RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE. where preliminary devotions were performed ere the precincts were entered. 1 Traces of high places, sanctuaries open to the sky, abound on the plateau and several points of this district; of which half a dozen or so, borrowed from M. Ramsay, are reproduced here. A ledge and a niche oc- cur above the altar of the first of these (Fig. 102) ; the latter was meant, per- haps, to receive a . lamp or a statuette, and might be taken for the altar of a Roman Ca- tholic chapel. Per contra, the terminal form of the altars (Figs. I03 2 -i05) is J&> <^fc' : ' 4Si^i " !.' -^ il ai/l ;^ j i FIG. 103. Rock-cut altar. FIG. 104. Rock-cut altar. 1 M. Ramsay at first mistook the sinking which may be seen behind the altar for a mortuary bed. But on a subsequent visit he discovered that what he had taken for a funereal trough was in reality a grave made to receive the stones of the lower course (Hell. Studies, p. n). a The bcetulus and the lower steps of this altar are broken away. VOL. I. L
