Dictionary

anaktoron en · NOUN

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀνακτόρῐος (anaktórĭos, “belonging to a lord”), from ἀνάκτωρ (anáktōr, “lord”), from ἄναξ (ánax, “lord”).

Meanings

1. (historical, qualifier:Ancient Greece) A palace that only hierophants were permitted to enter as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
   • Most scholars name the rectangular enclosure anaktoron, locate in it the throne of the hierophant, and suppose that from it emanated the central revelation which occurred, in Plutarch's phrase, ‘when the anaktora were opened’. But it is also argued that anaktoron/anaktora refer always, as they certainly do sometimes, to the whole telesterion. 2005, Robert Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 351:

Forms

Synonyms

telesterion