BABYLONIAN BRICKS.
One of the ancient methods of writing, was on stone or brick, of which, as the earliest example on record, if allowable to be cited, may be adduced that of the two pillars of Seth, the one of brick and the other of stone, said by Josephus to have been erected before the deluge, and to have contained the history of antediluvian arts and sciences. However disputable this account may be, that of the tables of stone on which the decalogue was written by the finger of the Deity, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, can admit of no doubt, no more than can the hieroglyphic characters in the most ancient periods, engraved on the marbles of Egypt, at present so abundant in the collections of Europe, and which remain to this day, and will be, for centuries to come, a lasting proof of the high advance in the engraving art, as well as in chemical science, of a nation, who, at that early period, could fabricate instruments to cut them so deep and indelibly on the almost impenetrable granite.
In countries destitute of stone, like Chaldea, an artificial substance, clay, intermixed with reeds, and indurated by fire, was made use of for that purpose. Of this substance, formed into square masses, covered with mystic characters, the walls and palaces of Babylon were, for the most part, constructed: and it has been seen in the accounts of travelers who have visited these ruins, examined the bricks, and observed those reeds intermingled with their substance, how durable, through a vast succession of ages, those bricks, with their inscribed characters, have remained. Their real meaning, or that of the Persepolitan arrow-headed obelistical characters, and the still more complicated hieroglyphics of Egypt, however partially deciphered by the labors of the learned, will, perhaps, never be fathomed in its full extent, by the utmost ingenuity of man.
Of the bitumen with which these Babylonian bricks were cemented together, and which was plentifully produced in the neighborhood of Babylon, it may be proper in this place to remark, that it binds stronger than mortar, and in time becomes harder than the brick itself. It was also impenetrable to water, as was formerly well known, for both the outside and the inside of the ark was incrusted with it. Gen. vi. 14. It may be proper to add here, that the bitumen, to deprive it of its brittleness, and render it capable of being applied to the brick, must be boiled with a certain proportion of oil, and that it retains its tenacity longest in a humid situation. Mr. Rich informs us, that it is “at present principally used for calking boats, coating cisterns, baths, and other places which usually come in contact with water. The fragments of it scattered over the ruins of Babylon are black, shining and brittle, somewhat resembling pit-coal in substance and appearance.” It will not be forgotten, that the custom above alluded to, of mixing straw or reeds with bricks baked in the sun, in order to bind them closer, and so make them more firm and compact, was also used in Egypt, as may be inferred from Exodus v. 7, where Pharaoh commands the taskmasters of the oppressed Israelites “not to give them straw to make bricks,” in order to multiply their vexations and increase their toil.
Speaking of the Babylonian bricks, and their variety in respect to size, color, hardness, &c., Mr. Rich tells us, that the general size of the kiln-burnt brick is thirteen inches square, by three thick; and that some are of about half these dimensions, and a few of different shapes for particular purposes, such as rounding corners, &c. They are of different colors: white, with a yellowish tinge, like what are called fire-brick; red, like our ordinary brick, which are the coarsest of all; and some blackish, and very hard. The sun-dried brick are generally the largest, and more or less mixed with chopped straw, for the obvious purpose of binding them; and some even of the fire-burnt bricks seem to have been made of the same material. In the palace, or Kasr, Mr. Rich found far finer specimens of art than the mere brick-work affords; for in addition to the substances usually strewed on the surfaces of all these mounds, he saw fragments of alabaster vessels, fine earthen-ware, marble, and great quantities of varnished tiles, the glazing and coloring of which was surprisingly fresh. The process from making pottery to molding figures in clay, was not difficult; but the designs in brass, and the grouping of figures, must have required much greater skill and labor.