ARA
It is a space, at least ideally limited, on which a sacrifice is offered to the deity; that is, the offerings destined for the deity are placed there, and often consumed. It is the table of both bloody and bloodless sacrifice, always distinct from the person and image of the god. For this reason it holds great importance in worship, because an altar can exist without a temple, but not a temple without an altar. It serves for the worship of the gods or for that of the dead. It possesses a character of sanctity, and from this derives the practice of receiving immunity by grasping the altar or taking refuge near or upon II.
It is rarely made of wood; sometimes of clods of earth (Rome, for the rural deities), generally of stone; altars of horns have also existed (κεράννος βωμός: altar of Apollo at Delos and at Dero in Crete). In shape it often imitates the table of men: it can be a mat on which bread and drink are placed (predynastic Egypt), or a smoothed boulder with hollows made in it (megalithic culture, older strata of Canaan), or a block cut like a die from the rock (Phrygia). In general the altar was of bricks or mortared stones, sometimes with steps or a platform, so that the crowd could follow the sacrifice. On the altar were sometimes left
ARA. - Greek cylindrical altar. Hellenistic period. Venice, Archaeological Museum.
the ashes of the sacrifice, forming an altar of ashes (altar of Zeus at Olympia). Particular to Italy, especially in Etruria, is the altar with plinths and bulls separated by a deep groove. The altar was also used to enclose the ashes of the dead.
ARA
A Greek personification of the curse (ἀρά), hence a goddess of vengeance, not unlike the Furies. A temple of A. in Athens is mentioned by Aristophanes.