The _Western_ division was reserved exclusively for men; in this division stood the Temple proper, including the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In front of the Temple, to the West, stood the great altar of burnt-offering, at which, except in the matter of incense-burning, every act of sacrifice had to be performed. In this Western division of the Inner Court the victims were slaughtered. The Temple itself with the great altar of burnt-offering was again surrounded by an enclosure, within which as a rule none but priests might enter. This enclosure was sometimes called the Court of the Priests. The men of Israel, however, being admitted into the Western division of the Inner Court, were spectators of and so assisted at the sacrifices offered on the great altar, from which they were only separated by the enclosure--into which, however, in certain circumstances, they were admitted. But the women were never allowed to enter the Western division of the Inner Court--never might pass the wall of separation--never as it were assist at the sacrifices and the solemn ritual of the great altar which stood at the Western entrance of the Temple. INDEX “Aboth,” treatise, 358 _n._ 1 Acilii Glabriones family, Crypt of, 265, 267, 268-9, 270-1; was Pudens a member of?, 270 Acilius Glabrio, Consul, martyrdom of, 41-2, 230-1, 269 _Acta Sincera_, of Ruinart, on Martyrdom of Theban legion, 148 _n._ 1 _Acts of the Apostles_, Haggadic influence seen in, 379; model of, 72; on Christian assemblies, 107; on S. Paul’s prison life at Rome, 22; on status of women, 367 _n._ 1 _Acts of S. Cecilia_, in the light of catacomb discoveries, 289 _et seq._ _Acts of S. Hermes_, 274 _Acts of Martyrdom_, or _Acts and Passions of the Martyrs_, archæological and literary corroboration of, 81, 82, 94 & _n._ 1 Critical estimates of, 81 & _nn._, 82, 258 Few in early days, 33, 35, 48, 53 Pagan contempt shewn in, 158 Value of, in exploring Catacombs, 226 on Numbers of Christians, 104 on Persecutions, 163 _Acts of the Martyred Slaves_, 136 _Acts of the Passion of S. Felicitas_, 299; authenticity of, 300, 304 _Acts of Pastor and Timotheus_, tradition in, on Pudens and his family, 263-5 _Acts of S. Valentinus_, 276 Ælia Capitolina, site of, 77; insults at, to Christians, 78; results of building, 332, 335-6 _et seq._ Ælius Verus, adopted by Hadrian, 83 Æneas, piety of, 87 Æneid, teaching of, 88 Africa (_see_ Carthage, _see also_ Egypt), Christian congregations in, mid-second century, 36 Agaunum (S. Maurice), Martyrdom legend concerning, 148 _n._ 1 Agrippa, builder of Pantheon portico, 280