Adyton

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Adyton of a peripteros

Adyton (ancient Greek ἄδυτον, ádyton : the inaccessible; Latin adytum ) is the name of the back room of the cella of an ancient Greek temple, which is completely closed from the outside . It is located in the temple plan on the site of the Opisthodom .

In some ancient temples, especially those of oracle or healing deities, the holy of holies with the venerated image of the deity was separated from the main room of the temple and could only be entered by priests ( Caesar De Bello Civili III, 105; Virgil Aeneid VI, 98). The Adyton of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi is known, for example , in which the Pythia, sitting on the tripod , proclaimed the oracles of the god, which were then passed on by priests to the questioning believers.

That the Adyton differs from the main room of the temple, the cella , is evident from a passage in Lucan ( Pharsalia V, 141-161) where the priestess fears the violent attacks which she has to endure as a result of the stimulants which she is in the secret room in order to put oneself into prophetic enthusiasm ( pavens adyti penetrale remoti fatidicum ). So she stays in the temple and refuses to go into the adytum, or cave ( antrum ) as Lucan calls it, until she is forcibly driven into it.

The Adyton appears predominantly in temple buildings of the 6th century (rarely in later ones) and mostly in the Greek west (Sicily and southern Italy, especially in the temples of Selinunte ).

Sometimes Adyton is used synonymously with Abaton . The term was not common in ancient times and only found its way into the nomenclature in modern times.

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