The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

The style of domestic architecture, in this warm climate, is modified to suit the heat of the weather. The poorer classes (for though all Egyptians are born equal, yet there are poor classes), as well as castes, live a great part of their time out of doors, seeking rather the shade of trees than the warmth of habitations. And now that I have alluded to "castes," I will briefly explain the degrees of society in Egypt.

Though a marked line of distinction is maintained between the different ranks of society, they appear to be divided rather into "classes" than "castes," as no man is bound by law to follow the occupation of his father. Sons, indeed, do usually follow the trade of their father, and the rank of each man depends on his occupation. But there are occasional exceptions, as, for instance, the sons of a distinguished priest are in the army with Remeses, and a son of the admiral of the fleet of the Delta is high-priest in Memphis.

Below the crown and royal family, the first class consists of the priests; the second, of soldiers; the third, of husbandmen, gardeners, huntsmen, and boatmen; the fourth, of tradesmen, shop-keepers, artificers in stone and metals, carpenters, boat-builders, stone-masons, and public weighers; the fifth, of shepherds, poulterers fowlers, fishermen, laborers, and the common people at large. Many of these, says the record from which I have obtained my information, are again subdivided, as chief shepherds into ox-herds, goat-herds, and swine-herds; which last is the lowest grade of the whole community, since no one of the others will marry their daughters, or establish any family connection with them; for so degrading is the occupation of tending swine held by the Egyptians, that they are looked upon as impure, and are even forbidden to enter a temple without previously undergoing purification.

Thus you perceive, my mother, that Egypt practically acknowledges many degrees of rank, although she boasts that "every son of Misr is born equal."

These classes keep singularly distinct, and yet live harmoniously and sociably with each other. Out of them the queen's workmen are taken, and the lowest supplies the common laborers on the public works,—thousands of whom, clad only in an apron and short trowsers of coarsely woven grass-cloth, are to be found at work all over Egypt, and even mingled with the Hebrews in some parts of their tasks. "And the Hebrews?" you may ask; for I perceive by your letter that you are interested in the fate and history of this captive nation; "what rank do they hold among all these castes?"

They remain a distinct and separate people, neither regarded as a class or caste. They pursue but one occupation, brick-making, with its kindred work of digging the loam, gathering the straw, kneading the clay, and carrying the bricks to the place where the masons need them. They neither associate nor intermarry with any of the Egyptian classes. They are the crown slaves, born in bondage, below the lowest free-born Egyptian in the land of Misraim. Even the swine-herd belongs to a class, and is equal by birth, at least, with the Pharaoh who rules; but the Hebrew is a bond-servant, a stranger, despised and oppressed. Yet among them have I seen men worthy to be kings, if dignity of aspect and nobleness of bearing entitle men to that position.

I will now return, and describe to you the habitations of the Egyptians, my dear mother. Houses slightly removed beyond the degree of mere barbarous huts, built of crude brick, and very small, are the habitations of the lower orders. Others, of more pretension, are stuccoed, and have a court; others, still superior, have the stuccoed surface painted, either vermilion and orange, in stripes, or of a pale-brown color, with green or blue ornaments, fanciful rather than tasteful. Those of merchants and persons of that grade, are more imposing;—corridors, supported on columns, give access to the different apartments, through a succession of shady avenues and courts, having one side open to the breezes; while currents of fresh air are made to circulate freely through the rooms and halls, by a peculiar arrangement of the passages and courts; for, to have a cool house in this ardent latitude is the aim of all who erect habitations. Even small detached dwellings of artificers and tradesmen, consisting of four walls, with a flat roof of palm-branches, laid on split date-trees as a beam, covered with mats, and plastered with mud of the Nile, having but one door, and wooden shutters,—even such humble habitations have in the centre an open court, however limited, with rooms opening to the air on one side; while around the small court are planted one or more palms, for shade, besides adorning it with plants of their favorite flowers. I have seen some such neat little abodes, not much larger than cages, with a cheerful family in it, who lived out of doors all day, dining under the shade of their tree, and dancing in their open court by moonlight, to the music of clapping hands or the castanets, until bedtime, using their houses only to sleep in; and such is the happy life of half the Egyptians of their grade.

The grander mansions, less than palaces, are not only stuccoed within and without, but painted with artistic and tasteful combinations of brilliant tints. They have numerous paved courts, with fountains and decorated walls, and are adorned with beautiful architectural devices, copied from the sacred emblems and symbols in the temples, and arranged and combined in forms or groups in the most attractive style. Over the doors of many houses are handsome shields or tablets, charged with the hieroglyph of the master, inscribed with some sentence. Over that of the house of the chief weigher of metals, opposite my palace window in On, was written "The House of the Just Balance." Over another "The good house;" and over a third, "The friend of Rathoth, the royal scribe, liveth here." Any distinction, or long journey, or merit, or attribute, gives occasion for an inscription over the entrances.

The beauty of a house depends on the taste, caprice, or wealth of its builders. The priests and lords of Egypt live in luxurious abodes, and a display of wealth is found to be useful in maintaining their power, and securing the respect and obedience of the under classes.

"The worldly possessions of the priest," said an Egyptian scribe of the temple of Apis, "are very great, and as a compensation for imposing upon themselves at times abstemiousness, and occasionally limiting their food to certain things, they are repaid by improved health, and by the influence they acquire thereby. Their superior intelligence enables them," he continued, ironically, "to put their own construction on regulations and injunctions emanating from their sacred body, with the convenient argument, that what suits them does not suit others." The windows of the houses are not large, and freely admit the cool breezes, but are closed at night by shutters. The apartments are usually on the ground-floor, and few houses, except perhaps in Thebes, exceed two stories in height. They are accessible by an entrance court, often having a columnar portico decked with banners or ribbons, while larger porticos have double rows of columns, with statues between them. When there is an additional story, a terrace surmounts it, covered by an awning, or by a light roof supported upon graceful columns. Here the ladies often sit by day: and here all the family gather at the close of the afternoon to enjoy the breeze, and the sight of the thronged streets and surrounding scene,—for it is open on all sides to the air. In the trades' streets the shops are on the ground-floor, and the apartments for families are above. As it scarcely ever rains, the tops of the houses, terraced, and covered with a handsomely fringed awning, are occupied at all hours, and even at night as sleeping-places by the "lord of the house," if the apartments below are sultry and close. Some noble edifices have flights of steps of porphyry or marble leading to a raised platform of Elephantine or Arabic stone, with a doorway between two columns as massive as towers—ambitious imitations of the propyla of the temples. These gateways have three entrances, a smaller one on each side of the principal entrance for servants, who are very numerous in an Egyptian house of the first class. Such is the house of my friend, the Admiral Pathromenes, whom I visited the day I saw him in his galley, and just before he sailed with the fleet for Ethiopia.