GCSE Classics - Temples PDF

GCSE Classics - Temples Sanctuary An area of holy land dedicated to a god or gods that contaibed the temple and the altar. - Separated from the city with a wall - Could have multiple temples and altars - Fresh water at entrance to clean pollution (when a person had done something to make them im...

GCSE Classics - Temples Sanctuary An area of holy land dedicated to a god or gods that contaibed the temple and the altar. - Separated from the city with a wall - Could have multiple temples and altars - Fresh water at entrance to clean pollution (when a person had done something to make them impure) The function of a Greek temple A building dedicated to a god and was used to house their cult statue. - Gave gods residence when they left mount olympus - Only preists were allowed inside the temple - The altar and sacri ce were outside the temple Styles of temple Plinth - The raised platform the temple stood on Pteron/colonnade - Row of pillars which supported the roof and created a walkway Pronaos - Porche infront of the entrance - created by two extending wall (antae) Cella/naos - Main room which housed the cult statue Opisthodomos - Room at the rear which held treasure of the city, and o erings to the gods - Double in antis - Temple with columns infront of its - Both sides of the temples facade covering the whole width consist of columns between the antae - Side walls extended to form antae - Columns stand between the antae - Temples with columns covering the width of both ends -Temple surrounded a by a row of columns (pteron) on all - Temples with two rows of four sides columns all around fi ff  Categorised by number of pillars on the front: E.g six pillars on the front - hexastyle Eight pillars - octastyle Ten pillars - decastayle - Pseudodipteral - Peripteral temple with a single colonnade around - Has enough distance from the Cella to t a second row of columns Prayers For oneself or others Good or harm Negative prayers could include curses: whihc couldn’t be retratcted Attracted attention to themselves from other gods or others watching Held outside temples Always prayed after sacri ce Informal prayer: - Could be anywhere - Spontaneous and not planned - Often involved promise of sacri ce Formal prayer: - At a temple or altar - Always followed sacri ces - Hands up for sky gods and hands down for chthonic gods - Planned and structure Prayer formula Invocation to the deity: - Necessary to mmention deitites full cult title as there was so many gods - Right epithets Previous favours: - Jogs the deities memory - Recognises their generosity Favours from the man/woman: - Do ut des - Gods dont do anything for nothing - Establishes a friend relationship Favour or request of the man/woman: - For oneslf or others - For good or harm Sacri ce and prayer Blood sacrifce: (Greek: thysia) Blood o ering of a victim of the gods, or the war dead Victim: Animals chosen depending on cost, who they were being sacri ced to, and what they were praying for. Households would choose smaller animals, cities would spare no expense Libation: Liquid o ering by pouring it on the ground, in anticipation of future events to come fi ff fi fi fi ff fi fi  Votive o ering: small gifts/o erings, a way of ensuring something good that happened will happen again Hecatomb: 100 oxen, an expensive o ering - usually at the begining of the olympic games or panathenaia Greek structure of a sacri ce Preparation: - Participants clena themselves before the procession and before entering the sanctuary - Wear their best clothes, garlands or leaves or twigs depending on the sacri ce - Guild the horns and attendants would lead the animal to the altar - Maiden would carry a basket of o erings which contained the knife - Musicians would pray to calm the animal - Fire was lit, participants would take a handful of grain and the priest would pour water on the animal - The animal would then nod - as if it agreed to the sacri ce - The priest would pray, and the participants would throw their grain on the re to con rm the prayer Kill: - Cheif sacrifcer would remove the knife from the bread basket and throw some of the animals hair on the re - The chief would kill the animals and bowl would be held underneath to collect the blood - depending on the size of the animal - The animals blood would be poured on the altar - Women would scream to makr the animals passage from life to death Sharing of the sacri ce: - The god was the most important recipiant of the sacrifce, so they recieved their portion rst - Thigh bones wrapped in fat - This was burned on the altar and wine was poured on the re - Organs read for omens - None of the meat was wasted - Shared between participants - Sacri ces were a rare oppertunity for meat to be eaten - Underlined how community centred sacri ces were - Animal skin was given to the sanctuary to sell to tanners Roman structure of a sacri ce Preparation: - Pontifex would lead big sacrifces, or in other cases just a normal citizen - All participants cleaned themselves and wore their best clothes - Horns were guilded - Ribbons were tied to tail or horns - Animal was lead to the altar it was a good sign if it went willingly - Priest would veil their head - Musicians would play to drown out other noises of the procession Kill: - Mola salsa (salted grain) and wine were poured on the animal - The animal would nod and the priest would pray - The Popa hit the animal on the head with a wooden bat, and the cultrarius would kill the animal with a knife - Important that the animal would die with one blow Sharing of the sacri ce: - None of the animal was wasted - The god was given their share rst fi ff fi fi fi fi fi ff fi ff ff fi fi fi fi fi fi fi - The entrails were read by a haurspex for omens, and then o ered to the gods once cooked - Once the meat was cooked and shared the senators priest and elite citizens would eat rst - The meal stressed the communal element, and the meat was another bene t of the sacrifce for participants Purpose of a sacri ce? - Get the gods approval by showing your respect - You had to give up something of value to you and dedicte it to the gods - Give thanks for the gods approval or intervention in your life - Ensure something would/wouldn’t happen by making an o ering to the gods and asking for what you wanted in reutrn fi ff ff fi fi