InClassical architecture, acella (from Latin 'small chamber') ornaos (from Ancient Greek ναός (naós) 'temple') is the inner chamber of anancient Greek orRoman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of ahermit's or monk's cell, and since the 17th century, of abiological cell in plants or animals.
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In ancientGreek andRoman temples, thecella was a room at the center of the building, usually containing acult image or statue representing the particular deity venerated in the temple. In addition, thecella might contain a table to receive supplementaryvotive offerings, such as votive statues of associated deities, precious and semi-precious stones,helmets,spear andarrow heads,swords, andwar trophies. No gatherings or sacrifices took place in thecella, as the altar for sacrifices was always located outside the building along the axis and temporary altars for other deities were built next to it.[1][2] The accumulated offerings made Greek and Roman temples virtualtreasuries, and many of them were indeed used as treasuries duringantiquity.
Thecella was typically a simple, windowless, rectangular room with a door or open entrance at the front behind a colonnadedportico facade. In larger temples, thecella was typically divided by twocolonnades into a centralnave flanked by twoaisles. Acella may also contain anadyton, an inner area restricted to access by the priests—in religions that had a consecrated priesthood—or by the temple guard.
With very few exceptions, Greek buildings were of aperipteral design that placed thecella in the center of the plan, such as theParthenon and theTemple of Apollo at Paestum. The Romans favouredpseudoperipteral buildings with a portico offsetting thecella to the rear. The pseudoperipteral plan usesengaged columns embedded along the side and rear walls of thecella.[citation needed] TheTemple of Venus and Roma built byHadrian in Rome had twocellae arranged back-to-back enclosed by a single outerperistyle.[3]
According toVitruvius,[4] theEtruscan type of temples (as, for example, atPortonaccio, nearVeio) had threecellae, side by side,[3] conjoined by a double row of columns on thefaçade. This is an entirely new setup with respect to the other types of constructions found in Etruria and the Tyrrhenian side of Italy, which have one cell with or without columns, as seen in Greece and the Orient.
In the Hellenistic culture of thePtolemaic Kingdom in ancient Egypt, thecella referred to that which is hidden and unknown inside the inner sanctum of anEgyptian temple, existing in complete darkness, meant to symbolize the state of the universe before the act of creation. Thecella, also called thenaos, holds many box-like shrines. The Greek word "naos" has been extended by archaeologists to describe the central room of the pyramids. Towards the end of theOld Kingdom,naos construction went from being subterranean to being built directly into the pyramid, above ground. Thenaos was surrounded by many different paths and rooms, many used to confuse and divert thieves and grave robbers.
In earlyChristian andByzantine architecture, thecella ornaos is an area at the center of the church reserved for performing theliturgy.
In later periods, a small chapel ormonk's cell was also called acella. This is the source of theIrish languagecill orcell (Anglicised as Kil(l)-) in manyIrish place names.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cella".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 604.