Commentary for Zevachim 122:11

ולבסוף סבור שתיה כאכילה ומאי מזבח אדמה שהוא מחובר באדמה שלא יבננו לא ע"ג כיפים

- There [in the first Temple] the heavenly fire assisted them;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To burn the sacrifices quickly.');">²²</span> here [in the second Temple] it did not assist them. When Rabin came [from Palestine], he said in the name of R'Simeon B'Pazzi: They added the pits [to its structure].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Solomon's Temple there was a pit near the south-west of the altar, into which the altar libations were directly poured. But in the second Temple the altar was extended on the south and the west, so that the place of the pit was incorporated in it, and over against this extension on top of the altar they made holes for the libations to flow' into the pit below.');">²³</span> At first they had thought that an 'altar of earth' meant that it was to be closed in with earth.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Not hollow or perforated in any way.');">²⁴</span> But subsequently they held that drinking must be like eating.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As 'eating' (the consumption of the flesh) was on top of the altar itself, so must 'drinking' (the libations) be on top of the altar itself.');">²⁵</span> and what does 'an altar of earth' mean? that it should be attached to the earth, not built on rocks

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