A typical place to revere the gods in ancient Greece was in a sanctuary (hieron). Hiera (pl.) were located in the countryside (including very high up on mountains), at the borders of poleis, or within cities. The nature sanctuaries were usually associated with at least one polis that provided the materials for the cult, including a family of priests and/or priestesses. The border sanctuaries often served to mark the extent of a polis's political (ideal or otherwise) control, and there were often elaborate processions from the center of a city to its border sanctuaries to establish the relationship between the two. For example, the sanctuary at Eleusis was officially attached to the city of Athens, and the yearly mysteries performed at Eleusis began with a daylong procession from Athens to this remote suburb. The urban sanctuaries were the most prime real estate for the deities, where strongly regionalistic, political rituals would be performed. In Athens, the ritual of the Panathenaia was celebrated annually at the Acropolis and served not only to extol the city goddess Athena, but also to remind the Athenians of their autochthonous origins.
A sanctuary had several constituent parts. The most important was the temenos, land that was "cut off" (temno = to cut) and reserved for the deity. Once this space was consecrated, a number of pious regulations had to be observed within its limits. No one was permitted to die in a temenos, nor give birth, nor have sex. In short, nothing indicative of mortality—conception, birth, death—was allowed to happen in an area reserved for those free from the mortal condition.
Because of this prohibition on mortality-related events, a temenos often served as a sanctuary/refuge for those threatened with death, because of either a crime or, more likely, political unpopularity. A person could not be killed in a temenos, nor could he/she be forcibly removed. Such suppliants thus created an awkward situation for the surrounding community. Although they could not be killed or harmed while in the temenos, they also could not be permitted to die there, as would eventually happen through thirst and starvation. Should the suppliants die, the entire region would become polluted, bringing devastation to the local inhabitants. Thus, using temene as sanctuaries was a tricky business, forcing a resolution to the conflict before death could occur.
In Euripides's Heracles, Heracles's family, condemned in his absence, wait as suppliants at a local shrine, hoping their hero will return to save them before they grow too weak to withstand their captors. Heracles shows up in the nick of time, overthrows the captors, and saves the integrity of the sanctuary (but then he goes mad and kills his wife and children anyway; tragedies are called that for a reason). In a real-life historical example, the Athenian Kylon, who attempted to make himself tyrant of Athens in the seventh century b. c.e., was overthrown and forced to seek refuge in a local temenos (Herodotus 5.71; Thucydides 1.126.10-11). Eventually, he and his men were left on the brink of starvation, forcing a crisis on the city for the above-stated reasons. The Athenians offered Kylon and/or his men safe passage out of the city and into exile if he would simply leave before profaning the sanctuary. Kylon agreed, but, not entirely trusting his adversaries, he tied a long cord between himself and the altar, thus keeping himself under divine protection (it was thought to extend along the cord) until he was outside the boundaries of Athens (and his captors' authority). On Kylon's way out of the city, the Alcmaeonidai clan cut the cord and slew him. For this, the family bore the stain of impiety for generations.
Beyond being a place of refuge, temene served a number of other functions for the Greeks. In some instances, as at Apollo's Delphi, the sanctuary contained an oracle who predicted the future or made known the will of the gods. Some sanctuaries, especially those of Asclepius, served as hospitals, where the sick went to find cures for their ailments (see chapter 10). Technically speaking, the theaters were dedicated to Dionysos; they were where the Greeks went to see that most enjoyable of Dionysian rituals: the play. Some sanctuaries were the loci of elaborate rituals, such as Eleusis, where Greek-speakers were initiated into the rites of Demeter and Persephone, assuring themselves of a happier afterlife.
At its simplest, the sanctuary was where the humble petitioner went to pray, to give thanks, and to offer gifts to the gods. Such gifts could consist of a smidgen of incense on the altar, a small depiction of a body part that was healed, the blood-soaked clothing of a woman who died in labor, a drawing of oneself, an elaborate bronze cauldron, or even a full-scale statue. The votive collection in the Temple of Hera at Olympia was so magnificent that Pausanias considered it a small museum.
Second in importance to the temenos was the altar, locus of the sacrifices that formed the core of ancient Greek religious expression (see below). An altar could range in style from a massive heap of ashes built up through several generations of sacrifice—such as the ash altar to Zeus Lykaios—to an elaborate and ostentatious structure of sculpted marble. Perhaps the best example of the latter is the Altar of Pergamon, a third-century altar covered with elaborate three-dimensional sculpture and which required its own staircase to reach the actual sacrificial area. Here, an animal was killed in such a way that its blood splattered the altar in a manner presumably pleasing to the receiving deity/deities. Since the altar was the focus of this critical ritual, it was an extremely important component of the temenos.
Another possible element in the temenos, by far the most famous in modern times, was the temple—naos in Greek. This was the deity's "house," where he or she could go to relax, enjoy religious festivities, mope, or even catch a bath!
Going to Cyprus [Aphrodite] entered the sweet-smelling temple in Paphos, where are her temenos and fragrant altar.
And there entering she closed the shining doors,
And there the Graces bathed her and anointed her with oil
Sweet and ambrosial, which was an offering to her.
(Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, ll. 58-62)
In reality, the temple was not an extremely important element of the temenos. Many temene had no temple, and several ancient Greek temples were never even finished. The Temple of Zeus at Stratos in northern Greece was begun in the fifth century b. c.e. Sometime after starting work on the floors inside, the builders either ran out of money or lost interest, because all construction on the temple stopped. Nevertheless, the temenos with its altar continued in use well into Roman times, when a pair of second-century c. e. Roman officials dedicated statues of themselves at the site. Basically, the sanctuary was in use for over 700 years without the temple ever receiving a roof! It is clear that the Greeks did not really think of their gods as living in the temples, so the physical amenities were not always an issue. Only some very ancient naoi (pl. of naos) contained actual embodiments of the deities—xoana (see below). The Erechtheion on the Athenian Acropolis, which housed the ancient image of Athena, is one such example.
Some ancient Greek sanctuaries became humongous, coming to have Panhellenic, even international, significance. Such sanctuaries were those of Apollo at Delphi and Delos, Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, Zeus at Olympia, and Poseidon at Isthmia and Nemea. One reason for this popularity was the great games that took place every two or four years at Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea, and Olympia (thus the "Olympics"; see below). Another reason was the popularity of the oracle, as at Delphi. The mysteries enacted at Eleusis attracted people from all over the Greek and Roman worlds. Such popularity led to extremely large and elaborate sanctuaries, filled not just with an altar and temple, but with multiple temples to several deities, several altars, sports arenas, hotels, baths, fountains, and, presumably, snack-bars.
At the far end of the spectrum from the large, elaborate Panhellenic sanctuaries were the smaller sacred spaces. One of the most important ritual sites was the family hearth, "sanctuary" of Hestia. Some minor deities had small, natural sacred spaces. The nature god Pan and the nymphs were worshipped in groves, at especially impressive trees, in caves, or at small springs. Oracular cults as at Lebadeia and (originally) Delphi were often associated with caves or, in the case of Dodonian Zeus, an oak grove.
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