Bema: Difference between revisions

TheA '''bema''', or '''bima''', is an elevated platform used as an orator's podium in ancient Athens. InThe Jewishterm [[synagogue]]s,can itrefer is also known as a '''bimah''' and is for [[Torah reading]] during services. In an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, a bema isto the raised area aroundin the ''[[aron kodesh]]'', or thea [[sanctuary#Sanctuary as an altar|sanctuary]]. In antiquityJewish it was made of stone[[synagogue]]s, butwhere init modernis timesused itfor is[[Torah usuallyreading]] aduring rectangularservices, woodenthe platformterm approachedused byis steps.<ref>''Britannica'bima''' Conciseor Encyclopædia'': 'bemabimah'</ref>''.

[[File:Pnyx, 2019 albumen(02).jpg|thumb|right|The remains of the bema, or speaker's platform, at the [[Pnyx]] in [[Athens]]]]

The Ancient Greek ''bēma'' ({{lang|grc|βῆμα}}) means both 'platform' and 'step', being derived from ''[[wikt:βαίνω|bainein]]'' ({{lang|grc|βαίνειν}}, 'to go').<ref name=Steinmetz/><ref>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Roderick McKenzie. ''A Greek-English Lexicon''. Oxford: Clarendon, 1940, s.v. ''[http://logeion.uchicago.edu/index.html#βῆμα βῆμα] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904071133/http://logeion.uchicago.edu/index.html#βῆμα |date=2018-09-04 }}''.</ref><ref>Hjalmar Frisk. ''Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch''. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1960, s.v. ''βαίνω'' (p. 208).</ref><ref>Pierre Chantraine. ''Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque''. Paris: Klincksieck, 2009 [1968], s.v. ''βαίνω'' (p. 157).</ref><ref>Robert Beekes and Lucien van Beek. ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek''. Leiden: Brill, 2010, s.v. ''βαίνω'' (p. 192).</ref> The original use of the bema in Athens was as a tribunal from which orators addressed the citizens as well as the courts of law, for instance, in the [[Pnyx]]. In Greek law courts the two parties to a dispute presented their arguments each from separate bemas.

{{seeSee also|Synagogue#Bimah (platform)}}

The post-Biblical [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''bima'' ({{lang|he|בּימה}}), 'platform' or 'pulpit', is almost certainly derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] word for a raised platform, ''bema'' ({{lang|grc|βῆμα}}). (Aproposedphilological link to the [[Biblical Hebrew]] ''bama'' ({{lang|hbo|בּמה}}), 'high place' ishas farbeen less likelysuggested.)

AmongThe ''bimah'' (Hebrew plural: ''bimot'') in synagogues is also known as the ''almemar'' or ''almemor'' among some [[SephardimAshkenazis]]<ref>''almemar'' [ælˈmiːmɑː], ''Collins English Dictionary''</ref> (from the Arabic, ''al-[[minbar]]'', meaning 'platform'<ref> However, a far more likely origin of almemar is the Arabic word al-ma'mur meaning 'judge' which is in keeping with our understanding of 'bimah'. {{cite encyclopedia|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1283-almemar|encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)|title = Almemar in Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)|access-date=2013-11-13}}</ref>). Among [[Sephardic]] Jews it is known as a ''tevah'' (literally 'box, case' in Hebrew)<ref name=Steinmetz>{{cite book|last=Steinmetz|first=Sol|authorlinkauthor-link=Sol Steinmetz|title=Dictionary of Jewish Usage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nk_RFL9LYg0C&pg=PA5|date=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-4387-4}}</ref> or ''migdal-etz''<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Gutmann|title=Iconography of Religions: The Jewish sanctuary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_KHFd6bDHoC&pg=PA15|year=1983|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-06893-7|page=15}}</ref> ('tower of wood').<ref>{{cite book|last=Wischnitzer|first=Rachel|title=The architecture of the European synagogoue|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TdUAAAAMAAJ|year=1964|publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America|page=34}}</ref>

In [[Byzantine Rite|Byzantine]], [[Armenian Rite]], [[West Syriac Rite|West Syriac]] and [[Alexandrian Rite|Alexandrian]] [[East Syriac Rite|Rites]] of [[Eastern Christianity]] ''bema'' generally remains the name of the platform which composes the sanctuary; it consists of both the area behind the [[iconostasion]] and the platform in front of it from which the [[deacon]] leads the [[ektenia]]s (litanies) together with the [[Ambon (liturgy)|ambo]] from which the priest delivers the [[sermon]] and distributes [[Holy Communion]]. It may be approached by one or several steps. The bema is composed of the altar (the area behind the iconostasion), the ''[[soleas]]'' (the pathway in front of the iconostasion), and the ''ambo'' (the area in front of the [[Holy Doors]] which projects westward into the [[nave]]). Orthodox [[laity]] do not normally step up onto the bema except to receive Holy Communion.

*{{commonscatinlineCommons category-inline|Bimot}}

[[Category:PulpitsArchitecture of Athens]]