Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/337

 Domestic Architecture. 307 it was meant to portray an unusually large donation to the temple, of dates, olives, wine, etc., mayhap in a year of scarcity, and which was recorded by the grateful priests in this stela. Albeit our information respecting this part of the world is necessarily fragmentary, we felt it incumbent on us to show how general had been the religious type of building in this part of Asia, where the Hebrews were the last settlers, and that if Ephraim Fig. 207.— Carving on calcareous stone. Teima. Height, 30 c. ; width, 35 c. Euting. and Judah no longer possess inscriptions and bas-reliefs of the nature of those that have been brought to light in the region once under Nabatœan rule, it is because they have been destroyed. -Domestic Architecture. If before their kings the Hebrews were without tombal monu- ments or temples, they were no better provided in point of domestic architecture, their houses being built of crude bricks and mud,