TEMPIO. - From a root tem (cf. Greek τέμνω) meaning "to cut, to delimit," it was among the Ro-
The templum was taken (templum capere) by the augur by turning toward the east or south (both orientations are documented by writers), tracing an ideal line from east to west called the decumanus and one from north to south called the cardus, at right angles to the first, and finally drawing perpendiculars at the ends of the two crossed lines; he thus obtained a quadrilateral figure within the field of which to make observations. The word passed from the place religiously delimited by the augur to mean the sacred building constructed upon II.
The custom of consecrating a special place to communicate with the divinity is not only Roman but universal, because the individual or group cannot approach the "sacred" (v.) without the proper disposition. The choice of the place is suggested among primitives by its natural aspect: a forest clearing, the presence of a spring, a tree, an elevated patch of ground, a rock, or a cave—an aspect that suggests not only the presence but also the quality of the god. The first type of temple will therefore be a sacred enclosure, made of stones or trees, which delimits the space reserved for the divinity, separating it from profane use and prohibiting within it hunting, gathering wood, and the capture of anyone who has taken refuge there. Sacred enclosures include: the cramtech of prehistoric peoples, the palisades of primitives, the baram and the bimā of the Arabs, the temenos and the peribolos of the Greeks, and the temple and the sacellum of the Romans.
From the simple enclosure one passes to the temple proper, that is, to a covered and closed building in which the divinity in the form of a sacred object or a simulacrum representing it dwells as in its house. Only those dedicated to the cult may enter: the people witness the performance of the rite from the outside. In the great monarchies of the East, where political centralization corresponds to an analogous religious centralization, temples assume great economic importance: they have many annexes for the administration of property and for the lodging of personnel. On the other hand, among the Greeks and Romans, the temple is isolated as the sole dwelling of the god without administrative buildings, given the smaller number of attendants and the different organization of the priesthood. Exceptions to this rule are mystery religions (v.) and supranational ones due to a founder or reformer, because in them the sacred place is not only the dwelling of the god but also a gathering place for the faithful: the temples or pagodas of Mahayana Buddhism, the Muslim mosque, the synagogue of Israel, and the Christian church are places where the faithful gather.
plorum detrahantur annonae et rem annonariam iubent expensis devotissimorum militum profuturae: Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 19, a. 408); private properties are also turned over to the treasury if any act of worship had been performed there (Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 12, a. 392); domestic worship is also prohibited (ibid.); and finally, as a synthesis of all previous measures, Valentinian and Theodosius II order that all magistrates destroy, if any still remain, t. and sanctuaries, and purify the places by placing the Christian symbol of the cross in them; whoever disobeys shall be punished with death (Cuncta eorum fana, templa, delubra, si qua etiam nunc restant integra praecepto magistratum destrui, conlocutione venerandae christianae religionis signi expiari praecipimus: Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 15, a. 435).
The actual destruction of pagan places of worship was, except for the not very many cases of which there is record, due to neglect. In Rome itself, anti-pagan legislation did not have the severe application that occurred in the East, where popular fury destroyed the famous Serapeum in Alexandria (391). As for the sanctuary of the Eleusinian Mysteries, it was destroyed in 394 by the Goths of Alaric. St. Jerome recalls the destruction of the Mithraic grotto of the seventh region carried out by Granius, prefect of the city; but Claudian (De sexto consulatu Honorii) recalls the Forum as wondrous for the brilliance of its t. and gilded statues. Taurobolia continued in the Phrygianum near the Circus of Caligula until 390, as attested by surviving inscriptions. The t. of Vesta was in use until the definitive prohibition of 394, but the complex of annexed buildings was found in good condition during the excavations of 1883. Some buildings changed their destination, such as the Theron of Romulus, son of Maxentius, which became the atrium of the basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian, which occupied the site of the t. sacrae Urbis; the Pantheon was dedicated to the Virgin Queen of Martyrs; others became the seat of those centers for the distribution of assistance to the poor under the ministry of the deacons (v. DIACONIA).
The Church officially did not rage against the monuments of pagan worship, but either transformed them into churches (t. of Antoninus and Faustina, Mater Matuta, Pantheon) or established in them the diaconias, which in Rome from the 7th century to beyond the 9th century were centers of public religious and social assistance. Illustrative in this regard is the instruction that St. Gregory the Great, after mature reflection, sent in 601 to St. Augustine, head of the mission in England, not to destroy pagan t., but after removing the idols, to convert them, following purification with holy water and the deposition of relics, into Christian churches, so that the people might more willingly resort to the places that were already dear to them, to adore the Lord now: « Deum verum cognoscens ac adorans ad loca, quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat » (Registrum, XI, 56).