ALTAR. The English word altar, meaning "a raised structure on which sacrifices are offered to a deity," derives from the Latin altare ("altar") and may be related to altus ("high"). This ancient meaning has been further verified by the corresponding Classical Greek term bōmos (raised platform, stand, base, altar with a base, i.e., the foundation of the sacrifice). The Latin altaria is, in all likelihood, related to the verb adolere ("to worship"; originally, "to burn, to cause to go up in smoke or odor"), so that the word has come to signify a "place of fire" or "sacrificial hearth."

The Classical World and Ancient near East

The above etymology implies both burnt offerings and incense. Nowhere—neither in ancient Greece or Rome nor anywhere else—is the altar necessarily associated with a temple. It is important to distinguish between house altars and public altars, as well...