The Role of Arches in Iranian architecture

ce and may or may not support weight above it.^[1] Arch may be synonymous with vault, but a vault may be distinguished as a continuous arch^[2] forming a roof. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture,^[3] and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures