an artificial elevation for the purpose of offering sacrifices. The heathens at first made their altars only of turf; afterwards they were made of stone, of marble, of wood, and even of horn, as that of Apollo in Delos. Altars differed in figure as well as in materials: some were round, others square, and others triangular. All of them were turned towards the east, and stood lower than the statues of the gods; and they were generally adorned with sculpture, representing either the gods to whom they were erected, or their symbols. The height of altars also differed according to the different gods to whom they sacrificed. According to Servius, those altars set apart for the honour of the celestial gods, and gods of the higher class, were placed on some pretty tall pile of building, and for that reason were called *altaria*, from the words *alta* and *ara*, a high elevated altar. Those appointed for the terrestrial gods were laid on the surface of the earth, and called *arae*. And, on the contrary, they dug into the earth, and opened a pit for those of the infernal gods, which they called *βόθροι, λακκοί, σεροβίτηλα*. But this distinction is not everywhere observed: the best authors frequently use *ara* as a general word, under which are included the altars of the celestial and infernal, as well as those of the terrestrial gods. The Greeks also distinguished two sorts of altars; that whereon they sacrificed to the gods was called βασιλεύς, and was a real altar, different from the other whereon they sacrificed to the heroes, which was smaller, and called εργάσιον. Pollux makes this distinction of altars in his Onomasticon; he adds, however, that some poets used the word εργάσιον for the altar whereon sacrifice was offered to the gods. The Septuagint version does sometimes also use the word εργάσιον for a sort of little low altar, which may be expressed in Latin by craticula, being a hearth rather than an altar.

Before temples were in use, altars were erected sometimes in groves, sometimes in the highways, and sometimes on the tops of mountains; and it was a custom to engrave upon them the name, ensign, or character of the deity to whom they were consecrated.

In the great temples of ancient Rome, there were generally three altars. The first was placed in the sanctuary, at the foot of the statue of the divinity, upon which incense was burnt and libations offered; the second was before the gate of the temple, and upon it they sacrificed the victims; the third was a portable altar or table, upon which were placed the offering and the sacred vessels. Besides these uses of altars, the ancients swore upon them, and swore by them, in making alliances, confirming treaties of peace, and on other solemn occasions. Altars also served as places of refuge for all those who fled to them.

The first altar we read of in the Bible was that erected by Noah on leaving the ark. According to a Rabbinical legend, it was partly formed from the remains of one built by Adam on his expulsion from Paradise, and afterwards used by Cain and Abel, on the identical spot where Abraham prepared to offer up Isaac (Zohar, Ia Gen. fol. 51, 3, 4; Targum, Jonathan, Gen. viii. 20). After the giving of the law, the Israelites were commanded to make an altar of earth: they were also permitted to employ stones, but no iron tool was to be applied to them. This has been generally understood as an interdiction of sculpture, in order to guard against a violation of the second commandment. Altars were frequently built on high places (βασιλεύς); the word being used not only for the elevated spots, but for the sacrificial structures upon them. They were sometimes built on the roofs of houses; in 2 Kings xxiii. 12, we read of the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz. In the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, two altars were erected, one for sacrifices, the other for incense: the table for the show-bread is also sometimes called an altar.

The altar of burnt-offering belonging to the tabernacle was a hollow square, 5 cubits in length and breadth, and 3 cubits in height; it was made of shittim-wood, and overlaid with plates of brass. In the middle there was a ledge or projection, deambulacrum, on which the priest stood while officiating; immediately below this, a brass grating was let down into the altar to support the fire, with four rings attached, through which poles were passed when the altar was removed. As the priests were forbidden to go up by steps to the altar (Exod. xx. 26), a slope of earth was probably made rising to a level with the deambulacrum. According to the Jewish tradition this was on the south side; on the east was 'the place of the ashes' (Lev. i. 16); and the layer of brass was probably near the western side, so that only the north and south sides were left.

The altar of burnt-offering in Solomon's temple was of much larger dimensions, "twenty cubits in length and breadth, and ten in height" (2 Chron. iv. 1), and was made entirely of brass.

Of the altar of burnt-offering in the second temple, the canonical Scriptures give us no information excepting that it was erected before the foundation of the temple was laid (Ezra iii. 3, 6) on the same place where it had formerly been built. (Joseph. Antiq. xi. 4, 1). From the Apocrypha, however, we may infer that it was made, not of brass, but of unhewn stone, for it is said, "They took whole stones (ἀλυτρὸν ἀλυτρόν), according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former" (1 Mace. iv. 47).

The altar of burnt-offering erected by Herod is thus described by Josephus (De Bell. Jud. v. 5, 6): "Before this temple stood the altar, 15 cubits high, and equal both in length and breadth, each of which dimensions was 50 cubits. The figure it was built in was a square; it had corners like horns, and the passage up to it was by an insensible acclivity from the south. It was formed without any iron tool, nor did any iron tool so much as touch it at any time." A pipe was connected with the south-west horn, through which the blood of the victims was discharged by a subterraneous passage into the brook Kidron. Under the altar was a cavity to receive the drink-offerings, which was covered with a marble slab, and cleansed from time to time. On the north side of the altar several iron rings were fixed to fasten the victims. Lastly, a red line was drawn round the middle of the altar to distinguish between the blood that was to be sprinkled above and below it.

The second altar belonging to the Jewish worship was the altar of incense, called also the golden altar (Numb. iv. 11). It was placed between the table of show-bread and the golden candlestick, in the most holy place.

This altar in the tabernacle was made of shittim-wood overlaid with gold plates, 1 cubit in length and breadth, and 2 cubits in height. It had horns of the same materials; and round the flat surface was a border of wrought gold, underneath which were the rings to receive "the staves made of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold to bear it withal," Exod. xxx. 1-5 (Joseph. Antiq. iii. 6, 8).

The altar in Solomon's temple was similar, but made of cedar, overlaid with gold.

The altar in the second temple was taken away by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Macc. i. 23), and restored by Judas Macabeus (1 Macc. iv. 49). On the arch of Titus there appears no altar of incense; it is not mentioned in Heb. ix., nor by Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 4, 4. (vide Tholuck On the Hebrews, vol. ii. p. 8; Biblical Cabinet, vol. xxxix.) (Winer's Real-Encyclopädie, articles "Altar," "Brandopfer altar," "Rauchaltar;" Bahr's Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus, bd. 1. Heidelberg, 1837.)

The altar or table of show-bread, which stood in the outer apartment of the tabernacle, was made of shittim-wood, covered with laminae of gold, and was 2 cubits long, 1 broad, and 1½ high. The top of its leaf was surrounded by a rim of gold; the frame, immediately below the leaf, was surrounded by a piece of wood about 4 inches broad, around which was a similar border of gold; and lower down, attached to the legs, were four golden rings for the staves covered with gold by which it was carried. These rings were not found in the table afterwards made for the temple, nor in any of the sacred furniture where they had previously been, except in the ark of the covenant. Upon this table were placed twelve unleavened loaves (in allusion to the twelve tribes), which were changed every Sabbath-day, and sprinkled with frankincense (the Sept. adds salt). The bread was called the "bread of the presence," because it was set forth before Jehovah in his holy place. Wine was also placed before the table, in bowls, covered vessels, and cups, which were probably used in making libations. (Exod. xxv. xxxvii. xl. Lev. xxiv.; Numb. iv.)

Forms of Altars.—The direction to the Israelites, at the time of their leaving Egypt, to construct their altars of unhewn stones or of earth, is doubtless to be understood as an injunction to follow the usage of their patriarchal ancestors; and not to adopt the customs which they had seen in Egypt, or might see in the land of Canaan. That the patriarchal altars were of unhewn stones or of earth, is confirmed by the circumstances under which they were erected, and by the fact that they are always described as being "built."

It may be observed that all the Oriental altars are square or oblong, whereas those of Greece and Rome are more usually round; and that, upon the whole, the Hebrew altars were in accordance with the general Oriental type. It has been supposed that some of those ancient monuments of unhewn stone usually called Druidical remains, were derived from the altars of primitive times; but the ablest archaeologists are of opinion that these structures were seldom, if ever, used as altars, but were merely depositories of the dead; an opinion which is strengthened by the fact that human remains are usually found on excavating below them.—See Worsaae's Scandinavian Antiquities.

Altar is also used among Christians for the communion-table. In the primitive church the altars were only of wood, it being frequently necessary to remove them from place to place; but the council of Paris in 509 decreed that no altar should be built but of stone. At first there was but one altar in each church, but the number soon increased; and from the writings of Gregory the Great, who lived in the sixth century, we learn that there were sometimes in the same church twelve or thirteen. In the cathedral of Magdeburg there are no less than forty-nine altars.

The altar is sometimes sustained on a single column, as in the subterraneous chapels of St Cecilia at Rome, &c.; and sometimes on four columns, as the altar of St Sebastian of Crypta Arenaria; but the customary form is a massive frame of stone-work sustaining the altar-table. These altars bear a resemblance to tombs; consequently we read in ecclesiastical history that the primitive Christians chiefly held their meetings at the tombs of the martyrs, and celebrated the mysteries of religion upon them; for which reason it is a standing rule to this day in the church of Rome, never to build an altar without inclosing the relics of some saint in it.