Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and worship are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship. Today they are used particularly in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, as well as in Neopaganism and Ceremonial Magic. Judaism used such a structure until the destruction of the Second Temple. Many historical faiths also made use of them, including Greek and Norse religion.

Antiquity

Hebrew Bible

Altars (Hebrew: מזבח‎, mizbe'ah, "a place of slaughter or sacrifice") in the Hebrew Bible were typically made of earth or unwrought stone. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places. The first altar recorded in the Hebrew Bible is that erected by Noah. Altars were erected by Abraham, by Isaac, by Jacob, and by Moses, (Adonai-nissi).

After the theophany on Mount Sinai, in the Tabernacle—and afterwards in the Temple—only two altars were used: the Altar of Burnt Offering, and the Altar of Incense.

Revenge

Revenge is a form of primitive justice usually assumed to be enacted in the absence of the norms of formal law and jurisprudence. Often, revenge is defined as being a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is used to right a wrong by going outside of the law. This is because the individual taking revenge feels as though the law will not do justice. Revenge is also known as payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized as a form of justice (not to be confused with retributive justice), an altruistic action which enforces societal or moral justice aside from the legal system. Francis Bacon described it as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law [and] putteth the law out of office". Primitive justice or retributive justice is often differentiated from more formal and refined forms of justice such as distributive justice and theological justice.

Function in society

Detractors argue that revenge is simply wrong, of the same design as "two wrongs make a right".

Triumph

The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectly from the Roman one.

Triumph may refer to:

Business

Entertainment