Ezekiel 4:1, a sun-dried "brick," the same as is translated "brick" in Genesis 11:3. For "pourtray" translated "engrave." Bricks with designs engraven on them are found still in ancient Mesopotamian cities. Related to these are the tablets, of which many have been found in the Assyrian and Babylonian rains and mounds. Some of these bear historical inscriptions and narrate the annals of the various reigns; others are known as report tablets, and are of the character of letters or dispatches on various military, political, and social subjects; again a third class are such as the Egibi tablets, a series of financial and contract records belonging to a family of that name, the particular attestations to which for a period of nearly 200 years, from 677 B.C. to 455 B.C., reflect as in a mirror the principal changes in dynastic and imperial affairs. It is greatly owing to the light derived from these various classes of tablets that the chronology and events of history in Western Asiatic and Biblical countries have within the last few years been so greatly elucidated; and further revelations are continually being obtained.