Temenos

Temenos (Greek: τέμενος) 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: The Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the Νείλοιο πῖον τέμενος Κρονίδα, the Acropolis is the ἱερὸν τέμενος (of Pallas). The word derives from the Greek verb τέμνω (temnō), "to cut"; plural: τεμένη, temene. The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek te-me-no, written in Linear B syllabic script.