Naos (shrine)

Naos (Greek neos ναός also νεός, temple ') referred to in the ancient use of a temple.

Etymology

In today's Greek the term has ναός ( NAOS ) different meanings:

• Christian church, church (main meaning)
• Community room in the church building
• Place of religious practice and worship in other religions, so synagogue, mosque, pagoda, etc.
• Ancient temple

The Naos in antiquity

Today we use the term naos especially when Peripteros ( dipteral temples ) for the existing walls of the core structure of the temple, in contrast to the surrounding peristasis (Ring Hall ). The Naos includes Cella as the main room and usually a porch, called the pronaos, where appropriate, the opisthodomos ( rear hall ) and the Adyton, a space reserved for the priests. According to ancient Egyptian mythology ideas of Naos represented the " interior of the sky ", ie the place of residence of the gods.

The back of the Naos formed in Doric temples usually the opisthodomos, a formally corresponding to the pronaos rear hall but without access to the cella. In temples of the Ionic order there is, however, only with some temples of late classical and Hellenistic times a opisthodomos (first definite evidence of the Temple of Athena in Priene ). The opisthodomos is not developed from any use out, but to justify aesthetic: In order to meet the universality of peripteros the Naos was also on its back the look of its front front, that is, the pronaos.

Especially in the Greek temples of Magna Grecia, the Magna Graecia, Sicily and southern Italy, is found in until early classical period often another, as Adyton designated space that was reserved for the priests. In contrast, the opisthodomos was probably only adopted in the early Classical period in this region.

The Naos in the Orthodox church

In the Orthodox Church buildings are referred to with the community Naos space between the porch ( the narthex, also pronaos ) and the chancel. In the cross-domed Church of the Naos is then the center of the church.