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[[File:Peribolos entrance Kalaureia.jpg|thumb|299x299px|Entrance and [[peribolos]] of the Temple of [[Poseidon]], island of [[Kalaureia]].]]
In the study of the [[History of religion|history of religions]] and [[anthropology]], a '''sacred enclosure''' refers to any structure intended to separate two spaces: a [[sacred space]] and a [[Profane (religion)|profane space]]. Generally, it is a separation [[wall]] erected to mark the difference between the two spaces, acquiring significant symbolic meaning. Many human cultures have made use of sacred enclosures, found in [[Mesopotamia]], as well as in [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian America]], [[sub-Saharan Africa]], such as in [[Notsé Walls|Notsé]], or in [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] cultures, such as [[Greece]] and [[Rome]]. The use of sacred enclosures is also a crucial aspect of the [[Abrahamic religions]], as seen in the construction of the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple of Jerusalem]] or pilgrimages such as the [[Hajj]]. In some cases, this separation is placed within a single sacred space, dividing it, as with enclosures separating people according to their [[gender]] in certain [[Church (building)|churches]], [[Mosque|mosques]], and [[Synagogue|synagogues]].

The term refers to the structure that establishes, reinforces, or accentuates separations, but it is sometimes used more broadly to describe all sacred boundaries imposed on spaces, although the term "sacred boundary" is more accurate in this case. Anthropologically, it is an important aspect of [[Culture|human culture]], as it often establishes the limits of the profane space by erecting a visible marker signifying the presence of the sacred space. It is central to the notion of the [[Sacredness|sacred]].

== Anthropology ==

=== Clarifying aspect ===
The erection of a sacred enclosure, whether a large compound or a simple wall, is central to a clarifying aspect.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Defining the holy: sacred space in medieval and early modern Europe |date=2005 |publisher=Ashgate Pub |isbn=978-0-7546-5194-9 |editor-last=Hamilton |editor-first=Sarah |location=Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, VT |editor-last2=Spicer |editor-first2=Andrew}}</ref> By establishing and making visible the boundaries between places, the enclosure defines both the [[Sacredness|sacred]] and the [[Profane (religion)|profane]].<ref name=":0" /> It also generally reinforces cultic behaviors; faced with the material impossibility of crossing this space, [[Human|humans]] must align their actions with the cult, which is thus materialized and made present to the entire community.<ref name=":0" />

=== Delimiting aspect ===
The sacred enclosure marks an extraction from the profane world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Rod |date=2007 |title=Sacred Groves: Sacrifice and the Order of Nature in Ancient Greek Landscapes |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43324399 |journal=Landscape Journal |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=252–269 |doi=10.3368/lj.26.2.252 |jstor=43324399 |issn=0277-2426}}</ref> After crossing the boundaries, the individual finds themselves in a different [[Time perception|perception of time]], where the normal course of events no longer seems to follow its usual rhythm.<ref name=":1" /> In this place and after passing through the enclosure, communication with the supernatural is perceived as more natural and evident.<ref name=":1" />

== History ==

=== Antiquity ===
The erection of a sacred enclosure is often associated with the foundation of a city. For example, when the [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]] city of [[Byblos]] was refounded in the mid-4th millennium BCE, the sacred enclosure demarcating the future temple of the city was the first structure of the city.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chanteau |first=Julien |date=2014-06-01 |title=L'Enceinte Sacrée et les origines de Byblos |url=https://journals.openedition.org/syria/2096 |journal=Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire |language=fr |issue=91 |pages=35–54 |doi=10.4000/syria.2096 |issn=0039-7946 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713180217/https://journals.openedition.org/syria/2096 |url-status=live }}</ref> Byblos was not unique; older Mesopotamian cities like [[Eridu]] and [[Uruk]] also centered around sacred enclosures that defined the boundaries of their temples.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Wasilewska |first=Ewa |date=May 2009 |title=Sacred Space in the Ancient Near East |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00138.x |journal=Religion Compass |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=395–416 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00138.x |issn=1749-8171 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713180217/https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00138.x |url-status=live }}</ref> These two Mesopotamian cities have the most significant Mesopotamian sacred enclosures, but nearly all cities of the [[ancient Near East]] featured such enclosures,<ref name=":2" /> including those in [[Cyprus]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bolger |first=Diane |date=1996 |title=Figurines, Fertility, and the Emergence of Complex Society in Prehistoric Cyprus |url=https://www.academia.edu/58427839 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=365–373 |doi=10.1086/204500 |issn=0011-3204 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713180218/https://www.academia.edu/58427839 |url-status=live }}</ref> While many [[Myth|myths]] directly link supernatural intervention to the selection and delimitation of the sacred space, in some cases, divine intervention was said to construct the enclosure, as seen in Uruk, where the god [[Anu|An]] was directly involved in its construction.<ref name=":2" />

In [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]] and the wider ancient [[Aegean Region|Aegean region]], such structures are also attested.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chapin |first=Anne P. |date=2004 |title=Power, Privilege, and Landscape in Minoan Art |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1354062 |journal=Hesperia Supplements |volume=33 |pages=47–64 |jstor=1354062 |issn=1064-1173 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2021-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510090720/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1354062 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Celts]] were frequent builders of sacred enclosures, often using them in their rituals.<ref>'''Webster''', '''Jane''', “''Sanctuaries and sacred places''”, in: Miranda J. Green (ed.), The Celtic world, London, New York: Routledge, 1995. 445–464</ref> Prehistoric [[Stone circle|stone circles]] in [[France]] might be of a similar nature.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maury |first=Jean |date=1968 |title=Les cercles de pierres des Grands Causses |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bspf_0249-7638_1968_hos_65_2_4169 |journal=Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=591–598 |doi=10.3406/bspf.1968.4169 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309092015/https://www.persee.fr/doc/bspf_0249-7638_1968_hos_65_2_4169 |url-status=live }}</ref> Similar phenomena are attested in [[North America]] from the 5th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Robert L. |date=1976 |title=Ghosts, Water Barriers, Corn, and Sacred Enclosures in the Eastern Woodlands |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/279525 |journal=American Antiquity |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=360–364 |doi=10.2307/279525 |jstor=279525 |issn=0002-7316 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2022-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628212609/https://www.jstor.org/stable/279525 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Greeks]] also used sacred enclosures, which were central to their practices.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Malkin |first=Irad |date=1987 |title=La place des dieux dans la cité des hommes. Le découpage des aires sacrées dans les colonies grecques |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1987_num_204_4_2165 |journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions |volume=204 |issue=4 |pages=331–352 |doi=10.3406/rhr.1987.2165 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710122158/https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1987_num_204_4_2165 |url-status=live }}</ref> They used them to delimit the space of temples or sacred groves,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sharon |first=Avi |date=2018 |title=The Oak and the Olive: Oracle and Covenant |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26395073 |journal=SiteLINES: A Journal of Place |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=3–4 |jstor=26395073 |issn=2572-0457}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dillon |first=Matthew P. J. |date=1997 |title=The Ecology of the Greek Sanctuary |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20190053 |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |volume=118 |pages=113–127 |jstor=20190053 |issn=0084-5388 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2022-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319041414/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20190053 |url-status=live }}</ref> such as the sanctuary at [[Delphi]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reboreda Morillo |first=Susana |date=2006 |title=La volonté divine : Delphes et son influence sur le destin humain |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_2006_act_999_1_3440 |journal=Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité |volume=999 |issue=1 |pages=219–228 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317094441/https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_2006_act_999_1_3440 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is possible, though not certain, that the second part of the goddess [[Artemis]]’s name comes from the Greek root for sacred enclosure, “τέμενος” (temenos).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hughes |first=J. Donald |date=1990 |title=Artemis: Goddess of Conservation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3983705 |journal=Forest & Conservation History |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=191–197 |doi=10.2307/3983705 |jstor=3983705 |issn=1046-7009}}</ref> The [[Persians]] were also known for this practice, as seen in [[Pasargadae]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boucharlat |first=Rémy |date=1984 |title=Monuments religieux de la Perse achéménide, état des questions |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/mom_0766-0510_1984_sem_7_1_1657 |journal=MOM Éditions |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=119–135 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713180220/https://www.persee.fr/doc/mom_0766-0510_1984_sem_7_1_1657 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to [[Strabo]], the cults of [[History of Georgia (country)|ancient Georgia]] incorporated such enclosures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Charachidzé |first=Georges |date=1999 |title=L'invention du « dieu lune » en Géorgie (information) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1999_num_143_2_16000 |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |volume=143 |issue=2 |pages=429–434 |doi=10.3406/crai.1999.16000 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229070826/https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1999_num_143_2_16000 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Among the Romans, the ''[[pomerium]]'' referred to the sacred boundary of the city. This boundary was sometimes marked by a sacred enclosure, which also had military and defensive roles, as seen with the [[Servian Wall]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Manacorda | first=Daniele | title=Arch.it.arch | publisher=Quasar | publication-place=Roma | date=2009 | isbn=978-88-7140-380-9 | language=it}}</ref> In this case, according to [[Plutarch]], the gates were not part of the sacred enclosure, allowing passage through them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plutarque : Romulus : Bilingue |url=https://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/Plutarque/romuluspierron.htm |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=remacle.org |archive-date=2024-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302010015/http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/Plutarque/romuluspierron.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Parallel or similar dynamics are observed in [[Second Temple Judaism|ancient Judaism]]. For example, it was forbidden for a foreigner to enter the enclosure of the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple of Jerusalem]], as noted by the [[Temple Warning inscription]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clermont-Ganneau |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBwqphAfdmYC |title=Un stèle du temple de Jérusalem: découverte et publiée |date=1872 |publisher=Didier et Cie |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fund |first=Palestine Exploration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYgfAAAAYAAJ |title=Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund |date=1872 |publisher=Published at the Fund's Office. |language=en |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713175614/https://books.google.com/books?id=yYgfAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the case of the Temple of Jerusalem, it was constructed in a concentric structure, where each crossed enclosure brought one closer to the [[Holy of Holies]], perceived as the physical dwelling of the [[Tetragrammaton|God of Israel]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=The Oxford history of the biblical world |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-513937-2 |editor-last=Coogan |editor-first=Michael David |edition=Issued as an Oxford University Press paperback |location=Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires}}</ref> Thus, it was a place segmented by numerous sacred enclosures, which were omnipresent markers of the sanctity of each stage where one found themselves.<ref name=":3" />

=== Middle Ages ===
In [[Europe]] and [[Asia]], this structure was adopted in [[Christians|Christian]] places of worship, with [[Church (building)|churches]] separating themselves from the outside through the erection of walls that enclosed a [[sanctuary]], separated from the rest by a wall or veil, the precursor to the [[iconostasis]] or [[rood screen]].<ref name=":0" /> In some cases, [[Christians]] and [[Jews]] implemented other built markers within their places of worship, such as establishing a separate [[gynaeceum]] for female congregants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schulenburg |first=Jane Tibbetts |date=January 1978 |title=Sexism and the celestial gynaeceum — from 500 to 1200 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1016/0304-4181%2878%2990002-7 |journal=Journal of Medieval History |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=117–133 |doi=10.1016/0304-4181(78)90002-7 |issn=0304-4181 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713175620/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1016/0304-4181%2878%2990002-7 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Handman |first=Marie-Élisabeth |date=2002 |title=L'Autre des non-juifs... et des juifs : les romaniotes |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-balkaniques-cahiers-pierre-belon-2002-1-page-133.htm |journal=Études Balkaniques |language=fr |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=133–164 |doi=10.3917/balka.009.0008 |issn=1260-2116 |access-date=2024-07-13 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713175616/https://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-balkaniques-cahiers-pierre-belon-2002-1-page-133.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Similar internal separations are also found in [[Mosque|mosques]], with a different space, sometimes even a separate room, allocated for the prayers of men and women.<ref>{{Citation |last=Katz |first=Marion |title=Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice |date=2014-09-23 |work=Women in the Mosque |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/katz16266/html |access-date=2024-07-13 |publisher=Columbia University Press |language=en |doi=10.7312/katz16266 |isbn=978-0-231-53787-2 |archive-date=2024-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421000739/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/katz16266/html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[sub-Saharan Africa]], such practices are found among the ancestors of the [[Ewe people]], as evidenced by the stories related to the [[exodus of the Ewe from Notsé]], where the ancestors decided to leave the city after the tyrannical king Agokoli [[Notsé Walls|chose to erect a vast sacred enclosure]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Histoire des Togolais. Volume 1: Des origines à 1884 |date=1997 |publisher=Presses de l'UB |isbn=978-2-909886-26-8 |edition=Edition définitive |volume=1 |location=Lomé}}</ref><ref name=":32">Kodzo Awoenam Adedzi, « Culture et santé infantile chez les Agotimés du Togo : place de la médecine traditionnelle dans le système de santé publique », ''UCL'',&#x200E; 2019 https://corpus.ulaval.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/88083c7f-81e3-441d-9697-b8125fc0fe59/content {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713175613/https://corpus.ulaval.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/88083c7f-81e3-441d-9697-b8125fc0fe59/content |date=2024-07-13 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Greene |first=Sandra E. |date=2002 |title=Notsie Narratives: History, Memory and Meaning in West Africa |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/39110 |journal=The South Atlantic Quarterly |volume=101 |issue=4 |pages=1015–1041 |doi=10.1215/00382876-101-4-1015 |issn=1527-8026}}</ref> The [[Inca Empire|Incas]] in [[Central America]] also seemed to make use of sacred enclosures.<ref>{{Citation |last=Yaya |first=Isabel |title=The Inca Calendar and Its Transition Periods |date=2012-01-01 |work=The Two Faces of Inca History |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004233874/B9789004233874_008.xml |access-date=2024-07-13 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-23387-4 |archive-date=2024-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713180132/https://brill.com/display/book/9789004233874/B9789004233874_008.xml |url-status=live }}</ref>

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred enclosure}}
[[Category:Temples]]
[[Category:Building types]]
[[Category:Types of monuments and memorials]]
[[Category:Sacral architecture]]
[[Category:Religious buildings and structures]]