Temple

Lore & Background

The form and function of temples are very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be, in some sense, the 'house' of one or more deities. Typically, offerings of some form are made to the deity, and other rituals are enacted, and a special group of clergy maintain and operate the temple. The degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly; often parts, or even the whole main building, can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a main building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings or may be a dome-shaped structure, much like an igloo. The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word 'template', a plan in preparation for the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur.

Reader's Guide

It describes various temple types: Hindu temples (known as mandir, kovil, etc., with garbhagriha and shikhara), Buddhist temples (including stupa, wat, pagoda, vihara, chaitya), Jain temples (called derasar), Sikh temples (called gurdwara), Mesopotamian temples (ziggurats), and Egyptian temples (meant as places for deities to reside). No specific gameplay or map guide is mentioned.

Did You Know?

• The largest religious structure in the world is the 12th-century Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, dedicated to the Hindu deity Vishnu.
• Borobudur temple in Central Java, Indonesia, is the largest Buddhist temple in the world.
• The Erechtheion in Athens, Greece, is associated with ancient relics such as the Palladion, a xoanon of Athena Polias.
• Brihadisvara Temple is an example of Dravidian-style temple architecture.
• The Egyptian temple of Philae was constructed in the 6th century BC.