- Related Topics:
- sacrifice
- ofrenda
- Altarpiece
- retable
- antimension
altar
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What is an altar in religion?
An altar is a raised structure or place used for sacrifice, worship, or prayer in religion. Altars originated when certain places were considered holy, such as trees, springs, or rocks. People believed these places were inhabited by spirits or gods whose intervention could be solicited by the worshiper. Gifts were placed on the altar to please the gods.
Altars can be rudimentary, such as a massive rock or hilltop, or more elaborate, like those in temples. The functions of altars have remained the same in Christian churches for centuries. During Mass, the altar serves as a table to hold a copy of the Bible and the consecrated bread and wine that are distributed to worshipers.
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What are common materials used to make religious altars?
Altars are raised structures used for sacrifice, worship, or prayer in various religions. The materials used to make altars vary across cultures and religions. In primitive religions, a stone, a heap of stones, or an earth mound sufficed. Ancient cultures built more elaborate altars of stone or brick.
Common materials include clay, terra-cotta, stucco-covered sunbaked bricks, fired bricks, wood, and metals. Wood may be plated with bronze and gold. Stone slabs resting horizontally on legs, columns, or lateral supports are also common. The Roman Catholic altar is required to contain a stone.
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How are altars used during religious ceremonies?
Altars are raised structures or places used for sacrifice, worship, or prayer. They originated in locations considered holy, such as trees, springs, or rocks, where people placed gifts to please gods or spirits.
During religious ceremonies, altars serve various functions across different religions:
* Christianity During Mass, altars hold the Bible and consecrated bread and wine and represent the presence of Christ.
* Eastern Orthodox Churches Altars are regarded as tables and are made of wood.
* Japanese Buddhism Butsudans, or Buddhist family altars, contain memorial tablets for ancestors and representations of Buddhist divinities. Incense, candles, and flowers are offered during daily services.
* Ancient Greece Altars were built at entrances, courtyards, marketplaces, public buildings, and sacred groves. Grandiose city altars had continually burning fires, while temple altars were built in front of the temple.4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why are offerings placed on altars?
Altars are raised structures used for sacrifice, worship, or prayer in religion. They originated when certain places were considered holy. Gifts are placed on altars to please or propitiate gods. These gifts can include grain, animals, incense, plants, and flowers. The altar and the sacrifice participate in the sacredness of the act of worship.
Offerings on altars may take the form of sacrifices, which can include burnt offerings. The most common sacrificial weapon is the knife, used to slit the throat of the victim. Also, sacrificial victims are frequently burned or cooked for a communal meal.
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How do altars differ among major world religions?
Altars serve as raised structures or places for sacrifice, worship, or prayer across religions. Their form and function vary considerably:
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Ancient Religions: Altars originated as natural sites like trees or springs considered holy. Early altars were simple stones or earth mounds, evolving into elaborate structures in temples for sacrifice.
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Judaism: Ancient Israelite altars were rectangular stones with basins, featuring "horns" at the corners considered the holiest part. Regular sacrifices occurred daily, weekly, and monthly, with special sacrifices for personal reasons.
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Christianity: Early Christians used tables for the Eucharist, later building wooden and then stone altars in churches. Eastern Orthodox churches maintain wooden altars, while many Protestant churches view the altar as a table.
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Japanese Buddhism: The butsudan is a household altar containing memorial tablets and Buddhist divinities' representations.
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What is the historical significance of altars in religious practice?
Altars originated when certain places were considered holy. Gifts were placed on them to solicit intervention from spirits or gods. Early altars were simple, like a stone or mound of earth. As religions evolved, so did altars, becoming more elaborate structures of stone or brick used for sacrifices in temples.
In ancient Greece, altars were ubiquitous, found in homes, marketplaces, and sacred groves. Christians initially worshipped in private homes without altars, but by the 3rd century CE, the Eucharist table was considered an altar. Today, altars continue to serve as a focal point in religious ceremonies, representing the presence of the divine.
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altar, in religion, a raised structure or place that is used for sacrifice, worship, or prayer.
Altars probably originated when certain localities (a tree, a spring, a rock) came to be regarded as holy or as inhabited by spirits or gods, whose intervention could be solicited by the worshiper. The worshiper’s gifts to propitiate or please the gods were placed on an altar nearby. In primitive religions a stone or heap of stones or a mound of earth probably sufficed for this purpose. With the development of the institution of sacrifice in sanctuaries and temples, more elaborate altars were built of stone or brick on which the victim was killed and its blood channeled off or its flesh burned. The altars used in ancient Israel consisted of a rectangular stone with a basin hollowed out on its top. The four corners of the basin terminated in projections; these “horns” came to be regarded as the altar’s holiest part, so that anyone clinging to them was immune from molestation. The altars used elsewhere in the Middle East ranged from small upright stands for burning incense to the great rectangular stone altars built in Egyptian temples during the period of the New Kingdom.
The ancient Greeks built altars at the entrances and in the courtyards of their houses, in marketplaces and public buildings, and in sacred groves in the countryside. There were grandiose city altars, on which fire continually burned, and temple altars, which were built in front of the temple rather than within it. The great altar of Zeus at Pergamum (now in the Berlin State Museum) has fine examples of the relief sculptures with which the Greeks decorated their altars. Lofty, imposing altars were used for powerful gods such as Zeus or Athena, while lower altars were thought more suitable for such domestic deities as Vesta and Demeter. Roman altars were very similar to those of the Greeks in their ubiquity, their form, and their relief sculptures.
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The earliest Christians used neither temples nor altars in their worship, which was usually conducted in private houses. By the 3rd century ad, however, the table on which the Eucharist was celebrated was regarded as an altar. (The celebration of the Eucharist involves worshipers’ consumption of bread and wine that respectively symbolize the body and blood of Jesus Christ.) When the Christians began to build churches, a wooden altar table was placed in the choir or in the apse. These altars gradually came to be built of stone, and the remains of martyrs were customarily reburied beneath them. In Western churches from as early as the 4th century, the altar was covered by a canopy-like structure, the baldachin, which rested on columns placed around the altar. The altar was further ornamented by an altarpiece (q.v.), a screen or wall behind it covered with paintings or sculptures. During the Middle Ages side altars were built in the larger Western churches so that multiple Masses could be celebrated, sometimes simultaneously.
The functions of the altar have remained the same in Christian churches down the centuries. During Mass, it serves as a table to hold a copy of the Bible and the consecrated bread and wine that are distributed to worshipers. One to three cloths cover the altar, and a cross and candles may be placed on or near it. The altar is the focus of the Mass and represents the presence of Christ during the ceremony.
Eastern Orthodox churches have maintained the early Christian custom of regarding the altar as a table. They use only one altar, and it is made of wood. Many Protestant churches have reduced the altar to the status of a table, or communion table. Reformed and Presbyterian churches tend to emphasize its aspect as a table, while the Lutheran and Anglican traditions generally favour an altar.