Opisthodome

The opisthodome was, in the temples of Greek antiquity, a distinct part, just like the Pronaos (or gantry) and the Naos (or sanctuary).
As its name indicates it, Οπισθόδομος, of őπισθεν (opistho = behind) and δόμος (domos = house), the opisthodome was placed in the posterior portion of the Temple, while the Naos was in the medium and that the Pronaos opened on the former frontage.

In the temples Prostyle S or Tetrastyle S, which presented on the front a gantry of four columns, but which offered other columns, neither on the sides, nor on behind, it did not have there a opisthodome; the Naos extended to the wall from the bottom, and it was with this wall that the statue of the divinity rested. In the temples Amphiprostyle S, the gantry of four columns which decorated the former frontage found repeated exactly with the posterior face. These temples comprised a opisthodome, which could be of two kinds: or a simple gantry, or a large part whose entry was always on behind building, and where the treasures of the temple were contained. One knows that these treasures were sometimes extremely rich, not only in ornaments and objects suitable for the worship; but also in other invaluable objects.

In the same way there was a opisthodome in the temple périptéral, i.e. entirely surrounded by columns, and in the Pseudopériptéral; in the temple Diptéral, i.e. with two rows of columns, and in the pseudodiptéral; in the temple Décastyle or hypaéthral. The Parthenon, which was a temple périptéral, had a opisthodome in which one preserved the Treasury of Athens.

Among Romans, the opisthodome had the name of posticum. This word did not apply exclusively to the temples; it often got busy to indicate a room of behind in the houses of the ordinary persons. Thus Horace said:
Atria servantem postico falle clientem . (Escaped by the room of behind with the customer which besieges the atrium.)
In Greek also, the word opisthodome got busy sometimes, but much more rarely, while speaking about the simple houses.

Random links: