Bōmos (βωμός) refers to an altar — in the New Testament context, specifically a pagan altar. The word appears once in Acts 17:23, where Paul observes an altar in Athens inscribed "To the Unknown God." Unlike the LXX's thusiastērion (used for the God-ordained altar of Israel), bōmos in classical Greek typically referred to pagan altars or high places.
Paul's engagement with the bōmos at Athens (Acts 17:23) is a masterclass in redemptive apologetics. He doesn't mock the pagan altar; he uses it as a bridge: "What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you." This is the Areopagus strategy — finding the half-truths in human religion and filling them with the full truth of Christ. Every human religious impulse (even pagan altar-building) is a misdirected reach for the God who made them.