The naos is the enclosed main room of a Greek temple, housing the cult statue of the deity. In Byzantine church architecture the naos is the central space where the congregation gathers, between the narthex and the sanctuary. The Latin equivalent for the temple sense is the cella.
The naos in the Greek temple
A Greek temple is not an assembly hall for a congregation but a house for the god. The naos is therefore fairly small in relation to the colonnade surrounding it. The plan is usually threefold:
- Pronaos — the porch between the ends of the side walls, often with two columns
- Naos — the enclosed main room holding the cult statue; only priests entered
- Opisthodomos — a rear chamber, frequently used as a treasury
The naos has thick load-bearing walls carrying the ceiling and roof structure. In large temples two internal rows of columns help support the roof and frame the statue. Windows are normally absent: light enters through the doorway.
The naos in the Byzantine church
Eastern church architecture arranges things differently. There the naos is the square or cross-shaped central space beneath the main dome, where the faithful stand. To the west it is preceded by the narthex; to the east the iconostasis separates it from the sanctuary (bema and apse). The dome rests on pendentives or squinches carried by the four main piers of the naos.
Applications
- Archaeology and restoration — naos is the standard term for the enclosed core when describing temple plans
- Church architecture — in Orthodox and Byzantine churches, naos names the congregational space
- Building archaeology — distinguishing naos, pronaos and peristyle makes temples comparable across sites
Related terms
- Cella
- Narthex
- Pronaos
- Apse
- Peristyle
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