Temenos

A temenos (Greek: τέμενος; plural: τεμένη, temenē)^[1] is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct:^[2] the Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the Νείλοιο πῖον τέμενος Κρονίδα ("the rich temenos of Cronides by the Nile"),^[1][3] the Acropolis of Athens is the ἱερὸν τέμενος ("the holy temenos"; of Pallas),^[1][4] and the Kaaba (also referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah) inside the courtyard of Islam's most important mosque, the Great Mosque of Mecca. The word derives from the Greek verb τέμνω (temnō), "I cut".^[5][6] The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek