A dictionary of Greek and Roman . In later times altars were ornamented with fes-toons and garlands of flowers ; and the altar repre-sented in the next cut shows the manner in whichthese festoons were suspended. They were alsoadorned with sculpture ; and some were coveredwith the works of the most celebrated artists ofantiquity. The first cut above exhibits a specimenof the elaborate style, the outline of an Etruscanaltar, in contrast with the unadorned altar. If analtar was erected before a statue of a god, it wasalways to be lower than the statue before which it ARATEIA. was pl
A dictionary of Greek and Roman . In later times altars were ornamented with fes-toons and garlands of flowers ; and the altar repre-sented in the next cut shows the manner in whichthese festoons were suspended. They were alsoadorned with sculpture ; and some were coveredwith the works of the most celebrated artists ofantiquity. The first cut above exhibits a specimenof the elaborate style, the outline of an Etruscanaltar, in contrast with the unadorned altar. If analtar was erected before a statue of a god, it wasalways to be lower than the statue before which it ARATEIA. was placed (Vitruv. iv. 9). Of this we have anexample in a medallion on the Arch of Constantineat Rome, representing an altar erected before astatue of Apollo. See the annexed It was necessary that an altar should be builtin the open air, in order that the steam of thesacrifice might be wafted up to heaven, and itmight be built in any place, as on the side of amountain, on the shore of the sea, or in a sacredgrove. But as the worship of the gods was inlater times chiefly connected with temples, altarsbecame an indispensable part of the latter, andthough there could be altars without temples, therecould hardly be temples without altars. The altarsof burnt-offerings, at which animal sacrifices werepresented, were erected before the temples (fiwfiolTTpovdoi, Aesch. Suppl. 497), as shown in the wood-cut in the article Antae ; but there were alsoaltars, on which incense was burnt and bloodlesssacrifices offered, within the temple, and principallybefore the statue of the divinity to whom they werededicated. All altars were places of refuge. Thesupplicants were considered as placing themselvesunder the protection of the deities to whom thealtars were consecrated ;
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithwilliam18131893, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
