Definition of "adytum"

Let us now with minds free of paſſion, enter the adytum with an intent to find out its true figure, to examine what it really was, and what it is. […] This point is properly the door-way or entrance into the adytum, as a wicket or little door, whilſt the jambs of the hithermoſt trilithons preſent themſelves, as the greater door, of about 40 feet wide, 25 cubits. […] [T]he more ſacred part of the temple at Hierapolis anſwering to our Adytum, had no door, tho' none enter'd therein but the chief prieſts.

1740, William Stukeley, “Of the Cell or Adytum of Stonehenge. Of the Surgeons Amphitheater, London.”, in Stonehenge: A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids, London: Printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, […], page 23

At the diſtance of about forty ſtadia from this temple of Æſculapius, there is an incloſure; and in it there is an adytum ſacred to Iſis. This is the moſt holy of every thing which the Greeks conſecrate to this goddeſs. For the Tithoreans neither think it proper to take up their reſidence there, nor to ſuffer any to enter the adytum, except ſuch as the goddeſs Iſis informs them by a dream ſhe thinks proper to admit.

1794, Pausanias, chapter XXXII, in [Thomas Taylor], transl., The Description of Greece, by Pausanias. Translated from the Greek. […] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for R. Faulder, […], book X (Phocics), pages 195–196

Although it was the custom for the priestesses to affect a holy fury, a species of temporary insanity, in the delivering of their oracles, yet it was also the custom to write them on the leaves of trees, and to deposit them at the entrances of their caves, or the adyta of their temples; and it was the object of the devotee to secure them before they were dispersed by the winds; […]

1829, Godfrey Higgins, chapter I, in The Celtic Druids; or, An Attempt to Shew, that the Druids were the Priests of Oriental Colonies who Emigrated from India, […], London: Rowland Hunter, […]; Hurst & Chance […]; and Ridgway and Sons, […], section XXVI (Holy Fury), page 31

The adytums or inner circles of Abury and Stonehenge bear such an analogy to the holy of holies in Solomon's temple, as to induce the belief that they were formed subsequently to the temple of Jerusalem, with which the Tyrian workmen were quite familiar.

1846, G[eorge] Oliver, “Lecture XV. On the Number and Classification of the Workmen at the Building of King Solomon’s Temple.”, in The Historical Landmarks and Other Evidences of Freemasonry, Explained; […] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Spencer, […], footnote 16, page 411

Before ascending the river to the Falls, I went up a beautiful clear stream that enters the Mississippi two miles above the capital, to visit Fountain Cave, a remarkable cavern out of which this tiny river flows. […] The scene in the interior, illuminated by torches, and contemplated by an excited imagination, was truly enchanting; and I was anxious to penetrate the gloomy adytum still further.

1853 July, “Sketches on the Upper Mississippi”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume VII, number XXXVIII, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], pages 185 and 186

The ground plan, which I now lay before the Society, shows all that is left of the temple of Somnath, the astytar mundup, namely, and the adytum. The building adheres very nearly to the usual form of a Goozerat temple, as above described, but is larger than most examples, and contains some interesting "episodes of plan," as they have been termed. The most happy of these occurs in the prudukshunâ or aisle for circumambulation around the adytum.

1864 April 14, A[lexander] Kinloch Forbes, “Art. II.—Puttun Somnath.”, in Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume VIII, number XXIII, Bombay: [Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic] Society’s Library, […]; London: Trübner & Co., […], published January 1865, page 54

They [the Hermetists] met for instruction in a sacred place, an adytum or shrine, which was apparently set apart solely for this purpose, and where they believed they could create conditions suitable for the reception of the inspiration of the Divine Mind by the instructor and for the handing of it on to the pupils— […]

1913 January, G[eorge] R[obert] S[towe] Mead, “Mystical Experiments on the Frontiers of Early Christendom”, in The Nineteenth Century and After: A Monthly Review, volume LXXIII, number CCCCXXXI, New York, N.Y.: Leonard Scott Publication Co.; London: Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., printers, page 179