hat he "made a feast, and did bake
unleavened bread." Whether the shew-bread of the Jewish tabernacle was
leavened is an open question, but it is significant that the Passover
cakes eaten by Jews to-day, known as Matzos, are innocent of leaven.
Made from flour and water only, they are about 12 in. in diameter, and
have somewhat the look of water biscuits.

The ancient Egyptians carried the art of baking to high perfection.
Herodotus remarks of them, "dough they knead with their feet, but clay
with their hands." The practice of using the feet for dough kneading,
however repulsive, long persisted in Scotland, if indeed it is yet
defunct. The Egyptians used for their bread, wheat, spelt, barley and
durra (sorghum). In the opinion of Dr Wallis Budge, barley was in Egypt
the grain of most primitive culture. However that may be, it is certain
that even in ancient Egypt white bread made from wheat was used by the
rich. The form of the bread is revealed by ancient monuments. A common
shape was a small, round loaf, something like the muffin of to-day.
Other loaves were elongated rolls, and curiously enough were sprinkled
on the top with seeds like modern Vienna bread.

The history of baking in classical Greece and Italy can be clearly
traced. Athenaeus in his _Deipnosophists_ minutely describes many
different kinds of bread, which may be assumed to have been currently
used in Greece. According to Pliny (_Nat. Hist_, xviii. II. S 28) Rome
had no public bakers till after the war with Perseus (171-168 B.C.).
That long after public bakehouses came into use the Romans and other
urban dwellers in Italy continued to make a great deal of bread at home
is certain. In Pompeii several private houses had their own mill and
bakehouse. That city must also have possessed bakers by trade, as loaves
of bread have been found, round in form, and stamped with the maker's
name, possibly to fix responsibility for weight and purity. In the time
of the Republic, public bakehouses were under the control of the
aediles. Grain was delivered to the public granaries by the _Saccarii_,
while another body called _Catabolenses_ distributed the grain to the
bakers. The latter were known as _Pistores_ or "pounders," a
reminiscence no doubt of the primitive time when grain was pounded by a
pestle in a mortar. Slaves were largely employed in the irksome work of
grinding, and when Constantine abolished slavery the staff of the
_pistrinae_ was largely recruited fro