The Home.
In the cities the houses were built together, with only party-walls between them. They were narrow in front but extended back to quite a depth. They were, as a rule, built on the street but sometimes there was a small space in front. The door opened out on to the street, instead of inward, and it was a custom for any one going out to knock on the door to avoid opening out against some one passing along the street.
The walls of the houses were a framework of wood, sun-dried brick, or common stone, and covered with stucco. The roofs generally were flat, made of beams laid close together and covered with cement. In the early period the walls were plain on the inside and the ground served for a floor, but later there were decorated walls and mosaic floors.
There were two principal divisions in the interior of the houses, the one for the men and the other for the women, the women's apartments being back of the men's. The rooms were built around one or more open courts, by means of which light and air were admitted to the house. The homes were furnished with chairs and tables and couches and lamps and other household furniture and the kitchens were provided with pots and pans and bowls and sieves and many other articles.