On the History of the Arch

Extract

Dr Traill stated, as the result of a careful examination of the passages in ancient authors, supposed to prove the early use of arches by the Greeks, that we must abandon all hope of solving this disputed point, by a reference to those authors; and he instanced the danger of inferences from such uncertain data, by comparing the description of the Treasury of Minyas, given by Pausanias, with the still remaining kindred edifice, the Treasury of the Atridae at Mycenae. He also noticed the loose sense in which the ancient Greeks employed the terms ϑολος, ψαλις, ‘αψις.