temple edifice or sometimes merely an enclosed area dedicated to the worship of a deity and the enshrinement of holy objects connected with such worship. The temple has been employed in most of the world's religions. Although remains of Egyptian temples of c.2000 BC show well-defined architectural forms, it seems likely that temples were hewed in living rock at a still earlier age: the cave temples of Egypt, India, China, and the Mediterranean basin may be viewed as later developments of such primitive shrines.

Egyptian Temples

In Egypt in the New Kingdom impressive rock temples were hewed from cliffsides, the finest being the great temple of Abu-Simbel constructed by Ramses II. In the developed structural temples of Egypt a doorway, flanked by monumental towers or pylons, led to an unroofed open court, generally surrounded on three sides by a colonnaded passage. Beyond the court lay the majestic hypostyle hall and a variety of chambers preceding and surrounding the holy of holies. From the temple entrance to this innermost sanctuary the various units diminished progressively in size and height, while the direct outside light was also reduced. The typical temple later accumulated additional pylons, courts, and rooms, the entire group being enclosed by a massive wall. Only monarchs and priests had access to the chambers beyond the hypostyle hall. The New Kingdom was the most active period of temple construction, although the grandest temple, that of Amon at Al Karnak, was begun much earlier.

Babylonian and Assyrian Temples

In the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian periods of W Asia the temple, or ziggurat , was a square pyramidal structure about 300 ft (90 m) high built up in successive, inclined terraces, sometimes as many as seven; with accessory buildings it was enclosed by walls. At its summit was a chamber that served both as a shrine and for astronomical observations. Glazed colored bricks faced the walls.

Jewish Temples

The temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, the only known monumental structure of the ancient Hebrews, consisted, according to biblical descriptions, of entrance pylons, courts, and a naos , a large rectangular chamber, giving entrance to the holy of holies, which housed the Ark of the Covenant. Its several destructions and reconstructions (one by Herod in 20 BC) have rendered unrecognizable any remains of the original edifice. The workmanship, characteristically Phoenician, was of stone, timber, and metal. The temple of Herod, to which Jesus went, was destroyed AD 70; its ruins have symbolized to the Jews their dispersion.

Greek Temples

The Dorian immigration (before 1000 BC) was a prelude to the building of Greek temples, at first made of timber and sun-dried brick. The superb stone and marble buildings on a defined floor plan were achieved in the middle of the 6th cent. BC, although the most perfect examples, like the Parthenon (5th cent. BC), came later. The Greek temple customarily stood in a temenos, or sacred enclosure, along with accessory shrines, colonnades, and buildings housing the temple treasures. It was built not as a place for assembled worship but as the dwelling for the deity, whose colossal sculptured representation was placed in the naos, and illuminated by the daylight entering through the tall entrance portal. In larger temples, to support the roof lintels, two interior rows of columns divided the naos into nave and side aisles.

Roman Temples

The Roman temple, while based upon the Greek type, retained elements from Etruscan architecture, as in its deep front portico and its elevation upon a high base, or podium, whose wings extended forward to flank the broad entrance steps. The Maison Carrée at Nîmes, France (1st cent. BC), the best-preserved Roman temple, is the common pseudoperipteral type, with engaged columns or pilasters attached to its walls. Unlike the long narrow Greek naos, the Roman cella was nearly square in plan. Of the polygonal and circular temples the circular pantheon at Rome (2d cent. AD) with its magnificent dome is the most remarkable. Many temples, particularly those of the Eastern colonies, as at Baalbek in Syria, had magnificent settings of entrance courts enclosed by colonnades.

Indian Temples

In India the most ancient remaining temples are the rock-hewed monuments of the Buddhist period (c.255 BC–c.AD 300); important groups exist in W India, east of Mumbai. The typical interior is a vast cave divided by lavishly sculptured rock piers into nave and aisles; the sculptured facade, hewed from the cliff face, has a single huge opening to admit light. The principal Indian temples are gradual accretions around a sacred site, forming a religious center comprising shrines, cells for priests, and accommodations for pilgrims. The expression of symbolism is of paramount importance in both structure and ornaments.

Far Eastern Temples

In China the characteristic temple differs from the form of a dwelling only in its size and richness. Besides the temple a Buddhist monastery includes a relic shrine, a pagoda, a library, and quarters for the monks. In Japan the temple harmonizes with the picturesque landscape in which it is set, with architectural emphasis on an unsymmetrical grouping of torii (sacred gateways), shrines, pagodas, and terraces.

Further Reading

See also Greek architecture ; Roman architecture ; Indian art and architecture ; Chinese architecture ; Japanese architecture ; pre-Columbian art and architecture .

Temple The central sanctuary. Plans for a permanent site for national worship in Jerusalem were mooted by David and executed by his son Solomon (2 Sam. 24: 18 ff.; 1 Kgs. 6–7). The Temple was rectangular in shape and it had two courtyards : the inner one contained a bronze altar (2 Chron. 4: 1). There was an immense basin, or laver, for ritual washings; two detached pillars called Jachin and Boaz stood at the entrance to the building itself. The inmost part of the building was the ‘holy of holies’. Treasure accumulated in the Temple, and it was raided by foreigners (1 Kgs. 14: 26) and by the kings of Judah themselves (2 Kgs. 16: 8). Josiah repaired the building; the Babylonians destroyed it (586 BCE). Ezekiel (40–2) had a vision of a new Temple (571 BCE) based on the plan of Solomon's Temple, but it was never built. The exiles who returned to Jerusalem did manage to build the second Temple, which was smaller than Solomon's but lasted for 500 years. What Herod began to do in 19 BCE was a grandiose development of the site during which the second Temple was not destroyed and sacrifices were never interrupted. The reconstruction was still in process during the life of Jesus. It was finished in 64 CE only to be destroyed at the end of the Jewish Revolt, in 70 CE. (The foundations alone were left, since these could have been useful if the Romans had decided to erect a pagan temple on the site.)

Herod's Temple was enclosed by massive walls. An outer court was open for teachers, for public debate, and for the business of the money changers (for the Temple coinage, Matt. 21: 12). The Temple treasury was kept in the coinage of Tyre, which was one of the most stable currencies of the time. (See Temple coins). Notices in Latin and Greek warned Gentiles not to venture beyond this outer court on pain of summary execution.

The next court was the Court of Women (Mark 12: 41), then the Court of Israel (for men) and the Priests' Court, with an altar. Inside the Temple building itself a curtain (Mark 15: 38) separated the holy place from the ‘Holy of Holies’ which the high priests entered alone on the Day of Atonement. The whole building complex occupied no less than a quarter of the area of the city.

In the infancy narratives Jesus was brought to the Temple as a child (Luke 2: 22) and again in adolescence (Luke 2: 42). At the end of his ministry, he cleansed the outer court of commercial activities, thereby removing from it obstructions that made prayer and worship impossible for Gentiles (Mark 11: 15–19). This was in the prophetic tradition of symbolic actions, and John (2: 19–22) regards the cleansing as a ‘sign’ of Jesus' coming death. Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of the Temple (Mark 13: 2) seems to be accurately reported, since in the event the Temple was destroyed by the Romans by fire, and there are still many stones remaining on one another. The prophecy (also Matt. 24: 2) has not therefore been influenced by what happened. The destruction of the Temple would open the way for the revelation of God to all nations, and the Jewish Temple would be replaced by the Church as the new Temple (1 Cor. 3: 16 f.; Eph. 2: 19 ff.) The Church is a sanctuary and those who worship as Christians could be called its ‘priests’ (1 Pet. 2: 4 ff.).

The Jewish War and the destruction of the Temple (70 CE) foreshadowed the inevitable separation of Jews and Christians, and the loss of influence within the Church of Jewish Christians. The Church was to be now essentially Gentile, and the four gospels re-orientated the Church to accord with this situation. Only the splinter group of Ebionites continued to observe the regulations of the Torah.

Temple

Judaism

(also Temple Mount) The central place of Jewish worship in ancient times. The first Temple was built in Jerusalem by King Solomon. It was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 BCE, and the fast of 9 Av was instituted to commemorate the event. It was rebuilt after the return from exile under the leadership of Zerubbabel (Haggai 2) and was greatly enlarged and improved by King Herod the Great (1st cent. BCE). Within the walls lay the Temple Court open even to gentiles; at the east end beyond the Gate Beautiful was the Court of Women which lay inside the consecrated area. Beyond this lay the Court of the Israelites, open to all male Jews, from which the sacrifices performed on the altar in the Court of Priests could be viewed. Up further steps was the Temple proper, consisting of the porch, the sanctuary which was furnished with the altar of incense, the table of shewbread, and the golden menorah, and finally the Holy of Holies. Temple ritual is described in the Mishnaic tractates, Tamid, Middot, and Yoma. The building was destroyed by the Romans (again on 9 Av) in the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Hinduism

See ART.

Jainism

Although there has been occasional dissent among Jains (e.g. the Terapanth), the majority of Jains have regarded the building of temples and the revering of the fordmakers in them as meritorious; and they would describe themselves as murtipujakas, ‘image-worshippers’. Jain temples reflect early descriptions of the first preaching hall of Mahāvīra, and usually include a tower said to represent Jain cosmography, but perhaps absorbed from Mount Meru as the axis mundi.

Japanese Religion

(Jap., tera, ji) Centres for institutionalized Buddhist practice in Japan. Japanese Buddhist temples, both architecturally and religiously, were heavily influenced initially (6th–8th cents. CE) by the Chinese and Korean temple systems. Later, Japan adopted these systems to their own practices and developing sectarian movements.

Temples generally belong to one or another of the many sects of Japanese Buddhism, including some of the Buddhist ‘new religions’ of Japan. As such, they represent Japanese Buddhism in its sectarian and institutionalized form.

temple.
1. Building for pagan religious observances, or the dwelling-place of a deity. The word was applied to sacred buildings of the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and others. The Antique Classical temple was usually rectangular, and consisted of a cella (naos in Greek), sanctuary, and portico. Greek temples were commonly surrounded by columns (peristyle) supporting an entablature, with a pediment at each end (e.g. C5 bc Parth enon, Athens), but sometimes had a portico at each end (amphi-prostyle) with plain walls (e.g. C5 bc temple of Nikè Apteros, Athens). Roman temples usually had a deep portico at one end (derived from Etruscan exemplars), a plain cella (sometimes with engaged columns, e.g. C1 bc Maison Carrée, Nîmes), and were built on high podia. Circular buildings of the tholos type were built by both the Greeks and Romans (e.g. C1 bc temple of Vesta, Tivoli). Terms used to describe arrangements of columns are described elsewhere (see anta, colonnade, intercolumniation, portico).

2. Synagogue.

3. French Protestant church, or any building for public worship by Nonconformist Protestant sects, especially a large or grand structure.

4. Mormon place of worship.

5. Sacred edifice in Jerusalem, seat of the Jewish worship of Jehovah, especially the Temple of Solomon.

6. Headquarters of the Knights Templars, or a place once occupied by a preceptory of the Knights Templars (as in London and Paris).

7. Building with architectural pretensions for special ritual use, as a Freemasonic Lodge, related to the Temple of Solomon.

temple Place of worship for Jews and members of many other religions. Temples were a grand architectural focal point in the religion and culture of ancient Egypt and the Near East. In Mesopotamia, they took the form of elaborate towers called ziggurats. Greek and Roman temples, with beautifully carved statues and columns, were houses fit for the gods. In Judaism, the term refers specifically to the first and second Temple built in Jerusalem. Today, Jews worship in a local synagogue. Temples also exist as places of worship for Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs. Some Evangelical Christian sects and the Mormon Church use the term.

Temple city (1990 pop. 46,109), Bell co., central Tex.; inc. 1882. In a rich blackland region, Temple has grain and textile mills, railroad shops, and plants that make computer printers and terminals, furniture, and school and office supplies. Several state and federal agencies have agricultural research centers there. A campuse of the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine is in the city.

Temple, Canada, UK, USA 1. Canada (Alberta): a mountain named after Sir Richard Temple (1826–1902), a British colonial administrator in India (1847–80) who visited Canada on behalf of the British Association in 1884.2. USA (Texas): founded by the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1880, it was named after Major B. M. Temple, an engineer.

temple1 sacred edifice. OE. temp(e)l (reinforced in ME. by (O)F. temple). — L. templum space marked out by an augur for taking observations, broad open space, consecrated space, sanctuary; of uncert. orig.

temple2 flat part of the head between forehead and either ear. XIV. — OF. temple (mod. tempe) :- Rom. *tempula, alt. of L. tempora, pl. of tempus.

Tem·ple ¹ / ˈtempəl/ an industrial and commercial city in central Texas; pop. 46,109.

Temple, family name of characters in the Leather‐Stocking Tales and other novels of Cooper.

Temple as affix, see main name, e.g. for Temple Cloud B. & NE. Som., see Cloud.

temple (tem-pŭl) n. the region of the head in front of and above each ear.

temple3 weaver's stretcher. XV. — F., ult. identical with TEMPLE2.

Temple

a local group of Oddfellows.

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