temple

Edifice constructed for the worship of a deity. Features commonly include a sanctuary and an altar. Ancient Egypt had two kinds of temple: mortuary temples for the cults of dead kings, with a chapel in which offerings were presented, and cult temples that held images of deities. The cult temple typically included a massive pylon entrance with a court leading to a hypostyle hall and, at the heart of the temple, a shrine for the cult image. Most Classical Greek temples were rectangular and built of marble or other stone on a low stylobate (stepped platform). A gable roof was supported by columns, with a portico at each end (amphiprostyle temple), a colonnade extending all around (peripteral temple), or a double line of columns all around (dipteral temple). An inner cella housed the image of a deity, and an altar stood outside the temple. Roman temples were profoundly influenced by Greek style, but the altar was inside the temple and the colonnade was often reduced to a row of engaged columns. Hindu temples vary regionally, but generally consist of a towering shrine and a columned hall surrounded by an elaborate wall. Buddhist temples range from half-buried sanctuaries with richly carved entrances to single carved towers or statues. The Chinese and Japanese Buddhist temple is typically a one-story building of richly carved, painted, or tiled timber constructed around an atrium used for worship, though towering pagodas were sometimes built as temples over a shrine. In the Americas, Inca and Mayan temples were constructed of stone, often richly carved; they were generally stair-stepped pyramids, with the shrine at the top. See also synagogue.

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