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μέγαρον is always used by H. in a religious sense, though in Homer it means simply ‘chamber’ or (mostly in plural) ‘house’ (cf. aedes). Perhaps the Herodotean sense is the original one; the word may be connected with Semitic maghar (‘cave,’ RobertsonSmith, Relig. of Sem. p. 200). This use survives in the μέγαρα or ‘caves’ into which pigs were thrown at the Thesmophoria (Paus. ix. 8. 1 and Frazer, v. 29). For an underground shrine (of Palaemon) cf. Paus. ii. 2. 1.

μέγαρον is the temple itself as opposed to the τέμενος (cf. vi. 134. 2), and especially the shrine proper, where stood the image of the god (ii. 141. 3); it sometimes seems to be used interchangeably with ἄδυτον (cf. vii. 140. 1 and 3). It is, however, used for the whole building (not merely the shrine), ii. 143. 2. The ‘shrine’ at Delphi was at the west end of the cella, and beneath was the chasm into which it is said the priestess went down to divine (Frazer, v. 352-3; but cf. Oppé, J. H. S. xxiv, for good reasons against believing in ‘the chasm’).

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