102 ANCIENT M O N U M E N T S . 



sustain the position assigned them at the commencement of this chapter, tiie 

 inteihgent reader must determine. 



The great size of most of the foregoing structures precludes the idea that 

 they were temples in the general acceptation of the term. As has already been 

 intimated, they were probably, like the great circles of England, and the squares 

 of India, Peru, and Mexico, the sacred enclosures, within which were erected the 

 shrines of the gods of the ancient worship and the altars of the ancient religion. 

 They may have embraced consecrated groves, and also, as they did in Mexico, the 

 residences of the ancient priesthood. Like the sacred structures of the country 

 last named, some of them may have been secondarily designed for protection in 

 times of danger ; " for," says Gomara, " the force and strength of every Mexican 

 city is its temple." However that may be, we know that it has been a practice, 

 common to almost every people in every time, to enclose their temples and altars 

 with walls of various materials, so as to guard the sacred area around them from 

 the desecration of animals or the intrusion of the profane. Spots consecrated by 

 tradition, or rendered remarkable as the scene of some extraordinary event, or by 

 whatever means connected with the superstitions, or invested with the reverence 

 of men, have always been designated in this or some similar manner. The South 

 Sea Islander, as did the ancient Sclavonian, encircles his tabooed or consecrated 

 tree with a fence of woven branches ; the pagoda of the Hindoo is enclosed 

 by high and massive walls, within which the scotfer at his religion finds no 

 admittance ; the sacred square of the Caaba can only be entered in a posture of 

 humiliation and with unshod feet; and the assurance that "this is holy ground" is 

 impressed upon every one who, at this day, approaches the temples of the true 

 God. The block idol of the poor Laplander has its sacred limit within which the 

 devotee onlv ventures on bended knees and with face to the earth ; the oak- 

 crowned Druid taught the mysteries of his stern religion in temples of unhewn 

 stones, open to the sun, in rude but gigantic structures, which in their form . 

 symbolized the God of his adoration ; conquerors humbled themselves as they 

 approached the precincts which the voice of the Pythoness had consecrated ; no 

 worshipper trod the avenues guarded by the silent, emblematic Sphynx, except 

 with awe and reverence ; and Christ indignantly thrust from the sacred area of 

 the temple on Mount Zion the money-changers who had defiled it with their 

 presence. " Thou shalt set bounds to the people round about, — set bounds to the 

 mount and sanctity it," was the injunction of Jehovah from the holy mountain. 

 Among the savage tribes of North America, none but the pure dared enter the 

 place dedicated to the rude but significant rites of their religion. In Peru none 

 except of the blood of the royal Incas, whose father was the sun, were permitted 

 to pass the walls surrounding tlie gorgeous temples of their primitive worship ; 

 and the imperial Montezuma humbly sought the pardon of his insulted gods for 

 venturing to introduce his unbelieving conqueror w ithiu the area consecrated by 

 their shrines. 



Analf>gy would therefore seem to indicate that the structures under consi(l(>ra- 

 tion, or at least a large portion of them, were nothing more than sacred enclosures. 

 If so, it may be inquired, what has become of the temples mid shrines which they 



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