A short pictorial history of bricks

My regular followers will have noticed a bit of a themed thread in my writing over the last couple of weeks and that relates to all things about Ancient Civilisations.

My interest started from early years school projects on favourite topics around Old Testament Biblical Times moving through to the Egyptians, Greeks, and all things Roman, both on the up and in decline.

This fascination has not gone away and I still find myself drawn to these eras through hefty history books, very long period movies,  appropriately respectful museum visits and during staycations or overseas holidays one or more Heritage Sites have always been on the itinerary.

So what single thing ties together all of these different historical periods?

They all have had a common denominator, a fundamental foundation and building block and that has been the humble brick.

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has a wonderful collection of bricks from the greatest Civilisations on Earth and I have put together just a short visual presentation of these to illustrate their importance to their respective eras.

This is the humble piece of equipment to mould and form the clay or earth with this coming from Queen Hatshepsut's Temple in Egypt from 1479 to 1458 BC

                           A fine example of an Egyptian brick dating from around 1550 BC

                      Rameses in 1200 BC used a coloured finish to accentuate the hieroglyphics

Going back in time the Neo- Sumerians (2000 BC)  favoured a squarer section moulded brick

This is a one of the earliest bricks with an intricate stamp detail from the Babylonian Period. Although I'm not sure of the actual dimensions of this exhibit it has the classic sizing of a modern brick. Of course, it could be the size of a bus if it came from that epic historic period.

The Parthians of the 1st Century AD who made this went for some very bold motifs and it will have been part of a decorative frieze either to the exterior of a building or as part of the internal decor.

This is a 4th Century brick feature from the First Persian Empire , In its original newly painted state it will have been very startling to the eye

A bit of a roundel motif is part of this 9th Century Assyrian brick

A no-nonsense 15th century, mass produced clay brick from China. This is the closest to what we have today as the common house brick

(Images sourced from the Open Access Programme of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art)