Of the other a* made by Ahaz we know nothing, nor of those set up by later kings (2 K 23'* luc. cit.). As to the a. to Baal which Ahab erected in Samaria (1 K 16'-), we may assume that it re- sembled the a' erected by his Phoen. neighbours to the same deity (cf. Perrot et Chipiez, Hist, de I' Art dans I'Antuj. iii. fig. 192 a.TiA passim).
iv. Post-Deuteronomic Altars. — The sanctu- aries and a", sanctioned, as we have seen, by the oldest law-code, ceased to be legitimate on the adoption of the code of Deut. (Dt 12 ff.). The centralisation of the caitus, which was the chief aim of the Deut. legislation, seems to have been attempted under Hezekiah (2 K 18^), but it must be admitted that the complete abandonment of the local bdmuth was never unfait accompli until after the discipline of the ExUe (1 K 22*», 2 K 15"). In theory, however, the a', whether ' upon the hills and under every green tree,' or at places which had been seats of worship since the conquest, were no longer legitimate ; for sacrifice, as now for the first time officially distinguished from slaughter (Dt 12'^), could only be offered with acceptance on the a. of the central sanctuary at Jerusalem. It is not impossible that, as Conder has suggested (see ref. above), it is to the reforming zeal of Josiah that we owe the fact that not a single dolmen has been met with in S. Pal. (cf. Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 60). The history of the a., therefore, from this time forward is merged in the history of the temple. It must suffice here to note that, as soon as practi- cable, the returned exiles built the a. on its former site (Ezr 3^), which a. continued in use until its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Mac 1"). Having by this act of sacrilege been rendered unfit for further use, it was taken down and another built in its stead (1 Mac 4"'^-). The a. of Herod's temple was the last built on Jewish soil. Accord- ing to Jos. ( iVars, V. v. 6) it was built, in harmony with the ancient prescription, of unhewn stones. One other a. meets us in the history of the Jews ; this is the a. erected by Onias IV. in his temple at Leontopolis in Egypt (Jos. Wars, vil. x. 3 ; yf nt. XIII. iii. 31), founding on a mistaken interpretation of Is igi".
The a. of bumt-ofTering and the a. of incense, which play so important a part in the ritual legis- lation of the Priests' Code (P), will be diseus.sed in detail in the article TABERNACLE. See also Temple.
V. The Altar as Asylum. — An important function of the a. among the Hebrews remains to be
• VV. R. Smith's \iew, that 'it is very doubtful whether tiiere wtu* in the rtrst temple any other brazen a. than the two brazen pillars, Jacliin and Boaz,' is not supported by sufficient evidence. It is, besides, ditticult to see why only one of the two pillars should have had, on this theory, the functions of an a. assij^ned 10 it iRel. Sem. I pp. 358-358, and Not« L. tebB.X
AL-TASHHETH
AMALEK, AIMALEKITES
noticed. The earliest Icfrislation presupposes and oonBrms tlie sanctity of tlie a. as an asylum. The right of asylum, however, is there limited to cases of accidental homicide (Ex 21'^- "). This use of the a., which is not confined to the Sem. peoples, is also a survival of the primitive idea of the a. as the temporary abode of a deity. In clasping the a., the fugitive was placing himself under the im- mediate protection of the deity in question. In this connexion, as well as in regard to an im- portant part of the fully - developed a. ritual (ef. Lv 4**-). the horns of the a. are esteemed the most sacred part of the whole. It is difficult, however, to see how these coulii have formed part of the more ancient a. as prescribed in the Book of the Covenant (see above) ; yet their presence is amply attested in later times (cf. Am 3", Jer 17', and the incidents recorded in I K !*"• 2^). The origin and primary significance of the horns are still obscure. Most recent writers seek to trace a connexion between them and the worship of J" in the form of a young bull (Kuenen, Bel. of Isr. i. 326 ; Stade, Benzinger, Nowack). In any case they are not to be regarded as mere append- ages, but as an integral part of the a. (see Dill- mann on Ex 27^). The view that they were originally projections to which the victims were bound, has no better support than the corrupt passage, Ps US'" (for which see Comm.). The comparison of the ' horns ' of the Heb. with those of tne Greek a. (evKtpao^ fiiaiiU) seems misleading, since the latter rather resembled the volutes of the Ionic capital (cf. art. ara in Daremberg et Saglio, Dktionnaire etc., figs. 410, 418, 422). The famous stele of Teima, on the otlier hand, shows the 'horns' rising from the corners of the a., and curved like those of an ox (see Perrot et Chipiez, op. cit. tome iv. p. 392, Eng. tr. [see below] vol. i. p. 304).