The Hebrews at a very ancient date, like the Orient- als, had not only summer antl winter rooms (Jer. xxxvi, 22; see Chardin, iv, 119), but palaces (Judg. iii, 20; 1 Kings vii, 2-6; Amos iii, 15). The houses, or palaces so called, made for summer residence, were very spacious. The lower stories were frequently under ground. The front of these buildings faced the north, so as to secure the advantage of the breezes, which in summer blow from that direction. They were supplied with a current of fresh air by means of ventilators, wliich consisted irf perforations made through the ujipcr jiart of the norliu rn wall, of considerable diameter externally, but diminishing in size as they approached the inside of the wall. See
DWKI.LIXG.
Houses for jewels and armor were built and furnished imder the kings (2 Kings xx, 13). The draught-house (nix"irf5; Ko-pwv, lutrinw) was doubtless a public 1 itrine, such as exists in modern Eastern cities (2 Kings x,27; Russell, i, 34).
Leprosy in the liouse was iirobably a nitrous efflores- cence on the walls, which was injurious to the salubrity of the house, and whose removal was therefore strictly
HOUSE
370
HOUSE
enjoined by the law (Lev. xiv, 34, :>5; Kitto, Phys. Georjr. o/7w.p.ll2).
• III. Details of Jhhrew DicMings.—ln inferring the plan and arrangement of ancient Jewish or Oriental houses, as alluded to in Scripture, from existing dwell- ings in Syria, Egypt, and the East in general, allowance must be made for the difference in climate between Egypt, Persia, and Palestine, a cause from which would proceed differences in certain cases of material and con- struction, as well as of domestic arrangement.
1. The houses of the rural poor in Egypt, as well as in most parts of Syria, ^\rabia, and Persia, are for the jaiost part mere huts of mud, or sun-biirnt bricks. In
Hut of I Gieek pea«ant foinitd of mud \m icddnig sticks ind "-ti iw (tioni t ello\\ tt. & i yt ?n )
some parts of Palestine and Arabia stone is used, and in certain districts caves in the rock are used as dwellirgs (Amos V, 1 1 ; Bartlett, Walks, p. 117). See Cave. The houses are usually of one story only, viz. the ground floor, and sometimes contain only one apartment. Sometimes a small court for the cattle is attached; and in some cases the cattle are housed in the same building, or the people live on a raised platform, and the cattle round them on the ground (1 Sam. xxviii, 24 ; Irby and Man- gles, p. 70 ; Jolliffe, Letters, i, 43 ; Buckingham, A rah Tribes, p. 170 ; Burckhardt, Travels, ii, 119). In Lower Egypt the oxen occupy the width of tlie chamber far- thest from the entrance : it is built of brick or mud, about four feet high, and the top is often used as a sleeping- place in winter. The windows are small aiiertures high np in the walls, sometimes grated with wood (Burck- hardt, Travels, i, 241 ; ii, loClll), 301, 329; Lane, Mod. EflUptians, i, 44). The roofs are commonly, but not al- ■\vays, flat, and are usually formed of a plaster of mud and straw laid upon boughs or rafters ; and upon the flat roofs, tents or "booths" of boughs or rushes are often raised to be used as sleeping-places in summer (Irby and
the monuments, in great measure correspond (Layard, ^fon. ofXin. pt. ii, pi. 49, 50 ; Wilkinson, A ncient E'j. i, 13 ; Martincau, East. Life, i, 19, 97). In the towns the houses of the inferior kind do not differ much from the above description, but they are sometimes of more than one story, and the roof-terraces are more carefully construct- ed. In Palestine they are often of stone (Jolliffe, i, 20). In tlie inferior kinds of Oriental dwellings, such as are met with in vUlages and very small towns, there is no central court, but there is generally a shaded platform in front. The village cabins and abodes of the peasant-
Oidiuary Houses at Beyrout. j ry are, of course, of a still inferior description ; and, being the abodes of people who live much in the open air, will not bear comparison with the houses of the same class in Northern Europe, where the cottage is the honie of the owner. (See Jahn, Bihl. Archceol. translated by Prof. Upham, pt. i, ch. ii.)
2. The difference between the poorest houses and those of the class next above them is greater than between these and the houses of the first rank. The prevailing plan of Eastern houses of this class iiresents, as was the case in ancient Eg^-pt, a front of wall, whose blank and
Modem >.'evtoriau House, \\ith stages on the loof foi sleeping.
wrangles, p. 71 ; Niebuhr, Dcscr. p. 49, 53 ; Layard, Kin. and Bab. j). 112 ; Nineveh, 1, 17G ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 280; Travels, \,\9i); Van Egmont, ii, 32 ; Malan, J/t/r/- dala and Bethamj, p. 1 5). To this description the houses of aiacient Egypt, and also of Assyria, as represented in
Front of au ancient Egyptian Kesideucc.
mean appearance
is usuallv relieved onlv bv the door
anil a few latticed and projecting windows {Views iu Stp-ia, ii, 25). The privacy of Oriental domestic hab'ts would render our plan of throwing the front of the house towards the street most repulsive. The doorway or door bears an inscription from the Koran as the ancient I.gyp- tiau houses had inscriptions over their doors, and as the