118. Babylonian and Etruscan Beginnings
While the exact circumstances attending the invention of the true arch are not clear, the earliest specimens preserved are from the ancient brick-building peoples of Babylonia, especially at Nippur about 3,000 B.C. Thence the principle of the arch was carried to adjacent Assyria. Both these Mesopotamian peoples employed the arch chiefly on a small scale in roofing doors and in tunnels. It remained humble and utilitarian in their hands; its architectural possibilities were scarcely conceived. They continued to rear their monumental structures mainly with an eye to quantity: high and thick walls, ramps, towers ascending vertically or by steps, prevailed.
The true arch and vault are next found in Italy, among a prosperous city-dwelling people, the Etruscans, some seven or more centuries before Christ. All through the civilization of this nation runs a trait of successful but never really distinctive accomplishment. The Etruscans were receptive to new ideas and applied them with energy, usually only to degenerate them in the end. Whether they discovered the arch for themselves or whether knowledge of it was carried to Italy from Asia is not wholly clear, since history knows little about the Etruscans, and archæology, though yielding numerous remains, leaves the problem of their origin dark. The Etruscans, or Tyrrhenians as the Greeks knew them, were however active traders, and a number of features in their civilization, such as liver divination (§ [97]), as well as ancient tradition, connect them with Asia. It is therefore probable that the principle of arch construction was transmitted to them from its earlier Babylonian source. The Etruscans also failed to carry the use of the arch far into monumental architecture. They employed it in tombs, gates, and drains rather than as a conspicuous feature of public buildings.