xoanon

[zoh-uh-non]

noun

Greek Antiquity.

plural

xoana 

1. a simple, carved image, especially one in which the original block of stone or wood is readily apparent.

xoanon

/ ˈzəʊəˌnɒn /

noun

1. a primitive image of a god, carved, esp originally, in wood, and supposed to have fallen from heaven

Word History and Origins

Origin of xoanon¹

1700–10; < Greek xóanon carved image; akin to xeîn to scrape, carve

Word History and Origins

Origin of xoanon¹

C18: from Greek, from xuō to scrape, smooth

Example Sentences

Between them stood a gilt xoanon, which seems to have been carried outside in sacred processions.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Other rich furniture is described, and a mode of divination by movements of a xoanon of Apollo.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Xoanon, zō′a-non, n. a primitive statue, fallen from heaven, originally of wood, later overlaid with ivory and gold.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

But I shall not here trace the idol worshipped while yet merely a rude trunk or stock, and in that state called Sanis, through the Xoanon, when the wood was pared or shaven until it became a Deikelon or Bretas, having assumed a likeness, however faint, of the human form.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

The eastern door of the Erechtheum was not the normal, not the intended entrance to the cella of Athena, but served as the traditional eastern entrance toward which the xoanon faced.

Read more on Project Gutenberg