AHI 172A Terms

Kylix

The most common type of wine-drinking cup. It has a broad, relatively shallow, body raised on a stem from a foot and usually two horizontal handles disposed symmetrically. The main alternative wine-cup shape was the kantharos, with a narrower and deeper cup and high vertical handles. An example is the kylix from the pottery found in Well J2:4

Frieze

A broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration, especially on a wall near the ceiling.

Tondo

A circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian rotondo, "round."

Stele

A stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes An example would be the cycladic relief

Geometric Style

A style of ancient Greek art, primarily of vase painting, that began about 900 bc and represents the last purely Mycenaean-Greek art form that originated before the influx of foreign inspiration by about 800 bc. Athens was its centre, and the growing moneyed population of new Greek cities was its market. It derives its name from the dominance of geometric motifs in vase painting. Monumental kraters and amphorae were made and decorated as grave markers. These vessels are characteristic of Geometric vase painting during this period. The most famous vessels from this period uses a technique called horror vacui , in which every space of the surface is filled with imagery . An example is the Dipylon Amphora

Lekythos

A type of Ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil , especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no pouring lip. An example is the Attic white-ground lekythoi with funerary scenes.

Amphora

A type of container of a characteristic shape and size, descending from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products, both liquid and dry, but mostly for wine. They are most often ceramic, but examples in metals and other materials have been found. Versions of the amphorae were one of many shapes used in Ancient Greek vase painting. An example is the Dipylon Amphora

Ashlar masonry

Finely dressed (cut, worked) masonry, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the masonry built of such stone. It is the finest stone masonry unit, generally cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal.

Centaur

Half-man and half-horse. The head, arms and torso were human and joined at the waist to the body and legs of a horse. These creatures represented barbarism and unbridled chaos and were frequently represented in Greek architectural sculpture and pottery decoration. However, despite their bestial and lustful reputation, some centaurs were not unfavorably portrayed in myths unless they were under the effects of wine. Perhaps then they are a cautionary metaphor for the dangers we all face if we should forget our civility and lose control of our faculties. An example is the Man and Centaur found in a burial site near the House of Lefkandi.

Daedalic

Its style is based on a simple formula which remained dominant, though with evolutionary modifications, for about two generations, before evolving into the Archaic style. The principal view is frontal, so much so that in statues the side elevation can be compressed unnaturally and in reliefs full-face heads are common - in notable contrast to the rule in contemporary vase painting and in the succeeding stage of Archaic sculpture. The face is a long triangle with a low horizontal forehead, big eyes and nose, and initially a straightish mouth. The cranium too is low; the ears either are omitted or project at right angles; and the hair (rather like a full-bottomed wig) falls in solid masses at the front and back, relieved by horizontal grooving and sometimes a row of curls over the forehead, or less often it is divided into thick vertical locks. An example is the Kore of Nikandre

Grave goods

Jewelry, weapons, and vessels arranged around the body on the floor of the tomb. An example is the Jewelry from the tomb of a rich lady

Polis

Means city in Greek. It can also mean a body of citizens. In modern historiography, polis is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, and thus is often translated as "city-state". These cities consisted of a fortified city centre built on an acropolis or harbor and controlled surrounding territories of land.

Votive offerings

One or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for broadly religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural forces. An example is the bronze horse statuette.

Metope

A square space between triglyphs in a Doric frieze.

Stoa

A covered walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance with columns, usually of the Doric order, lining the side of the building; they created a safe, enveloping, protective atmosphere.

Krater

A mixing vessel, often used for wine and water. On vases decorated with symposium-scenes, a large open container with a foot is often depicted. Example is the krater made by the Dipylon master.

Necropolis

A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distance from a city, as opposed to tombs within cities, which were common in various places and periods of history.

Temenos

A piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct: The Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley An example would be from Sanctuary at Delphi

Agora

A public open space used for assemblies and markets.

Peristyle

A row of columns surrounding a space within a building such as a court or internal garden or edging a veranda or porch.

Honorific statue

A sculpture dedicated to the honor of one or more person. ex. Harmonies and Aristogeitan

Prothesis

Ancient literary sources emphasize the necessity of a proper burial and refer to the omission of burial rites as an insult to human dignity (Iliad, 23.71). Relatives of the deceased, primarily women, conducted the elaborate burial rituals that were customarily of three parts: the prothesis (laying out of the body (54.11.5), the ekphora (funeral procession), and the interment of the body or cremated remains of the deceased. After being washed and anointed with oil, the body was dressed (75.2.11) and placed on a high bed within the house. During the prothesis, relatives and friends came to mourn and pay their respects. An example is the Dipylon Amphora

Attic

Art originating in Athens An example would be the attic figure from the Dipylon grave

Grave marker

Funerary monuments, which typically faced the street, were highly visible to all passersby. Prominent families had walled burial plots, atop which sat the monuments, which were used not only as grave markers but also as objects of veneration that were erected to honor and preserve the memory of the deceased. The earliest funerary monuments date to the period from around 900 to 700 B.C. and took the form of large terracotta vases, which were adorned in a style known as Geometric because of the use of angular shapes and patterns. They often depict scenes from the lives and deaths of the Athenian elite, including battles, parades, funerals, and funeral processions. From roughly 700 to 480 B.C., wealthy Athenians erected costly funerary monuments made of marble. These artworks demonstrated ancient Greek sculptors' abilities to produce increasingly naturalistic representations of the human form. Freestanding sculptures were popular and came in two main forms: the kouros, a statue of a nude male youth, and the kore, a statue of a clothed maiden. The stele, a type of tall stone slab adorned with figural relief, was often used as a funerary monument. An example is the Kouros from Anyvyssos

Andron

Part of a greek house distinguished from the gynaeceum, the women's quarters. The andron was used for entertaining male guests. For this purpose the andron held several couches, usually an odd number to allow space for the door, tables which could be tucked under the couches, artwork and any other necessary paraphernalia. Not all classical Greek houses were large enough to have a dedicated andron, and even those that did might have used the room for mixed-gendered events and women receiving female guests, as well as men hosting symposia. In excavations at Olynthos, rooms identified as andrones contained items identified with female activities, as in the rest of the house.

Orientalizing style

The cultural and art historical period which started during the later part of the 8th century BCE, when there was a heavy influence from the more advanced art of the Eastern Mediterranean and Ancient Near East. Monumental and figurative sculpture in this style is often called Daedelic, after Daedalus, who was according to legend the founder of Greek sculpture. An example is the Wild Goat Style Oinochoe

Cella or naos

The inner area of an ancient temple, especially one housing the hidden cult image in a Greek or Roman temple. An example would be from the Temple of Hera 2

Chora

The territory of the Ancient Greek polis outside the city proper.

Pastas house

This house is frequently taken as the "type house" for Olynthian dwellings: a central courtyard, with an open portico or "pastas" to its north; a series of rooms opening onto the north side of the pastas, including a three-room "kitchen complex"; a small storeroom on the east side of the pastas; an andron entered from an anteroom in the SE corner; a workroom or shop in the SW.

Granulation

a jewelery manufacturing technique whereby a surface is covered in spherules or granules of precious metal. An example is the Jewelry from the grave of a rich woman