Research Results For 'Temple'

ADYTUM

An adytum was the inner most part of a Greek temple. It was a room so sacred that only the priests were allowed to enter it.
Research Adytum

ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY

The Alexandrian Library was the largest and most famous of all the ancient collections of books. It was founded by Ptolemy Soter, King of Egypt, who died in 283 BC, and greatly enlarged by succeeding Ptolemies. At its most flourishing period it is said to have numbered 700,000 volumes, accommodated in two different buildings, one of them being the Serapeion, or temple of Jupiter Serapis. The other collection was burned during Julius Caesar's siege of the city, but the Serapeion library existed to the time of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, when, at the general destruction of the heathen temples, the splendid temple of Jupiter Serapis was gutted in 391 by a fanatical crowd of Christians, and its literary treasures destroyed or scattered. A library was again accumulated, but was burned by the Arabs when they captured the city under the caliph Omar in 611. Amru, the captain of the caliph's army, would have been willing to spare the library, but Omar is said to have disposed of the matter in the famous words: 'If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed.'
Research Alexandrian Library

ALTAR

An altar is a pile or structure raised above the ground for receiving sacrifices to some divinity. The Greek and Roman altars were various in form, and often highly ornamental; in temples they were usually placed before the statue of the god. In the Jewish ceremonial the altar held an important place, and was associated with many of the most significant rites of religion. Two altars were erected in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the same number in the temple, according to instructions given to Moses in Mount Sinai. These were called the altar of burnt-offering and the altar of incense. In some sections of the Christian church the communion-table, or table on which the eucharist is placed, is called an altar. In the primitive church it was a table of wood, but subsequently stone and metal were introduced with rich ornaments, sculpture, and painting. After the introduction of Gothic art the altar frequently became a lofty and most elaborate structure. Originally there was but one altar in a church, but latterly there might be several in a large church, the chief or high altar standing at the east end. Over an altar there is often a painting (an altar-piece), and behind it there may be an ornamental altar-screen separating the choir from the east end of the church. Lights are often placed on or near the altar.
Research Altar

AMPHICTYONIC LEAGUE

The Amphictyonic League or council, was in ancient Greece, a confederation of tribes for the protection of religious worship, but which also discussed questions of international law, and matters affecting their political union. The most important was that of the twelve northern tribes which met alternately at Delphi and Thermopylae. The tribes sent two deputies each, who assembled with great solemnity; composed the public dissensions, and the quarrels of individual cities, by force or persuasion; punished civil and criminal offences, and particularly transgressions of the law of nations, and violations of the temple of Delphi. Its calling on the states to punish the Phocians for plundering Delphi caused the Sacred Wars, of 595 to 586, 448 to 447 and 357 to 346 BC.
Research Amphictyonic League

ANATHEMA

Originally an anathema was a gift hung up in a temple (the word comes from the Greek anatithemi, to lay up), and dedicated to some god, a votive offering; but it gradually came to be used for expulsion, curse. The Roman Catholic Church pronounces the sentence of anathema against heretics, schismatics, and all who wilfully pursue a course of conduct condemned by the church. The subject of the anathema is declared an outcast from the church, all the faithful are forbidden to associate with him, and utter destruction is denounced against him, both body and soul.
Research Anathema

ANTECEDENT

In grammar, an antecedent is the noun to which a relative or other pronoun refers; as, Solomon was the prince who built the temple, where the word prince is the antecedent of who.

In logic, an antecedent is that member of a hypothetical or conditional proposition which contains the condition, and which is introduced by if or some equivalent word or words; as, if the sun is fixed, the earth must move. Here the first and conditional proposition is the antecedent, the second the consequent.
Research Antecedent

ATHENAEUM

The Athenaeum was the temple of Athena or Minerva, at Athens. It was frequented by poets, learned men, and orators. The same name was given at Rome to the school which Hadrian established on the Capitoline Mount for the promotion of literary and scientific studies. In modern times the same name is given to literary clubs and establishments connected with the sciences.
Research Athenaeum

CARTOON

In painting, a cartoon is a drawing on stout paper or other material, intended to be used as a model for a large picture in fresco, a process in which it is necessary to complete the picture portion by portion and in which a fault cannot afterwards be easily corrected. The cartoon is made exactly the size of the picture intended, and the design is transferred to the surface to be ornamented by tracing or other processes. Cartoons executed in colour, like paintings, are used for designs in tapestries, mosaics, etc. The most famous are those painted by Raphael for the Vatican tapestries, seven of which are still preserved in the South Kensington Museum, London. The subjects of the seven are: 1, Paul Preaching at Athens; 2, The Death of Ananias; 3, Elymas the Sorcerer Struck with Blindness; 4, Christ's Charge to Peter; 5, The Sacrifice at Lystra; 6, Peter and John Healing the Cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple; 7, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. In modern times the term is also applied to a pictorial sketch relating to some notable character or events of the day, and erroneously to an animated film.
Research Cartoon

COWPER-TEMPLE CLAUSE

The Cowper-Temple Clause was a clause inserted in the English Education Act of 1870, on an amendment by Mr. Cowper-Temple (afterwards Lord Mount-Temple) to exclude from all rate-built schools every catechism and formula distinctive of any denominational creed.
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EASTER

Easter is an ancient religious festival occurring at or around the vernal equinox. It originally marked the end of the old year and the dawn of a new year and was celebrated by the Anglo-Saxons in honour of their goddess of the east who was called Easter. In Rome the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta was rekindled on the first of March each year marking the start of the Roman year.

The practice of giving easter eggs at spring time is widely spread through ancient traditions from the Persians, Jews, Egyptians and Hindus and universally symbolises creation or the hatching of a new year. The Christian faith adopted the tradition as a symbol of resurrection, which of course spring is after the 'death' that is winter, and originally coloured their easter eggs red in allusion to the blood of their saviour.
Research Easter

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