Greco-Roman temples

Main articles: Greek temple and Roman temple

The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens

Though today we call most Greek religious buildings "temples," the ancient Greeks
would have referred to a temenos, or sacred precinct. Its sacredness, often
connected with a holy grove, was more important than the building itself, as it
contained the open air altar on which the sacrifices were made. The building which
housed the cult statue in its naos was originally a rather simple structure, but by
the middle of the 6th century BCE had become increasingly elaborate. Greek temple
architecture had a profound influence on ancient architectural traditions.

The rituals that located and sited Roman temples were performed by an augur through
the observation of the flight of birds or other natural phenomenon. Roman temples
usually faced east or toward the rising sun, but the specifics of the orientation
are often not known today; there are also notable exceptions, such as the Pantheon
which faces north. In ancient Rome only the native deities of Roman mythology had a
templum; any equivalent structure for a foreign deity was called a fanum.
Pagan temples
See also: List of modern pagan temples
Temple of Garni, Armenia

The Romans usually referred to a holy place of a pagan religion as fanum; in some
cases this referred to a sacred grove, in others to a temple. Medieval Latin
writers also sometimes used the word templum, previously reserved for temples of
the ancient Roman religion. In some cases it is hard to determine whether a temple
was a building or an outdoor shrine. For temple buildings of the Vikings, the Old
Norse term hof is often used.