Houses

Most houses in ancient Mesopotamia were one of two types—small huts made of bundled reeds and dried mud, or slightly more permanent dwellings composed of dried clay bricks. The reed huts were most common in the countryside, especially in marshy regions. Many stables and sheep-folds were also made of bundled reeds. Houses in cities were more often made of bricks, whenever possible with walls several feet thick to help insulate the interiors from the heat of the day. Whitewashing the exterior walls also served to reduce the amount of heat reaching the interior.

Heat was not the only thing that people wanted to prevent from entering

Their homes. They often painted their doors bright red in the belief that evil spirits would be repelled. And although there were few or no windows in brick houses, any windows usually had palm-wood gratings to help keep out unwanted pests. No matter what precautions were taken, however, it is probable that all Mesopotamian houses were at one time or another infested by rodents and/or insects and other pests. Scorpions were common, and snakes crawled into homes in search of rodents that made nests in the walls and ceilings. There were also ants, cockroaches, lizards, and beetles with which to contend.

Mud-brick homes varied in size. The smallest were often in the range of 8 by 18 feet (2.4 by 5.4m), but some were as large as 18 by 45 feet (5.4 by 13.7m), excluding those of the wealthy, which could be considerably larger. An average house featured a central courtyard with various rooms clustered around its perimeter. The kitchen was on the ground floor in two-story homes and sometimes opened into the courtyard, with a brick hearth on one wall. There was usually a living/family room and one or more small bedchambers. Well-to-do homes also had one or more rooms to house the family servants. Some houses also had small bathrooms with latrinelike toilets, from which wastes drained through baked clay channels to cesspools located just outside the house. The oil lamps used to light house interiors were also made of baked clay. To fuel their lamps, Mesopotamians generally used sesame seed oil as opposed to olive oil, which was common in Mediterranean cultures. Torches were also used for lighting in larger homes and palaces.

See Also: building materials and methods; furniture; palaces