(Wilkinson, ii, 197; Birch, i, 19; see Aristoph. Av. 1133, AlyvnTiog ir\n/6o(p6pog ; Exod. v, 17, 18). En- closures of gardens or granaries, sacred circuits encom- passing the courts of temples, walls of fortifications and towns, dwelling-houses and tombs, in short, all but the temples themselves, were of crude brick ; and ro great was the demand that the Egyptian govern- ment, observing the profit which would accrue from a monopoly of them, undertook to supply the public at a moderate price, thus preventing all unauthorized per- sons from engaging in the manufacture. And in or- der the more effectually to obtain this end, the seal of the king or of some privileged person was stamped upon the bricks at the time they were made. This fact, though not positively mentioned by any ancient author, is inferred from finding bricks so marked both in public and private buildings ; some having the ovals of a king, and some the name and titles of a priest, or other influential person ; and it is probable that these which bear no characters belonged to individuals who had obtained a license or permission from the govern- ment to fabricate them for their own consumption. The employment of numerous captives who worked as slaves enabled the government to sell the bricks at a lower price than those who had recourse solely to free labor ; so that, without the necessity of a prohibition, thej' speedily became an exclusive manufacture ; and we find that, independent of native laborers, a great many foreigners were constantly engaged in the brick- fields at Thebes and other parts of Egypt. The Jews, of course, were not excluded from this drudgery ; and, like the captives detained in the Thebaid, they were condemned to the same labor in Lower Egypt. They erected granaries, treasure-cities, and other public buildings for the Egyptian monarch : the materials used in their construction were the work of their hands ; and the constant employment of brick-makers may be
BRICK 8!
accounted for by the extensive supply required and kept by the government for sale (Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii, 97, 98). See Bondage.
Captive foreigners being thus found engaged in brick-making, Biblical illustrators (c. g. Hawkes, Egypt and its Monuments, p. 225 sq.), with their usual alacrity, jumped to the conclusion that these captive foreigners were Jews, and that the scenes represented were those of their actual operations in Egypt. Sir J. G. Wilkinson satisfactorily disposes of this inference by the following remark : " To meet with Hebrews in the sculptures cannot reasonably be expected, since the remains in that part of Egypt where they lived have not been preserved ; but it is curious to discover other foreign captives occupied in the same manner, and overlooked by similar 'task-masters,' and per- forming the very same labors as the Israelites described in the Bible ; and no one can look at the paintings of Thebes representing brick-makers without a feeling
of the highest interest It is scarcely fair to
argue that, because the Jews made bricks, and the persons here introduced are so engaged, they must necessarily be Jews, since the Egyptians and their captives are constantly required to perform the same task ; and the great quantity made at all times may be justly inferred from the number of buildings which still remain constructed of these materials ; but it is worthy of remark that more bricks bearing the name of Thotmes III (who is supposed [by some] to have been the king at the time of the Erode) hare been discovered than at any other period, owing to the many prisoners of Asiatic nations employed by him, independent of his Hebrew captives." See Exode.
The process of manufacture indicated by the repre- sentations in the foregoing cuts does not materially differ from that which is still followed in the same country. The clay was brought in baskets from the Nile, thrown into a heap, thoroughly saturated with water, and worked up to a proper temper by the feet of the laborers. And here it is observable that the watering and tempering of the clay is performed en- tirely by the light-colored laborers, who are the cap- tives, the Egyptians being always painted red. This labor in such a climate must have been very fatiguing and unwholesome, and it consequently appears to have been shunned by the native Egyptians. There is an allusion to the severity of this labor in Nahuni iii, 14, 15. The clay, when tempered, was cut by an instru- ment somewhat resembling the agricultural hoe, and moulded in an oblong trough; the bricks were then dried in the sun, and some, from their color, appear to have been baked or burned, but no trace of this opera- tion has yet been discovered in the monuments (Dr. W. C. Taylor's Bible Illustrated, p. 82). The writer just cited makes the following pertinent remarks on the oijder of the king that the Israelites should collect the straw with which to compact (not burn) their bricks : " It is evident that Pharaoh did not require a physical impossibility, because the Egyptian reapers only cut away the tops of the grain. See Agricul- ture. We must remember that the tyrannical Pha- raoh issued his orders prohibiting the supply of straw about two months before the time of harvest. If, therefore, the straw had not been usually left stand- ing in the fields, he would have shown himself an idiot as well as a tyrant; but the narrative shows us that the Israelites found the stems of the last year's harvest standing in the fields ; for by the word 'stubble' (Exod. v, 12) the historian clearly means the stalks that remained from the last j'ear's harvest. Still, the demand that they should com- plete their tale of bricks was one that scarcely could be fulfilled, and the conduct of Pharaoh on this occa- sion is a perfect specimen of Oriental despotism." — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v. See Egypt.