16. It is conjectured with much reason, that sculpture was one of the arts practised before the deluge, and that it was transmitted to posterity by the survivors of that catastrophe. The first images were probably made for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the dead; but, in process of time, they became objects of adoration. As the Chaldeans were unquestionably the first idolators after the flood, so are they supposed to have been the first who made progress in sculpture. 17. The first notice of this art in the Mosaic writings, is found in the passage relative to the teraphim, or idols, which Rachel, the wife of Jacob, carried clandestinely from her father's house; and the first persons mentioned in the Bible, as artists, are Aholiab and Bezaleel, who formed the cherubim which covered the mercy-seat, together with some other furniture of the tabernacle, and the sculptured ornaments of the garments of the high-priest. 18. From the same authority, we learn that the nations expelled from Canaan, by the Jewish people, were not ignorant of sculpture and painting; for Moses repeatedly commands the latter to destroy the _pictures_ and molten images which might be discovered in their progress through the land. The Israelites crossed the river Jordan about 1500 years before the commencement of our era. 19. From this time to the end of the Jewish polity, we often meet in the Scriptures with indications of the fine arts; but the splendor of Solomon's temple, clearly points out the days of that prince as the period in which they had attained their greatest perfection in Judea. 20. The Babylonians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians, became considerably skilful in sculpture, at a very early period, as we learn from early history, and some existing remains. The same remark is also applicable to the inhabitants of Hindostan. But writers have been more particular in noticing the style of design among the Egyptians, because the progress of the arts among that people is more easily traced, and because it is supposed to elucidate that of most other ancient nations. 21. The chief objects of sculpture, among the Egyptians, were pillars, and other architectural ornaments, idols, the human figure, animals, and hieroglyphics, engraved in a kind of bas-relief on public edifices, and the forms of animals. Most of the great works of this nation are supposed to have been executed during and after the reign of Sesostris, who lived in the days of Rehoboam, king of Israel, or about 1000 years before the Christian era. 22. But of all the nations of antiquity, the Greeks were the most distinguished for sculpture. They derived the first rudiments of the art from the Phoenicians, or Egyptians, although they assert that they themselves were its inventors. Its existence, in a rude state, among that people, preceded that of letters or scientific architecture.