Monday, May 31, 2004
Houses
From the beginning of the Iron Age (1200 BCE) until the Babylonian Exile (586 BCE), two major types dominated Israelite domestic architecture: the larger is usually called the “four-room house,” the smaller, the “three-room house.”
In the four-room house, there was a back room the width of the building with three long rooms stemming forward from it. Most houses were two stories high, although two and three-room, one-story houses are also found. The lower part of the wall was constructed of stone and the upper part of adobe brick or wood and was plastered with lime. The flat roofs were made of wooden beams filled in with dried mud and brushwood and, in the larger houses, were supported by rows of stone columns. The inhabitants generally lived in the upper story, although in the hot weather the roofs were used for sleeping. According to Deut. 22:8, a parapet was to be built around the roof as a safety precaution.
In the Hellenistic (333-63 BCE) and Roman (63 BCE-324 CE) periods marked changes in architecture occurred under Western influence. As yet there is little information about the houses of the common people.
The base rock of the hill country of Palestine is limestone; this is the normal building stone for that area.
Timber was also a plentiful commodity in Palestine (Jos. 17:15, 18). Royal buildings were constructed and decorated with expensive woods such as cedar and fir (1 Ki. 5:6, 8) imported from Lebanon, almug (1 Ki. 10:11-12) from Ophir and the local olive (1 Ki. 6:23, 31, 33). General work was normally done with the most suitable local wood, which may have been sycamore (Is. 9:10), pine or oak.
Baked bricks and tiles were not used except in special circumstances before the Roman period in Palestine, and even then only by the wealthy. The use of (dried) mudbricks was much more common.
Some features of houses:
In the four-room house, there was a back room the width of the building with three long rooms stemming forward from it. Most houses were two stories high, although two and three-room, one-story houses are also found. The lower part of the wall was constructed of stone and the upper part of adobe brick or wood and was plastered with lime. The flat roofs were made of wooden beams filled in with dried mud and brushwood and, in the larger houses, were supported by rows of stone columns. The inhabitants generally lived in the upper story, although in the hot weather the roofs were used for sleeping. According to Deut. 22:8, a parapet was to be built around the roof as a safety precaution.
In the Hellenistic (333-63 BCE) and Roman (63 BCE-324 CE) periods marked changes in architecture occurred under Western influence. As yet there is little information about the houses of the common people.
The base rock of the hill country of Palestine is limestone; this is the normal building stone for that area.
Timber was also a plentiful commodity in Palestine (Jos. 17:15, 18). Royal buildings were constructed and decorated with expensive woods such as cedar and fir (1 Ki. 5:6, 8) imported from Lebanon, almug (1 Ki. 10:11-12) from Ophir and the local olive (1 Ki. 6:23, 31, 33). General work was normally done with the most suitable local wood, which may have been sycamore (Is. 9:10), pine or oak.
Baked bricks and tiles were not used except in special circumstances before the Roman period in Palestine, and even then only by the wealthy. The use of (dried) mudbricks was much more common.
Some features of houses:
- Foundations. Bedrock was preferred for major construction, but if such were not available the next best was a solid stone platform constructed of layers of blocks of stone closely fitted. Cf the importance of solid foundations - due to the danger of floods, earthquakes (Palestine is a seismic zone), high winds - in e.g. Matthew 7:24ff.
- Cornerstone. The large stone placed in the foundation at the principal corner of a building.
- Stairs. Stairs were most common as a device for reaching the second floor or roof of a house. Sometimes they were external (cf Ez 41:7 and perhaps Matthew 24:17, do not waste time going down into the house from the top).
- Roof. Simple roof construction usually comprised a horizontal bed of branches or beams, sometimes supported by columns, on which layers of earth or limestone plaster were laid. They weathered into decay in rainy season conditions and needed to be restored in dry season weather to endure (cf Qo 10:18). The roof was used as storage, hiding space (Josh. 2:6-8), observation platform (2 Sam 11:2, David sees Bathsheba from the roof), space for shrines to foreign gods (2 Ki 23:12). In the NT, used as a proclamation place (Lk 12:3), praying space (Peter went up on the roof to pray, Acts 10:9).
- Doors. They could be bolted shut (cf Matthew 6:6 - shut the door of your room when you pray, Lk 13:25 - stand at the [narrow] door and knock asking to enter), both with horizontal and vertical bolt locks. They were sometimes reinforced with iron, carved or otherwise decorated, and, as with gates in city walls, were the most vulnerable point in the building’s perimeter when under assault. They had hinges (Prov 26:14). Scripture was to be written on doorposts (Deut 6:9).
- Windows. Few references found. Cf Josh 2:15, Rahab lets the spies down by a rope through the window; 1 Ki 6:4, the Temple had "windows with recessed frames", see also Ez 40:16; Acts 20:9, Eutychus falls from the window at the third floor and is then resurrected by Paul.
