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Temple (Edifice erected and dedicated)

an edifice erected and dedicated to the service of some deity or deities, and connected with some pagan system of worship. The term is generally applied to such structures among the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other ancient nations, as well as to structures serving the same purpose among modern heathen nations. Among all ancient nations the usual plan of a temple was rectangular, seldom circular. Among the Greeks rectangular temples were classed in forms, according to their architectural peculiarities.

The circular temples, which are far from common, and in which Corinthian columns are usually employed, were, for the most part, intended for the worship of Vesta. Among the Etruscans the form of the temples differed from the Grecian, the ground plan more nearly approaching a square, the sides being in the proportion of five to six. The interior of these temples was divided into two parts, the front portion being an open portico resting on pillars, while the back part contained the sanctuary itself, and consisted of three cellæ placed alongside one another. The inter-columniation was considerably greater than in Grecian temples. Among the Romans a temple, in the restricted sense of an edifice set apart for the worship of the gods, consisted essentially of two parts only-a small apartment or sanctuary, the cella, sometimes only a niche for receiving the image of the god, and an altar standing in front of it, upon which were placed the offerings of the suppliant. The most celebrated temples of the ancients were those of Jupiter Olympus in Athens, of Diana (or Artemis) at Ephesus, of Apollo at Delphi, and of Vesta at Tivoli and Rome.

It is also an edifice erected among Christians as a place of public worship; a church; and the name of two semi-monastic establishments of the Middle Ages -one in London, the other in Paris-inhabited by the Knights Templar. tion of either now existing. only por-