ALTARS AND SACRIFICES. 365 
ASSYRIAN ALTARS. 
We know the shape of the Assyrian altars in the time of Assurnazirpal from the 
one in the British Museum (Layard, “Monuments,” 11, plate 4) found at Nimrud 
(fig. 1253). Very similar is a later one of the time of Sargon, found at Khorsabad 
(Botta, plate 157). It differs from that of Assurnazirpal in having no hole in the 
round table at the top. A similar one, still preserving the name of Sargon, I saw 
in 1884 in a small village between Khorsabad and Mosul. These altars, of ala- 
baster, I believe, could hardly have been used for burning a sacrifice. 
fil 
SS 
! 
LA 
= 
NG 
E 

1254 1255 
Taking this as perhaps the typical shape of the altar at the time of the Assyrian 
Empire, with its round table on a heavy triangular base, we must yet remember that 
in the Hebrew worship the offering for Jehovah could be put either upon an altar 
(mizbach) or a table (shulchan). On the former a variety of offerings could be made, 
of animals, oil, flour, incense, etc.; and large or small altars were in use, as required 
by the nature of the sacrifice; while the table was reserved for cakes (shewbread) 
which were not burned or saturated with oil. So we find tables set before the gods 
in the earlier and later periods of the Mesopotamian history, and even stands for 
the support of vases supposed to be supplied with some sort of brewage from which 
the gods drink. Whether these are to be considered 
as representing offerings to the gods, or simply the 
gods in the act of feasting in their divine abode, may 
not be always clear; but there are instances where 
the table serves the place of an altar set before the 
gods. Such is the case in fig. 1254, although no offer- 
ing is upon it; but it stands between the worshiper 
and the two emblems of the deities, one of which 
represents Sin, while the other is uncertain. This 
belongs to the period of the later Babylonian Empire. 1256 
Here the table is a stand with three legs, a simple column and a broad top. Much 
more frequent is the table, of the Assyrian period—in fig. 1255 a four-legged table 
with the legs jointed and crossed, to fold up, and on it cakes and a drinking dish, 
and we may presume the fish, as its presence on the table is not unusual. In fig. 
1256 there is a swan on the altar. 
It is not always clear whether the table form is meant for human use or for the 
refreshment of the god. Thus in Place, “Ninive et l’Assyrie,”’ plate Lvir, 2, the 
king and queen sit under an arbor before a table heaped with food and are drink- 
ing from cups. But in fig. 1 of the same plate the king pours out a libation over 
slaughtered lions, evidently an act of worship, and before him is just such a table 

