DOORS OF HOUSES.—Among the ancient Egyp tians doors were frequently stained so as to imitate foreign wood. They were either of one or two valves, turning on pins of metal,..and were secured within by bars and bolts. Some of the bronze pins have been discovered in the tombs of Thebes, and two of them, after Wilkinson, are figured in No. 270, figs. 2, 3, They were fastened to the wood ners. In capital towns the quidnuncs occasionally sat with the same views near the gate of the royal palace, where also the officers and messengers of with nails of the same metal. The stone lintels and floor behind the threshold of the tombs and temples still exhibit the holes in which the pins turued, as well as those of the bolts and bars, and the recess for receiving the opening valves. The folding-doors had bolts in the centre, sometimes above as well as below ; a bar was placed across from one wall to the other ; and in many cases tb‘-v were secured by wooden locks passing over the centre (No. 271, fig. 4) at the junction of the two folds. It is difficult (remarks Sir J. G. Wilkin son) to say if these last were opened by a key, or merely slided backward and forward like a bolt ; but if they were really locks, they were probably A comparison of the ancient Egyptian doors with those now used in the East will probably suggest no incorrect notion of the provision among the ancient Hebrews in this respect. A sort of inter mediate idea arising from this comparison will be found to furnish very satisfactory illustrations of most of the passages of Scripture which relate to the subject. The present cuts require little expla nation. No. 272 is a very usual form of the street upon the principle of those now used in Egypt, which are of wood, and opened by a key furnished with several phis answering to a smaller nnmber that fall down into the hollow movable tongue, into which the key is introduced when they open or fasten the lock.' For greater security they are also occasionally sealed with a mass of clay. This was also a custom of the ancient Egyptians, as ap pears from Herodotus (ii. tat) ; from tombs actu ally so closed at Thebes ; and front the sculptures, as in No. 271, fig. 3, where the door is thus closed and sealed. To this custom there is an allusion in Job [CLAY]. At a later period, when iron came into general use, keys were made of that metal, of the shape shewn in No. 270, fig. 4. Of the kind thus indicated were probably the lock and key which fastened the sumtner-parlour of King Eglon (Judg. iii. 23, 25). In this case Ehud locked the door, and took away the key; but when the servants became alarmed, they easily opened it with a.nother key ; which suggests that the lock,
as in ancient Egypt or the modern East, was nothing more than a peculiarly constructed open bolt of wood, which the wooden or metal key was adapted to raise and thrust back. The forms of the Egyptian doors may be seen from the cuts. Fig. 1, No. 270, is from a. curious ancient model, in the British Museum, of a small ancient Egyp tian house, and may serve to shew very clearly how the doors of small houses were formed, hung, and secured. The elegant cornice of the door, fig. 2, No. 27t, will not escape observation ; fig. is a remarkable instance of a folding-door. The chief entrance to houses was through a pyramidal pylon on a projecting porch of columns, whose capitals were often ornamented with ribbons. Over the doorway was sometimes a brief hieroglyphical legend (Wathen, p. tot). This last circumstance reminds one of the writing on their doors recom mended to the Israelites, as already noticed.
door of a private house. The inscription on the central compartment is usually painted in white or black. It means, He (i.e., God) is the Creator, the Everlasting,' and brings strongly to mind the Hebrew custom to which we have more than once alluded. In No. 273 (fig. 2) is another street-door of a more simple character. Doors are generally unpainted throughout Western Asia and in Egypt. The other doors shewn in the cuts belong to the internal front of the houses, and not to the external frontage or screen. Fig. 2, No. 273, has an open lattice over the door, and the elegant proportion of the whole entrance clahns attention. No. 274 shews different forms of common doors, and the whole piece affords an interesting illustration of the basement of an Eastern house, with the stone steps leading to the gallery, into which all the state rooms and family rooms open. In conclusion, we intro duce an engraving intended to illustrate the highly enriched doorways used in ornamental buildings, such as garden-houses, summer-houses, etc.
In the interior of houses it is not unusual to see curtains instead of doors, especially in summer. This helps to keep the apartment cool, and also enables servants to enter without noise. This cus tom originated in the use of tents. Accordingly we find that all the entmnces of the tabernacle had curtains, althoug,h the framework was of wood (Exod. xxvi. 31-33, 36, 37) ; and even in the temple a curtain or 'Null' formed the separation between the Holy and the Most Holy place.—J. K.