They used the housetops to m^ke their public lamentations, and in the villages to proclaiin any neics that required to be promulgated. As the houses had few windows opening to the streets, the people rushed to the roofs to look down upon any processions, and to view what was going on far and near. ' At the present time local governors in country districts cause their commands thus to be published. These proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the people have returned from their labours in the held ; the public crier ascends the highest roof at hand, and lifts up his voice in a long-drawn call upon all faithful subjects to give ear and obey. He then proceeds to announce, in a set form, the will of their master, and to demand obedience thereto.' ' On their housetops, and in their broad places, every one howleth' (Is 15^22'). 'On all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof, there is lamentation ' (Jer 48*"). ' Proclaim upon the house- tops' (Mt 10'^, Lk 123). Eusebius {HE ii. 23) tells us that ' the Pharisees, who had a design upon the life of St. James, bishop of Jerusalem, persuaded him to preach to the people, when assembled at the Passover, from the battlements of the temple, alluding to this oistom of proclaiming from the housetop whatever was to be made known far and wide.'
The roof of the house in the East is used as i* the backyard of European houses ; linen and flax are dried there, also figs, apricots, raisins, and com. ' The ordinary houses have no other place where the inmates can either see the sun, "smeU the air," dry their clothes, set out their flower-pots, or do numfierless other things essential to their health and comfort' {Land and Book, i. 49). Kahab the harlot brought the spies up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of Uax, which she had laid in order about the roof (Jos 2').
The staircase from the roof leads down into the inner court (Mt lU''' 24", Lk 12'). Battlements of
ROOM
KOSE
313
a parapet were enjoined by the law, a very neces- sary precaution, to prevent loss of life from falling over (Dti-i").
Tlie manner in which Samson brought down the roof of the temple of Dagon (Jg 16), upon which about 3000 persons were assembled, by pulling down the two principal pillars, has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. Shaw describes having seen several hundreds of people assembled, on the dey's palace in Algiers, to view an exhibition of wrestlers, and describes how the pulling down of the front or centre pillars would have been attended by a catastrophe similar to that which happened to the I'hilistmes (Shaw, Travels, p. 2S3). Cf. further, Moore, Jiidfjes, ad loc.
The rtat roofs in Syria at the present day are made as follows : Stout beams are first laid across the walls about 2 ft. apart ; crosswise is laid tough brushwood, or, if that cannot be obtained, split wood with matting, and over it a mass of thorny bush in bundles ; upon this is laid a plsLSter of mud or clay mortar, which is well pressed in, and over this a layer of earth 6 to 12 in. thick. This is pla-stered over with mud and straw as a protection against the rain. Each roof requires a little stone roller to be always ready — the handles of wood being movable, and used for all the rollers of the ditlerent roofs ; periodically, and whenever the rain falls, the roller must be used to fill in the cracks and keep the roof compact. Constant care is required to avoid leakage (rr 27'°). During the ?£!> excavations at Jerusalem one of these roof rollers was found in the ancient aqueduct to the west of the temple, where it must have lain for q^uite 1800 years, showing that flat roofs at that time were in use at Jerusalem, though at the present day they are mostly domed roofs of stone, on account of the scarcity of timber. The un- covering of a roof (Mk 2*) of this nature would not be a dillicult matter. See House in vol. ii. p. 432".
l'"or other points connected with the subject of this art. see BRICK, GATE, House, Pavement, Walls.
LiTERATXTRE- — WilldnBOD, Ano. Egypt. ; Fergoisson, Arekitec- turf ; Layard, Sineveh ; Place, Ninivi ; Perrot and Chipiez, ^9i/pf* a'so Chaldoea and Assyria; FEFSt; Thomson. Tke Laiid and the Book. See also Marshall in Expos. March IS&l, p. 8181. ; Ranisav, Was Chrim bom at liethUhemt; E. A Abbott, CJu<(190u), p. 1180. ; and the Oomm. od Mk 2^, Lk b^».
C. Warken. ROOM.— 1. Space to slay in : Gn 24'^ ' Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in ? ' ; so 24.15.81 (^]i [,,p_^ from Dip to rise up, stand; RV adds Is 5' for same Heb., AV 'place'); Ps 31' 'Thou hast set my feet in a large room ' (3rri7, from aOT to be spacious ; KV ' place ') ; Lk 2' ' There was no room for them in the inn,' and 14*^ ' Yet there is room ' (both t-ottos) ; cf. Mai 3'° ' there shall not be room enough to receive it' (no Heb.), Mk 2'^ •So that there was no room to receive them' (fiffre liriKiri xwpf '". RV ' 80 that there was no longer room for them') ; Lk 12" ' I have no room where to be.-itow my fruits ' {ovk fx« "■<>'', RV ' I have not where'). In this sense is the phrase 'make room,' Gn 26*", Pr 18" (both 3m) ; to which IlVm adds 2 Co 7' 'make room for us' (Gr. x^P')''"" i)^lat, AV 'Receive us,' RV 'Open your hearts to us') Similarly Ps 80° 'Thou preparedst room before it' (no Heb.). Cf. Dt .33^ Tind. 'Blessed is the rowmmaker Gad ' (AV ' Blessed be he that enlargelh Gad') ; aod Milton, PL viL 488—