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Temple, edifice constructed for religious worship. Most of Christianity calls its places of worship churches; many religions use temple, a word derived in English from the Latin word for time, because of the importance to the Romans of the proper time of sacrifices.
- Temples of Jerusalem
Temple of Jerusalem was either of two temples that were the...
- Temples of Jerusalem
- Gobekli Tepe Temple
- Temples in Ancient Egypt
- Mesopotamian Temples
- The Temple in Judaism
- Ancient Greek Temples
- Temples in China & India
- Roman Temples
- Conclusion
The oldest known temple is that at Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey which is 11,500 years old and is decorated with reliefs and pictograms of various plants and animals thought to represent the gods of that place. The temple is an extraordinary building of the Neolithicera with T-shaped pillars and engravings which have yet to be completely unde...
In the religious customs of ancient Egypt the temple was considered 'the horizon' of a divine being, the point at which the god came into existence at creation, and thus every sacred site had a link to the very distant past and honored the specific god whose temple it was. The temple also was a mirror of the universe and a representation of the ben...
Ancient Mesopotamian temples fulfilled many roles. Not only were they the house of the local deity or the patron god of the city, they were also the administrative centers of the first cities in Sumer. The city of Eridu was considered the first city in the world by the Sumerians, created by the gods after their victory of order over the forces of c...
In Judaism, the original ancient Hebrew language refers not to a temple but to a "sanctuary", "palace" or "hall". Each of the two ancient temples in Jerusalem were called Beit Hamikdash, which translates literally as "the Holy House" and, in this, the Hebrews either copied or independently arrived at the same conception of a temple that the ancient...
Most Greek religious buildings in the modern day are referred to as "temples," but the Greek pagans (only known as pagans after the rise of Christianity) would have called a holy place a temenos, or sacred precinct. The sacredness of the place had entirely to do with the spirit of the god who resided there, not with whatever building was later cons...
In China, early temples honored xi'an (heaven) which represented both creation and divine order. Xi'an was the equivalent of the concept of an all-powerful deity but also heaven and the glorious home of the ancestors. Not every temple in China honored a deity, however. The Confucian Temple in the city of Qufu honors the philosopher Confucius. Built...
In ancient Rome the rituals that located and sited the temple were performed by a high priest, an augur, who, through the observation of the flight of birds or other natural phenomena, understood the loci of the god. Roman temples usually faced east or toward the rising sun, though a notable exception is the great Pantheon which faces north (only p...
Every civilization has erected temples in one form or another, all serving the same purpose of providing the people with a specific site at which they could commune with the higher realm of the Divine. In Norse religion, such places were usually defined by a tree or pole representing the World Tree Yggdrasil, as in the case of the famous Temple at ...
- Joshua J. Mark
- There were actually two Temples on the same spot. The first Temple, built by King Solomon in approximately 1000 BCE, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
- The Temple was built on a mountain that goes by many names. Jerusalem is in the hill country. The Temple was situated on one particular rise that goes by many names in the Hebrew scriptures.
- The Temple stood on the spot where the world began. According to the Talmud, on the top of Mount Moriah is a foundation stone from which God created the whole world (Yoma 54b).
- The exact location of the Temple is still debated today. The Temple definitely stood on the Temple Mount — that has always been an agreed fact and has been confirmed by archaeologists.
Some of the most famous temples built there were Deir-El-Bahri, Medinet Habu, and the Ramesseum. Deir-El-Bahri has several buildings including the mortuary temples of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut. The temple of Thutmose III suffered extensive damage due to a landslide in antiquity.
Jun 24, 2024 · Temple of Jerusalem was either of two temples that were the center of worship and national identity in ancient Israel. The First Temple was completed in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 587/586 BCE.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Apr 8, 2019 · In Eastern India, particularly in Orissa between 750–1250 CE and in Central India between 950–1050 CE, many gorgeous temples were built. The temples of Lingaraja in Bhubaneswar, the Jagannath temple in Puri, and the Surya temple in Konarak bear the stamp of Orissa's proud ancient heritage.
The temples were built by guilds of architects, artisans and workmen. Their knowledge and craft traditions, states Michell, were originally preserved by the oral tradition, later with palm-leaf manuscripts. The building tradition was typically transmitted within families from one generation to the next, and this knowledge was jealously guarded.
