ARCH, ANTIQUITY OF THE

Writers on architecture have, until within a few years, been accustomed to suppose that the invention of the arch and keystone was not before the era of Augustus. But the researches of modern antiquaries have traced the existence of the arch as far back as 460 years before the building of King Solomon's Temple, and thus rescued Masonic traditions from the charge of anachronism or error in date (see Keystone).