Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/339

 Domestic Architecture. 309 mouldings, such as those of our illustration (Fig. 209), may have adorned the structures erected by King Mesa. It was part of a stone door frame, found by De Saulcy among the ruins of Rabbath- Moab, exhibiting a floral form which in shape and position recalls the Assyrian sacred plant, and the ornament about the head- dress of genii. 1 The painful effort to imitate its Chaldaean models is as apparent here as it was later under the Greek and Roman dominion. We have no reason to suppose that the house of Saul at Gibeah differed in any way from those of his subjects, 2 whilst the first indication we have of a palace occurs in the following reign, which we may imagine to have been worthy of the great king of Israel. 3 Its plan or dimensions are not specified, but we know that the walls 5^ Fig. 208.— Wall at Hazor. De Saui.cy, Voyage autour de la Mer Morte. Atlas, Plate XLVIII. were built of prepared stones, and that cedar was used for the roof, floors, ceilings, and wainscoting, the latter no doubt beauti- fully carved or set out in pleasing geometric patterns. This building, however, was not deemed a worthy habitation for a great Egyptian princess, nurtured in all the splendour of Tanis or Thebes, hence Solomon built a new house, the site of which has been placed by some on the west hill or Zion. 4 Accord- ing to this theory, it faced the temple and was connected with it by a bridge, the remains of which have been uncovered under the fallen voussoirs of Robinson's Arch. But had a ravine interposed between the two edifices, connecting masonry would have been resorted to, the stupendous character of which would have called 1 Hist, of Art, torn. ii. Figs. 8 and 29. 2 1 Sam. xv. 34. 3 2 Sam. v. 11. i Stade, Geschichte, p. 312.