558 



TEMPLE. 



estates of the order were conferred, by the council 

 of Vienne, upon the knights of St John, and its 

 treasures in money and precious stones were as- 

 signed for a new crusade. But in France, the 

 greatest part fell to the crown, and the pope kept 

 considerable sums for himself. In Spain and Por- 

 tugal, some new military orders were founded, and 

 endowed with the estates of the Templars. In 

 other countries, the knights of St John acquired 

 the rich inheritance of their rivals. The Templars 

 maintained themselves longest in Germany, where 

 they were treated with justice and mildness. At 

 Storlitz, some were found as late as 1319. The 

 members who were discharged from their vows, 

 entered the order of St John. The original docu- 

 ments of the process against the Templars of France, 

 published in 1792, by Moldenhawer, prove the in- 

 famous and arbitrary conduct of the French courts 

 in this case. Von Hammer, in the Fundyruben des 

 Orients, Mysterium Baphometi revelatum, has lately 

 revived the accusation of apostasy, idolatry, and 

 unnatural vices, against the knights Templars, re- 

 presenting them as Gnostics and Ophites; but 

 Ra\nouiird (Journal des Savons, March, 1819) has 

 shown how unfounded is this accusation, and has 

 proved that by Baphomet, nothing but Mohammed 

 is to be understood. Compare also Raynonard's 

 Monum. histor. relatifs d la Condemnation des Che- 

 valiers du Temple (Paris, 1813). Silvestre de Sacy 

 has proved likewise (Magaz. encyclop., 1806, vol. 

 vi.), that Baphomet signifies nothing but Moham- 

 med. According to Wilh. Ferd. Wilcke's Ges- 

 chichte des Tempelherrnordens aus den Quellen 

 History of the Order of the Templars, drawn from 

 the Sources (Leipsic, 1826, seq., 2 vols.) the 

 spirit of the order had degenerated into a Mo- 

 hammedan Gnosticism, which led to its ruin. 

 Wilcke asserts the guilt of the order. It con- 

 tinued in Portugal under the name of the order 

 of Christ. In Paris arose the society of the 

 New Templars. Bishop Miinter has published 

 the statutes of the order from a manuscript in old 

 French. 



TEMPLE (Latin, templuni), in architecture; an 

 edifice destined for the performance of public wor- 

 ship. Various etymologies have been suggested 

 for the Latin word templum. Some derive it from 

 the Greek -rtptvof, the meaning of which was a 

 sacred enclosure or temple (from <ri/*>, I cut ofF 4 

 or separate), a temple being a place abstracted and 

 set apart from other uses ; others from the old La- 

 tin verb temjilari (to contemplate). The ancient 

 augurs undoubtedly applied the name templa to 

 those parts of the heavens which were marked out 

 for observation of the flights of birds. Temples 

 were originally, all open ; and hence, indeed, most 

 likely, came their name. These structures are 

 among the most ancient monuments. They were 

 the first built, and the most noticeable of public 

 edifices. As soon as a nation had acquired any de- 

 gree of civilization, they consecrated particular spots 

 to the worship of their deities. In the earliest 

 instances, they contented themselves with erecting 

 altars of earth or ashes in the open air, and some- 

 times resorted, for the purposes of worship, to the 

 depths of solitary woods. At length they acquired 

 the practice of building cells or chapels, within the 

 enclosure of which they placed the images of their 

 divinities, and assembled to offer up their supplica- 

 tions, thanksgivings and sacrifices. These were 

 chiefly formed like their own dwellings. The 

 Troglodites adored their gods in grottoes ; the peo- 



ple \vlio lived in cabins erected temples like cabin* 

 in shape. Clemens Alexaiulmms and Euscbius 

 refer the origin of temples to sepulchres ; and this 

 notion has been latterly illutrattd and confirmed, 

 from a variety of testimonies, by Mr Farmer, in his 

 Treatise on the Worship of Human Spirits, p. 373, 

 &c. Herodotus and Strabo contend that the 

 Egyptians were the first who erected temples to the 

 gods; and the one first erected in Greece is attii- 

 buted, by Apollonius, to Deucalion. (Argonaut. 

 lib. iii.) The temple of Castor was built upon tin- 

 tomb of that hero. At the time when the Greeks 

 surpassed all other people in the arts introduced 

 among them from. Phoenicia, Syria and Egypt, they 

 devoted much time 1 , care and expense to the build- 

 ing of temples. No country has surpassed, or 

 perhaps equalled them, in this respect: the Ro- 

 mans alone successfully rivalled them, and they 

 took the Greek structures for models. In every 

 city of Greece, as well as in its environs, and 

 in the open country, was a considerable number 

 of sacred temples. The ruins of this descrip- 

 tion, now existing, greatly exceed those of any 

 other kind of building, owing to the fact that 

 the best materials and the utmost attention were 

 uniformly employed upon the Grecian and Roman 

 temples. The particular divinity who was held to 

 preside in chief over each several town, had always 

 the most elegant and costly temple therein especi- 

 ally dedicated to him or her. The temples con- 

 structed in the provinces chiefly appertained to the 

 gods of the country, or to those common to the 

 several communities In the immediate vicinity ot 

 these edifices, the people held, at fixed seasons, as- 

 semblies for the purpose of sacrificing to the gods, 

 they also celebrated their festivals on the same spot, 

 and deliberated respecting the affairs of the entire 

 nation. The most ancient Grecian temples were 

 not of great extent ; some of them were very small. 

 The cella was barely large enough to contain the 

 statue of the presiding deity of the temple, and, 

 occasionally, an altar in addition. Even in suc- 

 ceeding ages, this observation holds good in a great 

 degree. Their object, in fact, did not render ex- 

 tent necessary ; since the priests alone entered the 

 cella, and the people assembled without the walls. 

 Exceptions, indeed, were made, in the examples ot 

 those dedicated to the tutelary divinities of towns, 

 of those of the supreme gods, and of those appro- 

 priated to the common use of various communities. 

 This increased extent was chiefly displayed in the 

 porticoes surrounding the cella. According to Vi- 

 truvius, the situations of the temples were regu- 

 lated chiefly by the nature and characteristics of the 

 various divinities. Thus the temples of Jupiter, 

 Juno and Minerva, who were considered, by the 

 inhabitants of many cities, as their protecting dei- 

 ties, were erected on spots sufficiently elevated to 

 enable them to overlook the whole town, or, at 

 least, the principal part of it. Minerva, the tute- 

 lary deity of Athens, had her seat on the Acropolis. 

 The temples of Mercury were, ordinarily, in the 

 forum. Those of Apollo and Bacchus were beside 

 the theatres. The temple of Hercules was com- 

 monly near the gymnasium, the amphitheatre, or 

 circus. Those of Mars, of Venus and of Vulcan 

 were generally without the walls of the city, but 

 near the gates. The temples of Esculapius were 

 uniformly in the neighbourhood of the towns, on 

 some elevated and desirable spot, where the pure 

 air might be inhaled by the invalids who came tc 

 invoke the aid of the god of health. In the cities, 



