In the villages there is usually a court attached to the house, m which the cattle, sheep, and goats are penned ; and in towns they are all brought within the walls and penned in courts and cellars belonging to the houses.
The monuments of Assyria and Egypt represent the houses much as they appear at present (Layard, Nineveh ; Wilkinson, Ancient Eriyptians).
In examining the ruins of ancient cities east of the Jordan, one is much struck with the promin- ence of the temples and the complete effacement of the private dwellings, showing that the latter were built of materials that have readily decayed. This had been noticed elsewhere ; and even at Athens in the time of Pericles, foreigners were struck by the contrast between the splendour of the public build- ings and the mean dwellings of the common people (Thuc. ii. 14, 65 : Diraearch, Stat. Grmc. p. 8).
The most striking peculiarity in the aspect of houses at the present day is their blank and desolate appearance from the outside : streets 8 ft. or less in width, houses 40 to 60 ft. higli, with blank stone walls and little ornament of any kind.
except the door and the projecting window over It all peeping into which is jealously guarded againsi by the wooden lattice which lills up the window aperture ; it is jiierceil with holes, anil often elabor' ately carved. 1 ho doorways and the doors are oflon highly ornamented (Is 54'-', Kev 21'-') and enriched with arabesques, and have sentences from the Kunhi iiiseribeil on them (cf. Dt6''). The dooisure usually of bard wood, studded with irou nails oi
CARVFn nnnsF-nnnR of n^ grant's corrAOi
(.MT. l,KH.\NO.S).
slieeted with iron, opening inwards, and furnished with bars and bolts. They are fastened with wooden locks, and wooden keys are required, often of enormous size, large enough for a stout club (Is 22-'- ; Land and the Book, i. 493). There is an opening in the door to insert the hand and key from tlie outside, the lock being on the inside (.see below, Lock and Key). On entering the gate there is usually a porch or vestibule with a long stone bench for the doorkeeper and servants, where the master of the house receives visits and transacts business (Gn 19' 23'" 34™, Job 29' may serve to illustrate this custom, although in these passages it is the gate of a city, not the door of a house, that is referred to). This porch is separated from the chambers within by a twisted passage, so that a view inside cannot be obtained from it. The house is built round one or more courts according to the wealth of the family, each room opening into the court, and seldom one into the other; there is a verandak round the court. In the larger houses at Damascus there are often several courts, all fitted up ^vith great magnificence, the floors paved with marble, the walls lined with faience, the ceilings have carved ornaments and tracery and are painted in gay colours, and ornamented wooden screens separate the several chambers.
In towns there are generally two or more storeys, and on each floor the chambers open on to a common balcony running round the inside of the court, with a staircase open to the sky, usually in a comer of the court.
The passage from the entrance doorway leads into the court, which is usually paved with marble or flagging, and may have in the centre a well (2 S 17"*) or a fountain, with citron and (irange
HOUSE
HOUSE
433
trees around, aud overhead an awning may be Btrutclied to keep off the sun.
As it is customary for the married sons to remain under tlieir parents roofs and bring up families, a house may often have forty or fifty inmates ex- clusive of the servants and slaves.
Opening into the first court on the ground floor, in smaller houses, are the principal apartments, the women's apartments bein^ either in an inner court or on the floor above ; out in larger houses where there are several courts, the first floor of the first court is used for the reception rooms, one large chamber being specially reserved for entertaining guests, who are treated with great honour (Lk 22'-, Ac 1" 9" 20"). In addition to the guest-chamber of the house, in every Ullage or encampment there is a public guest-room for entertainment of strangers, kept up at the expense of the inhabitants (cf. Gn 18', Ex 2'», Jg 13"> 19'"). In wealthy houses the prin- cipal reception chamber opening into the flrst court is highly ornamented, paved with marble, with a fountain, and at the farther end the floor is raised and called the Uivan, with a divan miming round the sides, formed of mattresses and cushions covered with carpets. The ceilings and walls are elaborately ornamented and brilliantly painted (Jer 22" of a palace).
Moslems drop the slipper or shoe at the door when they enter an inner room or step on to the liwan. And this is necessary both for comfort and cleanliness, as they sit with their feet tucked under them ; but it would not be safe to a.'isume that this custom prevailed among the Hebrews in early days in private life, though it was their custom so far as sacred ground was concerned (Ex 3°, Jos 5", Lk 7"). There is no clear indication of the Hebrews before the Captivity having used a divan on a raised liwan, and the words signifying 'seats' in the Hebrew do not throw much light on the subject. The ancient Egyptians are shown in one picture squatting on the ground at dinner (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. i. 58, 181). A bas-relief on the walls of Khorsabad represents the guests seated on high chairs at a festival (Layard, Niiicve/t, ii. 411).