greek

The Lord Speaks Again: Ancient Temple Patterns in D&C 124

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William Weeks Nauvoo Temple architectural plan. (Click for larger view)

William Weeks Nauvoo Temple architectural plan. (Click for larger view)

It is my honor and pleasure to introduce a new guest blogger to TempleStudy.com, Matthew B. Brown.  Many of you may already be familiar with the great work of this historian, scholar, and author.  If you are not, I heartily recommend his work to you. One of my favorite books on the temple is by Br. Brown, The Gate of Heaven: Insights on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple.  A big thanks to Br. Brown for sharing his insights with us here on TempleStudy.com.  -Bryce

Guest Blogger: Matthew B. Brown holds a degree in history from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is the author of ten books and has published articles with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU (aka FARMS). Matthew serves as a volunteer researcher, editor, and respondent for The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) and has spoken at several of their annual conferences. He has also been featured on TV and radio programs as well as at a number of seminars and symposiums.

On 19 January 1841 the Lord issued an important revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith which is now known as Doctrine and Covenants section 124.1 There are many verses within this revelation where the Lord describes concepts associated with the Nauvoo temple. These concepts can be placed under five general categories so that they can be more easily evaluated: The Lord’s People, The Lord’s Commands, The Lord’s House, The Priesthood, and The Ordinances. This article is calculated to help students of the past more accurately understand what (and how much) the Lord revealed about the temple in Nauvoo, Illinois by the first month of the year in 1841. It is also designed to show intriguing connections between the Mormons who lived in the first half of the nineteenth century and what took place among the covenant people of the biblical period.  [Read more…]

The Traditional Greek Folk Dances and their Ancient Roots

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San Joaquin Delta College Hellenic Dancers doing the Greek Syrtos dance at the school's new campus dedication in 1977. They wear the traditional Greek folk dance costume. A musician is playing a Thracian gaida in the center of the circle. Used by permission.

San Joaquin Delta College Hellenic Dancers doing the Greek Syrtos dance at the school's new campus dedication in 1977. They wear the traditional Greek folk dance costume. A musician is playing a Thracian gaida in the center of the circle, leading the dance. Used with permission.

When I originally wrote my paper on “The Genesis of the Round Dance,” I included a short section on the ancient Greek dance forms:

The ancient choruses, dances, and songs of the dithyramb of Greece displayed the familiar pattern of a dignified, circular dance around the altar of Dionysus in the theater’s orchestra. In fact, the term orchestra originally meant the circular dancing place of the theater. In addition, the terms carole and chorus, also originally Greek, meant a sacred ring dance, men and women holding each others hands [other related English words are chorale, choir, and choreography]. LDS scholar, Dr. Hugh Nibley, reminds us that the creation was often acted out in these Greek dance dramas:

The Greek play has a chorus. Well what does chorus mean? It’s a ring dance; it’s a circle. Same as our word curve; Latin: curvus; going around. The chorus sings, and the chorus of the muses sings the poiema, the creation song . . . When they sing together, it’s the poiema, the song of the creation. It’s a glorious thing. It’s a round dance like the Egyptian maypole.

Nibley takes it one step further to explain that all the arts originated from the ancient temple dramas. “So poetry, music, and dance,” he tells us, “go out to the world from the temple-called by the Greeks the Mouseion, the shrine of the Muses.” Again he states that, “All the arts and sciences began at the temple. Dance, music, architecture, sculpture, drama, and so forth-they all go back to the temple.” Kraus supports this claim of a ritualistic connection between the arts when he informs us that Native American ceremonies and sacred dances are “part of an elaborate drama which embraces all the arts.” ((http://templestudy.com/2008/02/01/the-genesis-of-the-round-dance-part-3/))

The more one learns about the arts, the more one is convinced of Nibley’s stunning summation.

I want to expand a bit more on the traditional Greek dance forms, and share some more interesting details I’ve learned about these ancient practices that still are continued today.  [Read more…]

Who’s on the Lord’s Side? Who?

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Isaiah's Lips Anointed with Fire - Benjamin West (1738-1820)

Isaiah's Lips Anointed with Fire - Benjamin West (1738-1820)

I spoke in my ward’s sacrament meeting yesterday.  Here is a copy of my talk:

I’m grateful for this opportunity to speak to you today about a subject that is very important to me, and hopefully to you.  I pray that the Spirit might be with us so that we may both be edified by these things, and that we can apply what we learn (D&C 50:22).

The topic I’ve been given is twofold – first, the hymn “Who’s on the Lord’s Side?” and second, “following the prophet.”  While these two topics don’t seem to relate to each other on the surface, I think the point is that those who follow the teachings of the prophets are truly on the Lord’s side.

First a short story.  [Read more…]

Hypaethral – A Roofless Temple

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Hypaethral Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey. (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/architecture1.html)

Hypaethral Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey. (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/architecture1.html)

I came across a new word today in my inbox – hypaethral (\hye-PEETH-rul\).  Webster defines this adjective as:

1  : having a roofless central space
2  : open to the sky ((“hypaethral.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 26 November 2008
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypaethral>))

What caught my interest was that this word is applied mostly to ancient temples.  The example sentence that was given was:

During our tour of Egypt, we visited the hypaethral temple of Philae, which was dismantled and relocated after the construction of a dam caused its original site to be submersed.  ((Email – “hypaethral: M-W’s Word of the Day,” November 26, 2008.))

Webster’s given etymology of the word explains why it is often associated with temples:

Ancient Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius used the Latin word “hypaethrus” to describe temples in which the “cella” (the part of the temple housing an image of the deity) was wholly or partially uncovered. “Hypaethrus” is a word sculpted from the Greek prefix “hypo-,” meaning “under or beneath,” and the Greek word “aithēr,” meaning “air or heaven.” In the late-18th century, English classicists adopted the remodeled form “hypaethral” in their writings of ancient architecture. Another adjective that they occasionally employed is “cleithral,” which designates temples having roofed central spaces. (“Cleithral” comes from “kleithra,” the Greek word for “lattice.”) ((ibid.))

In other words, the innermost sanctuary of ancient temples (known in the Israelite tradition as the Holy of Holies) was sometimes open to the sky, hyp-aethral, or “under heaven.”  This was likely due to the temples’ often association with the cosmos.  While although the “Hypaethral Temple” at Philae may not have actually been open to the sky in its heyday, a couple examples of this scenario might be found in Stonehenge and Göbekli Tepe.

Read more in the Wikipedia article on hypaethral.  Dr. William R. Long also has a good description and study of this word, including this interesting quote from Henry David Thoreau ((Elder Perry spoke of this philosopher in the last General Conference)), who used the term figuratively:

Shall the mind be a public arena, where the affairs of the street and the gossip of the tea-table chiefly are discussed? Or shall it be a quarter of heaven itself – an hypaethral temple, consecrated to the service of the gods? ((Hentry David Thoreau, “Life without Principle.”))

Pronaos: A New Temple-Themed Blog!

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A Greek or Roman temple with the pronaos shaded.

A Greek or Roman temple with the pronaos shaded.

There is a great new LDS-oriented temple-themed blog in the Bloggernacle entitled Pronaos, which is run by Grampa Enoch.  From the first few posts this appears like it will be a very good blog indeed.

The word pronaos comes from the Greek for “before a temple” (pro-before, naos-temple).  It references the inner area of the portico (porch) of ancient temples, or between the outer wall or colonnade and the entrance to the inner shrine.  In modern-day LDS temples, the entryway/front desk/lobby area I suppose could be viewed as the architectural pronaos today.  It is the first zone of the archetypal tripartite or three-level temple, corresponding to the courtyard of Moses’ Tabernacle.

His latest post is on the location of Solomon’s temple, which we took a look at a few days ago.  According to Grampa Enoch, the only real answer to the question “Where was the location of Solomon’s temple?” is “We don’t know.” Unless we have future archaeological investigations, we won’t know for sure.

He also confirms my hestitancy about the Meridian Magazine article theory:

But even if we could completely excavate the Temple Mount/Haram, it is quite possible that all remains of Solomon’s original temple were removed in subsequent rebuilding programs…

…it is important to note that almost nothing visible on the plaza inside the Haram [Temple Mount] today dates from Solomon’s time. Most of what we see today was built by the Muslims after 638. There are also a number of crusader structures as well. Any interpretation of the Temple Mount must first deal with the dating and interpretation of the visible structures.

Since virtually all the evidence presented by Meridian Magazine’s theory is based on structures currently visible on the temple mount, the entire premise of the theory is unfortunately faulty.  Grampa Enoch gives an extensive list of sources that one may look to gain a better understanding of the pre-Islamic Temple Mount.

Take a look at Pronaos!