John Patrick and F. Relton.
ROOF (J;, perliaps from a root meaning ' to cover,' .Tiip [once, Gn 19'*, tr^ ' roof,' lit. ' beam '], Tin [' roof of the mouth '] ; trriyr)). — The most con- venient form of roof for domestic purposes in a dwelling-house is undoubtedly a flat one ; but the form of roof from the earliest times has probably been governed by a variety of factors, of which tlie most important are the materials procurable near the spot and the climatic conditions.
In northern climates, where wood is plentiful and the snowfall is heavj', a high-pitched roof of thatch or shingle can be readily made, and is a necessity. All around the shores of the Mediter- ranean Sea, where there is no snow and slight rainfall, and where timber can be procured, the most convenient form of roof can be economically constructed, and that is a liat one of some sub- stance impervious to water. In more tropical climates, where the rains are exceedingly heavy and sudden, and the houses are for the most part of wood, the roofs again are usually high-pitched, and of thatch or leaves. In countries, such as Chakla-a, where there is little or no wood, the storehouses and places where dryness is neces- sary are built with thick w;ills and vaults with Hat roofs or masonry domes, and for the same reason the hou.'^es of modern Jerusalem are built with thick walls and domes. The houses other- wise in Assyria-Chaldaja are flat-roofed.
In Egypt, where timber is scarce, but where
stone is plentiful, the roofs are usually flat, the roofs of tlie peasants' houses being usually lightly constructed, and resting on palm beams, while the temples and palaces were roofed with stone.
Probably from the earliest times the same forms of roof have obtained in the same parts of the world, e-xcept that local circumstances have here and there interfered. For the buildings of Nineveh and liabj'lon, as well as for Jerusalem, the cedars of Lebanon were made use of. In Jerusalem, in early days, the roofs were flat, and the scarcity of timber, necessitating domed roofs, appears to have been first felt after the siege of the Iloly Citj' by Titus. In early days in Greece the roofs were flat, and it was customary to walk ujion them. But pointed roofs were also used. In Home the solaria, properly phices for basking in the sun, were terraces on the tops of houses. In the time of Seneca the Romans lormed artificial gardens on the tops of their hou.ses, which contained even fruit trees and fish ponds (Smith's Dirt, of Gr. and Horn. Ant., s. ' Domus '). Herodotus (ii. 95) says that the Egyp- tians slept OD the roof in the marshy part of Lower Egyt>t. '^
' Even the bouses of the poor seem generally to have had their courtyards, at the back of which a structure was raised consisting of a single storey etimiountcd by a flat roof, to which access was given by a single staircase ' leading from the court- yard.
' The flat roof seems to have been universal in Egypt ; it added to the accommodation of the
house ; it afl'orded a pleasant rendezvous for the family in the evening, where they enjoyed the view and the fresh breezes which spring up at sunset. At certain seasons they must have slept there. On the other hand, the gianarics, bams, and storeliou>es are almost always dome-shaped.
' The flat roof of the house ha!d a parapet round it, and sometimes a light outer roof supported by slender columns of brilliantly painted wood' (I'errot and Chipiez, i. 36).
Fergusson (Utstury of Architecture, 119) gives an illustration of a three-storeyed dwelling in the Egyptians' own quaint style, ' the upper storey apparently being like those of the Assj-rians, an open gallei'y supported by dwarf columns. In the centre is a staircase leading to the upper storey, and on the left hand an awning supported on wooden pillars, which seems to have been an in- dispensable part of all the better class of houses.' ' In the Yezidi House we see an exact repro- duction in every essential respect of tlie style of building in the d;iys of Sennacherib. Here we have the wooden pillars with bracket capitals, supporting a mass of timber intended to be covered with a thickness of earth sufficient to prevent the rain or heat penetrating to the dwelling. There is no reason to doubt that the houses of the hiunble classes were in former times similar to that here represented ' {ib. 160). In speaking of the palace ot Esarliaddon, Fergu-sson says (ib. 104), ' Had these buildings been con- structed like those of the Egyptians, their remains would probably have been ai)plied to other pur- poses long ago ; but having been overwhelmed so early and forgotten, they have been preserved to our day : nor is it dillictdt to see how this has occurred. The pillars that supported the roof bein'; of wood, probably of cedar, and the beams on the under side of the roof being of the same material, nothinjj was easier than to set them on flre. The fall ot the roofs, which were probably composed, as at the present day, of 6 or 6 ft. of earlii, that being requisite to keep out heat as well as wet, would probably suffice to bury the building up to the height of the .sculpture. The gradual crumbling of the thick walls, lonsemient on their unprotected exjw.sure to the atmos]iliere, would add 3 or 4 ft. to this ; so that it is hardly too much to suppose that green gntss might have been growing on the buried palaces of JJineveh before two or three years had elapsed from the time of their destruction and desolation. When- ever this had taken place, the mounds allurued far too tempting positions not to be speedily occu- pied by the villages of the natives.' We may here remark that the modest dwellings of the Egyptian fellah are often covered by vaults of fris6, that is to say, of compressed or Kneaded clay. None of the ancient monuments of Egj'pt possess such vaults, which are of much less durability than those of stone or brick. We are, however, disposed to believe that they were used in ancient times (Perrot and Chipiez, i. 110).