Naos (architecture)

Naos of a peripteros

Naos ( ancient Greek ναός and νεώς neós , temple ') in ancient times denotes a temple , especially its interior, regardless of whether it was designed with one or more naves .

The naos in ancient times

Today, the term naos is used primarily for the peripteros (ring hall temple) for the core structure of the temple, which consists of walls, in contrast to the peristasis (ring hall) surrounding it. The naos includes the cella as the main room and usually a vestibule, known as the pronaos , as well as the opisthodom (rear hall) and the adyton , a room reserved for priests. According to ancient Egyptian mythology , the naos represented the "interior of heaven", i.e. the place where the gods lived.

In Doric temples, the back of the naos was usually formed by the opisthodom, a rear hall corresponding to the pronaos, but without access to the cella. In the case of temples of the Ionic order , on the other hand, an opisthodome is found only in a few temples of the late Classical and Hellenistic period (first documented with certainty at the Temple of Athena in Priene ). The opisthodoma is not developed out of a single use, but has to be justified aesthetically: In order to correspond to the all-roundness of the peripteros, the naos also got the appearance of its front face on its back, i.e. H. of the pronaos.

Especially in the Greek temples of Greater Greece, the Magna Graecia , in Sicily and in southern Italy, there is often another room known as Adyton , which was reserved for priests , until the early Classical period . In contrast, in this region the opisthodom was probably only adopted in the early classical period.

The Naos in Orthodox Church Buildings

Naos in an Orthodox Church

In Orthodox church buildings , Naos is used to describe the community space between the vestibule (the narthex , also pronaos ) and the chancel. In the cross-domed church , the naos then becomes the center of the church.

Meanings in modern Greek

In modern Greek , the word ναός ( naós ) has different meanings:

Christian house of God, church (main meaning)
Congregation room in the church building
Place of religious practice and worship in other religions, i.e. synagogue , mosque , pagoda , etc.
ancient temple

literature

Hans Bonnet : Naos. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 504f.
René Ginouvès, Roland Martin: Dictionnaire méthodique de l 'architecture grecque et romaine. Vol. 3, 1998, p. 41.
Gottfried Gruben : The temples of the Greeks. 5th edition. Hirmer, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-777-48460-1 .

Remarks

^ Wilhelm Pape : Concise dictionary of the Greek language. Volume 2. 3rd edition. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1914, p. 228 ; Henry George Liddell , Robert Scott : A Greek-English Lexicon . Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1940, sv νᾱός ..

[1] Wilhelm Pape : Concise dictionary of the Greek language. Volume 2. 3rd edition. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1914, p. 228 ; Henry George Liddell , Robert Scott : A Greek-English Lexicon . Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1940, sv νᾱός ..