Editing Arch (section)

===Bronze Age: ancient Near East===
True arches, as opposed to [[corbel arch]]es, were known by a number of civilizations in the [[ancient Near East]] including the [[Levant]], but their use was infrequent and mostly confined to underground structures, such as drains where the problem of lateral thrust is greatly diminished.<ref name="Jürgen Rasch 117">{{harvnb|Rasch|1985|p=117}}</ref>
An example of the latter would be the [[Nippur]] arch, built before 3800 BC,<ref>John P. Peters, University of Pennsylvania Excavations at Nippur. II. The Nippur Arch, The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/496542 352–368], (Jul. – Sep., 1895)</ref> and dated by  [[Hermann Volrath Hilprecht|H. V. Hilprecht]] (1859–1925) to even before 4000 BC.<ref>New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I: [https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc01.html?term=Babylonia Babylonia]: V. The People, Language, and Culture.: 7. The Civilization. Retrieved 9 April 2020.</ref> Rare exceptions are an arched mudbrick home doorway dated to {{Circa|2000&nbsp;BC}} from [[Tell Taya]] in [[Iraq]]<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Tell Taya (1967): Summary Report |jstor= 4199854 |journal= Iraq |date=1 January 1968 |volume= 30 |issue=2 |pages= 234–264 |doi= 10.2307/4199854 |first= J.E. |last= Reade|s2cid= 162348582 }}</ref> and two [[Bronze Age]] arched [[Canaan]]ite city gates, one at [[Ashkelon]] (dated to {{Circa|1850 BC}}),<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Around-Israel/Oldest-arched-gate-in-the-world-restored |access-date=21 January 2018 |title= Oldest arched gate in the world restored |first= Etgar |last= Lefkovits |date=8 April 2008 |location= Jerusalem |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130814034938/http://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Around-Israel/Oldest-arched-gate-in-the-world-restored |archive-date=14 August 2013 |url-status= dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> and one at [[Tel Dan]] (dated to {{Circa|1750 BC}}), both in modern-day [[Israel]].<ref name="FinkelsteinMazar2007">{{cite book |author1= Israel Finkelstein |author2= Amihay Mazar |editor= Brian B. Schmidt |title= The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jpbngoKHg8gC&pg=PA177 |date=2007 |publisher= Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=978-1-58983-277-0 |pages=177–}}</ref><ref>Frances, Rosa: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061812004849 The three-arched middle Bronze Age gate at Tel Dan - A structural investigation of an extraordinary archaeological site], 
retrieved 9 April 2020.</ref> An Elamite tomb dated 1500 BC from [[Haft Tepe|Haft Teppe]] contains a parabolic vault which is considered one of the earliest evidences of arches in Iran.

The use of true arches in Egypt also originated in the [[4th millennium BC]] (underground barrel vaults at the [[Dendera]] cemetery). Standing arches were known since at least the [[Third Dynasty]], but very few examples survived, since the arches were mostly used in non-durable secular buildings and made of [[mud brick]] voussoirs that were not wedge-shaped, but simply held in place by [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]], and thus susceptible to a collapse (the oldest arch still standing is at [[Ramesseum]]). Sacred buildings exhibited either lintel design or corbelled arches. Arches were mostly missing in Egypt temples even after the [[Roman conquest of Egypt|Roman conquest]], even though Egyptians thought of the arch as a spiritual shape and used it in the rock-cut tombs and portable shrines.{{sfn | Woodman | Bloom | 2003 | loc=Ancient Egypt, the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean}} [[Auguste Mariette]] suggested that this choice was based on a relative fragility of a vault: "what would remain of the tombs and temples of Egyptians today, if they had preferred the vault?"<ref name=treccani/>

[[Mycenaean architecture]] utilized only the corbel arches in their [[beehive tombs]] with triangular openings.{{sfn | Woodman | Bloom | 2003 | loc=Ancient Egypt, the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean}} [[Mycenaeans]] had also built probably the oldest still standing{{cn|date=January 2024}} stone-arch bridge in the world, [[Arkadiko Bridge]], in Greece. 

As evidenced by their imitations of the parabolic arches, [[Hittites]] most likely were exposed to the Egyptian designs, but used the corbelled technique to build them.{{sfn | Woodman | Bloom | 2003 | loc=Ancient Egypt, the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean}} 

<gallery>
File:Saqqara - Pyramid of Djoser complex - Heb-sed Court - chapel.JPG|Vaulted building using a decorative segmented arch at the [[Heb-sed court]] in [[Saqqara]] (restored, {{circa}} 2650 [[Anno Domini|BC]])
File:Ramesseum Magazine 03.jpg|A true arch (catenary) at the Ramesseum [[granaries]] ({{circa}} 1300 BC)
File:Kazarma Tholos Tomb 1.JPG|Ruins of the {{ill|Tholosgrab von Kazarma|de|lt=Kazarma tholos tomb}} ({{circa}}1500 BC) showing the Mycenaean beehive technique 
File:Arkadiko Mycenaean Bridge II.JPG|Arkadiko Bridge ({{circa}} 1300-1190 BC): corbel arch, [[cyclopean masonry]]
File:Chatušaš, Královská brána - panoramio.jpg|{{ill|Königstor (Ḫattuša)|de|lt=King's Gate (Hattusa)}} ({{circa}}1400-1200 BC), an imitation of the parabolic arch by [[Hittites]]
</gallery>