Meanings
- A building used to celebrate sacred rites in Ancient Greece.
With each successive telesterion, the structure grew in size and capacity, an expansion that indicates the growing and continued popularity of the cult […]
2016, Margaret M. Miles, A Companion to Greek Architecture, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 1831 more example
Central among them is what, to avoid controversy, it is convenient to call the telesterion: a building designed to accommodate the faithful inside, and thus unique among the forms of Greek sacred architecture.
2005, Robert Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 351
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Ancient Greekτελεστήριον“initiation hall”
- Englishtelesterion
From Ancient Greek τελεστήριον (telestḗrion, “initiation hall”), from τελείω (teleíō, “to initiate”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
telesterion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telesterion
“telesterion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telesterion. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telesterion,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telesterion.
Source: telesterion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.