Handbook of archaeology, Egyptian - Greek - Etruscan - Roman . s bear great resemblance to oneanother in these two kinds of monuments ; but the remains of thesoldering of the statues which they bore, or the holes which servedto fix them, can be observed in the pedestals. Egyptian.—Egyptian altars are generally in green basalt and ingranite, and made of a single stone. An altar in the British Museumshows the trench for carrying off the libation. An altar was usuallyerected before a tomb for presenting the offerings. Grecian.—Grecian altars, at first of wood, afterwards of stone, andsometimes of
Handbook of archaeology, Egyptian - Greek - Etruscan - Roman . s bear great resemblance to oneanother in these two kinds of monuments ; but the remains of thesoldering of the statues which they bore, or the holes which servedto fix them, can be observed in the pedestals. Egyptian.—Egyptian altars are generally in green basalt and ingranite, and made of a single stone. An altar in the British Museumshows the trench for carrying off the libation. An altar was usuallyerected before a tomb for presenting the offerings. Grecian.—Grecian altars, at first of wood, afterwards of stone, andsometimes of metal, are in general remarkable for the taste exhibitedin their execution. These altars were of three kinds: those -dedi-cated to the heavenly gods (/?<u/xoi) were often structures of con-siderable height; those of demigwls^aidJieroes were low and nearthe ground CeV^apat) ; and those of the infernal deities (if such maybe called altars) were trendies sunk in the ground (fioOpos Aa/c/cos).They may again be divided into three ^classes: those_for burnt. 38 HANDBOOK OF ARCHEOLOGY. offerings (^Trvpot); those on which no fire was used, which weremeant for offerings of fruit, cakes, etc., () ; and those on whichfire might be used to consume vegetable productions, but upon wjiichno blood was to be spilt (drat/xaKToi); when dedicated to either of thelatter classes it was often nothing more than a raised hearth or temple usually had two altars ; one in the open air before it, forburnt offerings, another before the statue of the god to whom thebuilding was sacred. Altars were often erected where there was notemple. The altars placed in the temples were of different forms,square, circular, or triangular, of brick or of stone; they never weretoo high, so as to conceal the statue of the god. The altars destinedfor libations were hollow, the others solid. They were often madeof marble, and elegantly sculptured; they were omamejiteii-witli_ olive leaves for Minerva,
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