Introduzione: il tempio come concetto teologico-politico

The essay deals with some aspects of the history of the concept of “temple”, in order to highlight the intertwining of the theological and political dimensions which its development reveals. In Western tradition, the temple coincides, at least to some extent, with the territorialisation of the sacred: it is a sacralised portion of space, which is qualitatively different from the political territory within which it lies, and is subject to a different normativity. It may thus be seen as an extraterritory, characterised by inviolability. This is clearly attested by the right of asylum, which, from Greek temples to Christian churches, has repeatedly been associated with sacred spaces. In the modern era it played an important role in the shaping of certain political and legal concepts, such as, for example, the extraterritoriality of diplomatic premises.