In ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often con ...

, a peribolos was a court enclosed by a wall, especially one surrounding a sacred area such as a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

, or

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

. This area, however, is not a necessary element to these structures since those built earlier only included markers (e.g. ''horoi'' or boundary stones) to indicate imaginary boundaries. Excavations reveal that there are sanctuaries that included a peribolos later in its history, signifying a change in religious mentality. During the Roman times, there were pereboloi used as meeting places to conduct business (e.g. shipping). Peribolos walls (which may also be referred to as temenos walls) were sometimes composed of stone posts and slabs supported by porous sills. Famous examples included: * the peribolos wall and gate in the Sanctuary of Zeus (Altis), north of the

Temple of Zeus Temple of Zeus may refer to: Organization *Temple of Zeus (organization), an occult religious organization Greece * Temple of Zeus, Olympia * Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens * Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, Athens Italy * Temple of Olympian Zeus, ...

at Olympia, Greece; * the peribolos enclosing the

Altar of the Twelve Gods The Altar of the Twelve Gods (also called the Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods), was an important altar and sanctuary at Athens, located in the northwest corner of the Classical Agora. The Altar was set up by Pisistratus the Younger, (the grandson o ...

near the north end of the Athens ancient Agora; and * the terrace created by retaining and peribolos walls around the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia (Marmaria), southeast of the Sanctuary of Apollo at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

, Greece.

References

External links

Perseus EncyclopediaPerseus Encyclopedia
Ancient Greek architecture Ancient Roman architecture Ancient Olympia {{architecture-stub

See also

References

External links