Architecture
March 18, 1991
Our ancestors invented the squinch to support a rounded dome
upon a square wall. Hardly an inch
in English texts credit them at all.
In Byzantine times one of us tried
outlining colored glass with lead, start-
ing stained glass, now classified
as medieval European art.
The bema of a church is still Armenian
but other parts have Latin names.
We knocked our pagan temples down
and let our other neighbors claim
the arch. The trouble was
(and the same troubles stay)
kings and conquerors, not architects
arrange history their way.