Peribolos

{{Short description|Enclosure in ancient Greek and Roman architecture}}

{{inline|date=February 2020}}

File:Kalaureia temple peribolos.jpg]]

In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peribolos was a court enclosed by a wall,{{Cite book|last=Rogers|first=Adam|title=Late Roman Towns in Britain: Rethinking Change and Decline|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-107-00844-1|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=96}} especially one surrounding a sacred area such as a temple, shrine, or altar. This area, however, is not a necessary element to these structures since those built earlier only included markers (e.g. horoi or boundary stones) to indicate imaginary boundaries.{{Cite book|last=Hagg|first=Robin|title=Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches|last2=Marinatos|first2=Nanno|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|isbn=0203432703|location=London|pages=7}} Excavations reveal that there are sanctuaries that included a peribolos later in its history, signifying a change in religious mentality. During the Roman times, there were pereboloi used as meeting places to conduct business (e.g. shipping).{{Cite book|last=Stillwell|first=Richard|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2017|isbn=9780691654201|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=243}}

Peribolos walls (which may also be referred to as temenos walls) were sometimes composed of stone posts and slabs supported by porous sills.

Famous examples included:

• the peribolos wall and gate in the Sanctuary of Zeus (Altis), north of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece;
• the peribolos enclosing the Altar of the Twelve Gods near the north end of the Athens ancient Agora; and
• the terrace created by retaining and peribolos walls around the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia (Marmaria), southeast of the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, Greece.