Exodus 27:2

the horns of it these were an indispensable part of an altar (cf. Exodus 30:2-3), and were regarded as its most sacred part: the blood of the sin-offering was applied to them (Exodus 29:12 [" Leviticus 8:15]; Leviticus 4:25; Leviticus 4:30; Leviticus 4:34; Leviticus 9:9; Leviticus 16:18; Ezekiel 43:20; and on the horns of the altar of incense, Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 4:18); a criminal seeking asylum seized

The Altar of Burnt-offering.

From Hastings" Dict. of the Bible, iv. 658.

hold of them (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28); see also Amos 3:14; Jeremiah 17:1; Psalms 118:27. The length of the horns is not specified: in the great altar of Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 43:13-17), which however was 12 cubits (=18 ft.) square, and, with its bases, rose to a height of 11 cubits (16 ½ ft.) from the ground, they were, according to v.15 LXX., a cubit (1 ½ ft.) long: in the altar of burnt-offering they would, if of the same proportion, be about 7 in. long. Horns are occasionally found similarly on Greek altars: A. J. Evans, also, in Mycenœan Tree and Pillar Cult(1901), pp. 37 40, mentions several bas-reliefs representing them found at Mycenae and in Crete; and there is a good Semitic example on the stelè from Teima, about 250 miles S.E. of Edom (see Perrot and Chipiez, Art in Sardinia, Judœa, &c. i. 304; and for the inscription Cooke, N.-Sem. Inscriptions, p. 195 ff.). The origin of the symbolism is uncertain; and different theories have been propounded (see DB.i. 77 a, iv. 658 a; EB.i. 124; Benz. 2 321): perhaps the most probable is that of Evans (cf. Rel. Sem.2 [204] 436; and Bä.), that they are conventionalized representatives of the horns of sacrificed oxen: -the setting of the horns of slaughtered animals before the cult-image or upon the altar is a very familiar usage of primitive worship" (Evans, op. cit.p. 39).

[204] W. R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites, ed. 2, 1894.

brass copper or bronze. So in the sequel.