Altarless

The hypothesis that the cult center was in some such place would explain why it was altarless. It would resemble the cult of Hestia, the sacred Hearth, a cult that was generally housed in public or private buildings and was usually altarless because the sacred fire of the hearth substituted for an altar.

Gradually, the exteriors of stone-mound tumuli took on different shapes, from altarless to altar-equipped and tier-type structures.

But when attending the Quaker service, he still encounters a certain 'special' silence: in the wholly undecorated, altarless room, there is nothing to be heard except 'the crackling of the fireplace and muffled coughing', until, in an odd combination of spontaneity and planning, someone 'moved' by the spirit holds a 'carefully prepared' speech.

The elders silent, glad to hear retold The tales, familiar, of their downthrown gods, Not utterly unloved though altarless.

The goddess altarless, without a throne.

Common Sense, you unpleasant goddess, altarless in ancient Athenian days, why did I not sacrifice to thee instead of cutting strange capers at the base of Parnasus?

In this hour of your triumph, I say this, Say it not only to you But to Zeus and all on Olympus: Think of the altarless Fates

The wandering and altarless homes of this wild people are, as it were, a neutral ground between the lands of the Bible and of the Koran, the traditional customs of which still serve to explain how Jew and Mahometan, members of the same race, while most widely parted in doctrine, may yet maintain the closest union in many important points of the moral and social system.