Athenian Temples

The Athenians didn’t spend a lot of money on their private houses, but instead they poured funds into the building of great temples to honour their gods. No religious worship actually took place in a temple. It was rather seen to be a ‘home’ for a god or goddess.

All worship took place outside the temple. Every temple was part of a religious sanctuary which was marked off by a wall. The whole of the sanctuary was considered to be ‘holy ground’. The focal point in the sanctuary was the altar, where sacrifices took place. This was situated outside the front of the temple so that all the…