Temple

TEMPLE. - From a root tem (cf. the Greek τέμνω) meaning "to cut, to delimit", it was among the Ro-

of the Romans the space delimited by the augur, either on earth in order to withdraw it from profane use with a view to the building of a sacred edifice or to a destination connected with religion, or in the sky in order to observe there the flight or the song of birds; in this case the points of reference were fixed by him by means of trees or buildings that presented themselves to his gaze.

The templum was taken (templum capere) by the augur, turning toward the east or toward the south (both orientations are attested by the writers), by tracing an ideal line from east to west called the decumanus and one from north to south called the cardo, at a right angle to the first, and finally drawing the perpendiculars at the ends of the two intersecting lines; he thus obtained a quadrilateral figure within whose field the observations were to be made. The term passed from the place religiously delimited by the augur to signify the sacred building erected upon it.

The practice of consecrating a special place for communicating with the divinity is not only Roman but universal, because the individual or the group cannot approach the "sacred" (v.) without the proper disposition. The choice of the place is suggested among primitive peoples by its natural aspect: the clearing of a wood, the presence of a spring, of a tree, of a rise in the ground, of a rock or of 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 of trees, which delimits the space reserved for the divinity, separating it from profane use and forbidding within it hunting, the gathering of wood, and the capture of anyone who has taken refuge there. Sacred enclosures are: the cramtech of prehistoric peoples, the palisades of primitive peoples, the baram and the bimā of the Arabs, the temenos and the peribolos of the Greeks, and the templum and the sacellum of the Romans.

From the simple enclosure one passes to the temple properly so called, that is, to a roofed and enclosed building in which the divinity, in the figure of a sacred object or of a simulacrum representing it, dwells as in its own house. Only those attached to the cult may enter it: the people assist from outside at the performance of the rite. In the great monarchies of the East, where political centralization corresponds to an analogous religious centralization, the temples assume great economic importance: they have many buildings annexed to them for the administration of property and for the lodging of the personnel. Among the Greeks and Romans, on the other hand, the temple is isolated, inasmuch as it is only the 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 the mystery religions (v.) and those supranational ones due to a founder or reformer, because in them the sacred place is not only the dwelling of the god but also the place of assembly of the faithful: the temples or pagodas of Mahayana Buddhism, the Muslim mosque, the synagogue of Israel, the Christian church are places of assembly of the faithful.

PAGAN TEMPLES AFTER THE VICTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

The Edict of toleration issued by Constantine and Licinius in 313 marked the beginning of the decline of pagan worship and of the places in which it was conducted. Already Constantine II and Constantius in 341 had prescribed in generic form: cesset superstitio, sacrificorum aboleatur infamia (Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 2) and abolished the pagan ceremonies, in keeping with the theological exclusivism of Christianity, intending by these prohibitive measures to make manifest the official break between the Empire, by then become Christian, and paganism. The legislation of the Theodosians specifies in greater detail the prohibition against the persons and things of pagan worship. It is forbidden to approach the temples (Nemo se hostiis polluat, nemo inontem victimam caedat, nemo delubra adeat, templa perlustret: Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 10, 13); public officials who neglect the execution of the decrees are condemned (Capitali supplicio iudicamus officia coercenda quae statuta neglexerint: Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 13). Against things: it is ordered to destroy the temples without provoking riots (Si qua in agris templa sunt sine turba ac tumultu diruantur: Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 16, 399); the funds for worship are suppressed and devolved to the army (Templorum detrahantur annonae et rem annonariam iubent expensis devotissimorum militum profuturae: Cod. Theod., XVI, 10, 19, a. 408); private properties too are devolved to the fisc if some 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 the earlier measures, Theodosius II orders that all magistrates destroy, if any still remain, temples and sanctuaries, and purify the places by placing there the Christian symbol of the cross; whoever does not obey 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 the places of pagan worship was, apart from the not numerous cases of which there is record, due to neglect. In Rome, moreover, the 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 Graius, prefect of the city; but Claudian (De sexto consulatu Honorii) recalls the Forum, remarkable for the splendor of its temples and gilded statues. The taurobolia continued in the Phrygianum near the circus of Caligula until 390, as is attested by the surviving inscriptions. The temple of Vesta was in use until the definitive prohibition of 394, but the complex of buildings attached to it was found in good condition in the excavations of 1883. Some buildings were changed in purpose, such as the Theron of Romulus, son of Maxentius, which became the atrium of the basilica of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, which occupied the site of the temple 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 deacons (v. DIACONIA).

The Church officially did not set itself fiercely against the monuments of pagan worship but either transformed them into churches (the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, Mother Matuta, the Pantheon) or installed there the deaconries, which were in Rome from the 7th century to beyond the 9th century a center of public religious and social assistance. Illuminating 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 the pagan temples, but, the idols having been removed, to convert them, after 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 now the Lord: « Deum verum cognoscens ac adorans ad loca, quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat » (Registrum, XI, 56).