical location where something is or ought to be i.e. its station. So, it is translated place, home, or room. Infrequently it applies to that where nothing is hence open space. In particular it is used of gods place; Jerusalem as Gods place; Shechem where God appeared to Abraham promising to give the land to his descendants; holy places the places of the name of the Lord of hosts; the place which Yahweh chooses8.

2.1.2. Greek Terms

The two Greek words that are used in the Bible to denote the temple is noas and hieron. The term temenos, which is older in terms of religious History, is not found in the New Testament. There is also the word oikos which denotes house. Let us briefly explain their meaning and their usage in the LXX and in the NT.

2.1.2.1. naos9
The noun naos is derived from naio, to dwell, and is attested since Mycenean Greek. Originally it meant simply a dwelling, particularly the dwelling of a god, temple, or the innermost area of the temple. In the Hellenistic period, heaven as the dwelling of a god could also be described as naos.
7 8

Cfr. Ibid, 789. Cfr. W. von Meding, Op. Cit., 786. 9 Cfr. Ibid., 781-784.

26 Naos must consequently be distinguished from the term temenos which is older in terms of religious history, but not found in the New Testament. This latter means a space fenced in, or at least clearly marked, as being an area where a theophany has once occurred and is expected again on the ground of tradition. It is usually a place marked out by nature. In the special place, not made by human hands, the god appears as the revealer, the healer, or the giver of fertility; but he does not dwell there. For the sake of clarity naos is therefore translated temple. In the LXX naos is used 55 times (out of a total 61 instances) to translate the Hebrew hekal, palace, temple. As a building constructed as a dwelling for the gods, it is used for the sacrifice, worship of the gods, and oracles, and hence requires of necessity a local priesthood. In the Old Testament used the Hebrew term hekal to distinguish the true worship from the false, the LXX cut out all passages where hekal meant palace, by rendering it such instances simply by house. The result of this limitation is that naos becomes purely a cultic term, referring exclusively to the true temple of God. In the new Testament naos is found most frequently in Revalation (16 times) and Paul (7 times; neither used the greek term hieron ). The Synoptic Gospels use it almost only in the passion narrative (Mathew 9 times, Mark 3 times, Luke 7 times; Luke prefers hieron, 39 times), and the Johannine writings (apart from the saying in Jn. 2:19-21, which comes from the Synoptic tradition.), like the other writings of the New Testament, do not use it at all.

2.1.2.2. heiron10
The expression to heiron contains the neutral form of the adjective hieros, holy, used as a noun. In Classical Greek to hieron and its plural ta hiera, the holy things, can denote sacrifice. The plural can also refer to public objects. To hieron can mean the consecrated grove, or any place of sacrifice or the inner part of the place of worship, the temenos. In the LXX translation of the canonical writings of the Old Testament, to hieron occurs only rarely to denote the Jerusalem temple. The reason for general absence
10

Cfr. C. Brown, to hieron, in: Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, III, Michigan, 1992, 785-794.

27 from the canonical writings is doubtless its associations with idolatry, coupled with the fact that the Hebrew Old testament uses more general terms to denote the temple that we already dealt with it in the above section- bayit, hekal, qodesh miqdas, and maqom. As the focal point of Jewish religion, the temple figures prominently in the New Testament, especially in the light of Jesus associations with it. It is the place of Gods presence, glory, revelation and meeting with his people. Jesus action in connection with the temple, have a parabolic character signifying the presence of God with his people for those who have eyes to see. The destruction of the temple epitomizes Gods Judgment on the Jewish people in their rejection of himself in the person of Jesus. At the same time it signifies the end of the old covenant and its super session by the new.

2.1.2.3. oikos11
The noun oikos is common in Greek and it means house or dwelling. Sometimes specific houses are meant, e.g., a temple. Very often it means temple. It is common in Egyptian practice to call the temple the house of the deity. In the LXX oikos refers to the house which wisdom has built for itself and the similar house of the Torah and the permanent house. It is the fixed term for the sanctuary. This is obviously connected in some way with the NT understanding of the community as the house of God. In the NT, too, it is used in honour of the earthly sanctuary of Israel. No other sacred or ecclesiastical structure is called by this term in the NT sphere. It may be supposed that this usage was very common to primitive Christianity and became a permanent part of the preaching tradition. Jesus at the cleansing of the temple taught: Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves (Mk 11:17). Jn 2:16 the rebuke of Jesus runs: Take these things hence; make not my Fathers house an house of merchandise.

2.2. Cultural Background of the Temple

We cannot fully understand or appreciate the glories of Israels future temple unless we are acquainted with the temples of the past. In this section let us try to
11

Cfr. Michel, oikos in: Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, V, Michigan, 1992, 119- 122.

28 understand the temples and sanctuaries in the ancient world of the Bible. Specifically focuses on the cultural background of the temples in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, in Syria and Palestine, and Greco- Roman temples during the Biblical Period.

2.2.1. Egyptian Temples: Houses of Prayer

As we know, Israelites were lived and formed many years in Egypt; so in order to understand and study about the Jewish temple we need the cultural background of Egyptian temples. Egypt can truly be called a land of temples and they are the integral part of Egyptian life. The forms and practices of the religion first developed in the Old Kingdom of the third millennium BCE and had become definitive by the Middle Kingdom in the second millennium BCE12. The functions they performed went far beyond religious ones and pervaded every aspect of society and culture. The temple was thought of as the house of the god and its plan was similar to the plans of the houses of nobles and officials. The outward appearance of an Egyptian temple was not particularly elegant. To us whose ideas are perhaps colored by gothic cathedrals or even Greek temples, they appear more like power stations than temples. This in fact reflects their purpose. They were less concerned with telling people outside about the majesty and power of the god to whom they were dedicated and more concerned with the ritual that went on inside. As the foundation ceremony a pit was filled with clean sand containing magic amulets which warded off any evil influence that might attack from below. The corners of the building were further protected by foundation deposits consisting of animal sacrifices groups of model tools and other items. A high wall protected the temple estate and the building itself was erected within another wall and an ambulatory or corridor which formed a further protective layer around it. The shrine itself was often constructed as a separate building within the main temple complete with its own roof. The roof of the temple was also important. Some ceremonies involving for instance the union of the divine image with the sun were performed there. So it was again separated from contact with the world outside13.

12

Cfr. R.A. Tomlinson, Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Temples, in: The Encyclopedia of Religion, XIV, New York, 1987, 383. 13 Cfr. John Ruffle, Egyptian Temples: Houses of prayer, in: R. Pierce Beaver et. al. (Eds.), A Lion Handbook The worlds Religions, Herts, 1985, 75.

29

2.2.1.1. Cult and Funerary Temples

The two main types of temple were the cult temple dedicated to a particular god usually the principal god of the city or area and the funerary temple dedicated to the memory of a dead king who was treated as a god. To all intents and purposes the plans of these two types were the same14. The cult temple was the home of a deity and thus the point of contact between that deity and the mundane world of man. The cult temple as a building symbolized the divine creation of the universe. It represented the eternal existence of an ordered universe as opposed to the chaotic forces- that is the struggle between good and evil, and the inevitable triumph of the good over the evil. The cult temple as an institution provided the vast and complicated ritual by which a deity was worshipped. The essential goal of the worship was to coax the deity into positive action on behalf of the community15. Often in addition to the main god who occupied the central shrine there were other gods perhaps members of his family who shared the temple. Their images were kept in smaller shrines built around the central shrine in the sanctuary area. This ritual was intended to ensure that the gods would continue their favor towards Egypt and it was therefore the prime consideration in the design of the building. As far as possible the temple was cut off from the outside world to protect its ritual purity16. Funerary temples had a different primary function. Whether a large complex is built for a kings pyramid or a tiny chapel in artisans tomb, the funerary temple served to perpetuate the eternal existence of the human soul. Ritual and ceremony played a major role in assuring the soul of food and drink and the other necessities of the continued existence in the afterlife. Just as the living communed with gods in the cult temples, they communed with the dead in the funerary temples. For the souls of the dead, now living in the realm of supramundane and in direct conduct with gods, could also act on behalf of the living17.

2.2.1.2. Temple Personel

14 15

Cfr. Ibid. Cfr. Willam A. Ward, Temples and Sanctuaries, Egypt, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 369. 16 Cfr. John Ruffle, Op. Cit., 75. 17 Cfr. Willam A. Ward, Op. Cit., 370.

30 The wide range of religious and secular functions of the temples required a variety of personnel to carry them out. The number of people attached to a temple varied from a single priest to many thousands of priests and lay workers, depending on the size of the sanctuary and the extent of its property. In the larger temples, the lay persons are appointed for caring for fields and crops, gardens, animal herds, granaries, house keeping, and the copies written records of daily life18.

2.2.1.3. Economic Functions of the Temple

The most significant secular function of the temple was in the economic sphere. Like any sector of the society, the temples produced the food, clothing, and other necessities required by their personnel. When the state collected the surplus products, the temples were used as storage depots and centers for the redistribution of this surplus. Offerings to the gods also played a role in the redistribution of surplus goods. The food, clothing, and a host of other items presented to the gods in sometimes massive quantities were reused, by the living once the service to the gods had been satisfied. Such offerings were a major source of income for the temples and were used, for example, to support the families attached to temple service in one way or another19.

2.2.1.4. Other Non-cultic Functions of the Temple

One of the important aspects of the temple activity is the temple education which was directed by the priests within the temple precinct. Many professions such as Medicine and astronomy were almost totally the domain of the priests. The temple libraries were the repositories of all the accumulated Knowledge of the Egyptian Civilization. They embraced the entire spectrum of human knowledge: political, religious, scientific, economic and legal. They were the eternal recorders of the deeds of the Egyptian kings. They were also the centers of healings because they came to the temples not only to worship but also to cure from sickness. These Egyptian temples thus had many functions and existed to serve several purposes20.
18 19

Cfr. Ibid. Cfr. Ibid., 371. 20 Cfr. Ibid., 371-372.

31

2.2.2. Mesopotamian Temples

Israel was subjected under the rule of the great powers of the ancient orient, the Assyrian and the Babylonian powers. Israel in both the kingdoms of Judah and Israel was also affected by this fate. Thus Israels political independence came to an end and they have to depend on foreign powers. So it is good to have the background of Mesopotamian temples before entering to the study about the Jewish temples.

2.2.2.1. Archaeological and Textual Evidence

The ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians Built their temples principally with sun dried mud brick. This choice of material was forced upon them by the lack of proximity to more durable materials such as stone and large timber. These structures were required frequent re-plastering and other maintenance. The dutiful rulers, acting as gods stewards, undertake such reconstruction. As a consequence, the archaeologists excavated the remains of the great temples. The textual evidence regarding the Mesopotamian temples are the following. Various temples and their attributes were celebrated in temple hymns. The mourning and the lamentations about the destruction and the desecration of the temples and the reconstruction of the temples by the pious kings were also mentioned21.

2.2.2.2. Origin and Evolution of the Temple

The earliest sacred shrines of ancient Mesopotamia have been found with some probability to the early Ubaid period (early 5th millennium BCE). The earliest shrine at Eridu was built of mud brick and is commonly regarded as the earliest example of monumental architecture in Mesopotamia. The explosion of urban development in Mesopotamia during the 4th millennium BCE was paralleled by the construction of more elaborate temples set on higher platforms. The temples became the foremost centers of the cities of ancient Mesopotamia between the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE. The period after
21

Cfr. John F. Robertson, Temples and Sanctuaries, Mesopotamia, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 372-373.

32 3000 BCE witnessed the appearance of several different types of temple ground plans. The basic elements of the ground level temple were rectangular, with a door in one of the long sides and a brick altar in one end and it is called bend-axis approach. By about 2000 BCE, however, the bent-axis configuration was now, for the most part, replaced in Mesopotamia by the direct-axis approach, a more symmetrical layout that resulted in a n aligned vista from a paved courtyard.

2.2.2.2.1. Ziggurat
From the end of the 3rd millennium BCE on, the staged towers known as ziggurats became an essential feature of Mesopotamian temple complexes. There arose about the intended function of these multi-staged towers many hypotheses. They were the thrones of the gods- cosmic mountains that served as tombs of a dying /resurgent god. They were identified as the stairways connecting heaven and earth, thereby allowing the deity to descend from heaven. The ziggurat came to be a characteristic feature of religious architecture in Mesopotamia as well by the early 2nd millennium BCE22.

2.2.2.3. Social Role of the Temple

Through out antiquity, no institution played a more significant or enduring role in ancient Mesopotamian society than the temples of the great urban centers of Babylonia and Assyria. The essential function of the urban temple of Mesopotamia was to serve as the house of the citys patron god or goddess. Furthermore, as the citys patron and protector, the deity was fittingly regarded as its true landlord. Just as the temple dominated the city architecturally, then, the temples households dominated the citys economic life. The great wealth produced by the temple households, Surpluses of foodstuffs that might sustain the community in hard times. From that same production collected the funds to supply wages and rations to thousands of full-time and part-time employees and dependants whose status might range from chief temple administrator or palace official to semi-free textile worker or agricultural laborer. The temple is also protected the economically disadvantaged by sheltering and employing widows, orphans and war captives; by standardizing weights, measures, and interest rates; or even by
22

Cfr. Ibid., 373-375.

33 granting small interest free loans of grain. The temple might perform services such as administering oaths and ordeals in judicial proceedings. The temples most crucial function was to provide for the citys patron deity a secure, permanent residence of appropriate spaciousness and luxury23.

2.2.3. Syrian and Palestinian Temples

Palestine in which the Israelite tribes settled was an inhabited land. The people that had lived in the land in pre-Israelite times are usually called Canaanites. On the whole, the Israelite tribes regarded the Canaanite way of life as alien and it remained alien so long as the independent character of the Canaanites survived in the land. But, later times they had inevitably to establish some relations with this Canaanite world 24. It is therefore not surprising that to learn about Syrian and Palestinian temples.

2.2.3.1. Chalcolithic (ca. 4500-3400 BC)

The earliest real temple in Palestine, in the sense of being a monumental public structure dedicated exclusively to cult practice, is the splendid hilltop structure above the spring at En-gedi which overlooks the Dead Sea. It is a Breithaus (boardroom) building, surrounded by a temple wall with a gate house. A smaller temple, perhaps a household shrine was also found near to the Dead Sea25.

2.2.3.2. The Early Bronze Age (ca. 3400-2000 BC)

The first great urban era in Palestine understandably exhibits more monumental temples. The Megiddo XIX temple, built just above bedrock, is typical single room building with centrally aligned column bases. The typical boardroom domestic dwelling themselves were simple, one room structures, with no particular orientation, and only occasionally an altar as an item of furnishing26.
23 24

Cfr. Ibid., 375-376. Cfr. Martin Noth, The History of Israel, London, 1976, 141-142. 25 Cfr. Willam G. Dever, Syria- Palestine, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 376. 26 Cfr. Ibid., 377-378.

34

2.2.3.3. The Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1500 BC)

The urban revival of the first half of the 2nd Millennium BCE has produced a larger number of temples and sanctuaries representing several prototypes; nearly identical single room migdal or fortress temples at Megiddo and Shechem. But most of the temples and sanctuaries were looted in antiquity, or were rebuilt in later times and thus had original features altered beyond recognition. The Nahariyah temple is a boardroom structure with several phases, featuring a large out door circular altar or high place. Isolated from any known settlement, it is located on the sea shore, probably dedicated to Asherah, whose name at Ugarit means She who treads the Sea27

2.2.3.4. The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 BC)

The last phase of the Canaanite Bronze Age witnessed the proliferation of earlier style temples, as well as the introduction of the newer, local and Egyptian style temples. The Megiddo and Shechem Migdal temples were rebuilt. Variants on the single room local style of temple, often with offering benches around the side walls and an altar on the back walls, were well illustrated in the series of three successive temples (Fosse temples) at Lachish. Moreover, a summit temple on the upper city had been found, much more monumental in character, which yielded among other items a splendid gold relief depiction at a nude Asherah- Qudshu goddess astride a warhorse. The series of temples at Beth-shan seemed to be more Egyptianizing in style. All three temples were relatively elaborate mud brick structures with offset entrances28. Despite an almost bewildering variety and number of temples, there is apparently homogeneity of cult practice reflected. The cult which flourished among the Canaanites were the immoral rites of the great fertility bestowing mother- deity, generally called Astarte in Cannon, and of a youthful deity who represented the annual blossoming and dying of vegetation. These cults included the celebration of a holy marriage at a holy place with female representatives of the deity and sacred prostitution and cultic sacrifice of

27 28

Cfr. Ibid., 378. Cfr. Ibid., 378-379.

35 female chastity. There were also multiform Baal worship who was also the givers of life and fertility29.

2.2.3.5. The Iron I Period (ca. 1200-900 BC)

With the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age in Palestine, the cult and the temple installations were the one of the evidence of the multi- ethnic society. During this period many Philistine temples and Israelite temples have come to light together with the Canaanite Shrines. For example, the monumental shrine at Dan may date to the 10th or more likely the 9th century BCE30.

2.2.4. Greco- Roman Temples

The Persian and the Roman powers also appeared in Syria- Palestine. Israelite History thereby acquired a new background. Both the Persians and the Romans gave importance to the tradition and the culture of the subjects. Therefore let us also try to understand about Greco- Roman temples.

2.2.4.1. Greek Temples

Places set aside for the cult of the gods can be recognized in the material remains of the Bronze Age, in Greek and in non-Greek Crete. The Cretans worshipped at shrines of natural caves and the peaks of certain mountains.31 During the Mycenaean period sacred space had been integrated into domestic space, there are sanctuaries in the palaces of the Cretan kings. After the decline of the palace system, the developing Greek polis (common people) segregated religious activity and began to divide the sacred space from areas of habitation. The origin of the Greek temple is uncertain. By the 8th century BCE the Greeks had began to build the temples for their gods. The Greek temple, naos, was considered the dwelling place of the divinity, and the main chamber of the naos, the cella, was used for the display of the cult statue of the god. With the evolution of the Greek polis, public cult became more complex; sanctuaries were expanded and adorned by the cities competing to display their growing wealth. Greek sanctuaries served a variety of needs. Usually the important gods of the city were worshipped in the center of the town.
29 30

Cfr. Martin Noth, Op. Cit., 143- 144. Cfr. Willam G. Dever , Op. Cit., 379- 380. 31 Cfr. R.A. Tomlinson, Op.Cit., 384.

36 At Athens, Athena as the protector of the city had her temple in the acropolis. Other temples and shrines were located in the agora, or commercial and political center of the city. Demeter, as goddess of agriculture, however, often had her sanctuary out side the city walls. The small temples for Dionysos were found near the theater.32

2.2.4.2. Roman Temples

Early Roman temples were built in the Etruscan manner, which had been influenced by early Greek temples. They placed their temples on high bases, approachable by a flight of steps at the front only. Timber and mud brick, with tiles and embellishment in terra-cotta, were the normal building materials. In essentials, a Roman temple functioned like the Greek as a house for a God and for offerings to the God. But Roman temples, however, showed greater concern than the Greek for the use of the cella as a room. The Roman cella was used for gatherings, which might have been political rather than fully religious in character33. They provided a place for the performance of public sacrifices and for the official taking of the auspicious, for storing treasures, holding meetings of the senate and other official bodies, for trails of the law courts, and for private rituals and dedications. New temples were built to honor victories in war and to accommodate a new divinity is introduced at Rome. Some temples were subjected to restrictions based on gender or social status and others were open to all34.

Conclusion
A temple may be defined as a building in which public worship is performed, erected on a holy place35. The older Semitic language had no special word for temple. They were called simply the house, or the palace of the god, the holy place or the sanctuary. Sometimes the same words are used for the palace of the King and for the abode of the god. In the Semitic religion the temple were considered as the dwelling place of the god. When we
32

Cfr. Susan Guettel Cole, Greco-Roman temples, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 380-381. 33 Cfr. R.A. Tomlinson, Op.Cit., 386. 34 Cfr. Susan Guettel Cole, Op. Cit., 381. 35 Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel Its life and Institutions, London, 1978, 282.

37 come to discuss the temple of Jerusalem in the next chapter, we shall see how these same ideas are found, in a purified form, in the religion of Israel. Though the lawful worship of Yahweh forbade the images, the temple was still referred to as the house of Yahweh.