Architecture; an introduction to the history and theory of the art of building (1912)
Lethaby, W. R. (William Richard), 1857-1931 · London: Williams and Norgate · leaf 115
HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN ARTS 111 The early Eastern arch of brick was a tall semi-ellipse rising gradually from the walls and turning rapidly at the top. This is a much more stable form than the semicircular arch, and could, in many cases at least, be constructed without any centering. When we become… … the pointed arch (which arose as another solution of the same problem), except that a special stone or stones have to be worked for the apex. The arch form at first introduced and long used in Italy must have been the semi- circular arch of cut masonry. So it was that the semicircular became the…
Architecture
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