Architectural Terms

Ziggurat

Mesopotamian valley, Bronze and Iron Ages: A monumental stepped platform with a small temple on the top. Made of sun-dried bricks

Light Well

Openings to allow light into Minoan palaces.

Pillar Crypts

Small interior rooms at Knossos whose only feature is a large stone pillar in the center of the room with shallow basins on either side linked by a trough. Probably used for rituals: offerings of wine, oil, or blood from animals poured into basins at base of pillars.

Lustral Basins

Sunken rooms reached by short flights of stairs found in Minoan palaces. Probably not used as cisterns or for ritual bathing purposes because they have no evidence of waterproofing

West Court

The larger court at Knossos at the west entrance to the palace complex, delineated by three paved pathways in the shape of a triangle. The stadium-style seating and altars indicate that it was used for ceremonial religious purposes.

post-and-lintel

The most basic method of structural load-bearing where a pillar supports a cross-beam holding up the roof or next storey

Megaron

The rectangular great hall of Greek palace complexes. Framed by an open entranceway on one side and rooms on the others. Its design foreshadowed later Greek temples.

Chamber Tombs

Tombs cut from rock with a tripartite structure (chamber, stomion and dromos), often with additional niches and side chambers in which primary or secondary burials took place.

Shaft Grave

deep rectangular graves in Mycenae usually 1-4 m deep

*Grave Circles

A 27.5m circle at Mycenae where 19 bodies are buried with rich grave goods, including gold death masks, in six shaft graves; although it was originally outside of the fortifications, it was later enclosed by the acropolis.

Mud-brick

A brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. In warm regions, bricks were generally sun dried. Most houses we've seen made this way.

Corbelled Vaulting

A construction technique where each successive course of horizontally-laid stones projects further inward until the two sides meet at the top.

Tumulus

A mound of earth raised over a grave. Late Geometric Burials, Athens

Pier-and-door partitions

A series of openings in the walls at Knossos framed by wooden piers. Probably functional in nature as they allow occupants to quickly change the amount of air circulation to deal with changing temperatures.

Relieving Triangle

A triangular space above a lintel in megalithic architecture which relieves some of the weight from the lintel

START: Funerary Architecture Minoan Tholos Tombs

Also known as "beehives" because of their shape, a tall corbelled false dome. Found on Crete as tombs and in the Mycenaean civilization as tombs and storage areas ("Treasury of Atreus")

Hekatompedon

An ancient temple built on the site of the later Acropolis at Athens.

Baffle Entry

An entryway featuring offset overlapping walls to create a choke point

Tripartite temple plan (and T-shaped variant)

Central hall with central altar and stepped platform for cult object, side aisles of small rooms Ex.: The White Temple, Uruk & Eanna Precinct

Mycenaean "Beehive" tomb

Dromos: Entrance passage or avenue leading to a building, tomb or passageway. Those leading to beehive tombs are enclosed between stone walls and sometimes in-filled between successive uses of the tomb. Stomion: A deep doorway covered over with a corbelled vault.

Apsidal Buildings

Found at Lefkandi (an outlying island off the coast of mainland Greece); large and richly decorated buildings containing graves that were apparently ritually destroyed in a time of widespread instability.

Mastaba tombs

In ancient Egypt, a low, flat-roofed rectangular structure typically made of sun-dried mud brick that protected a burial in the ground below. Shaft leads down to chamber

Step pyramid vs. true pyramid

Step: ex. Djoser (Imhotep); consists of steps; tomb underground; True: ex. Giza; smooth all the way up; pharaoh's tomb above ground inside the pyramid;

Cyclopean Masonry

Stone masonry consisting of crudely fitted huge blocks, with tiny stones filling the interstices; used notably in Mycenaean Greece and the Hittite capital, Hattusa.

Central court

The large square paved area central to Minoan palace architecture, probably used for various public or semi-public rituals and feasts.

pyramid town

Town for builders of pyramids Ex: Kahun (Pharaoh Senwosret II)

Wattle-and-daub

a material formerly or traditionally used in building walls, consisting of a network of interwoven sticks and twigs covered with mud or clay. Ex.: Jericho PPNA & Çayonu Subphase 1

Serdab (know "ka")

ancient Egypt: tomb structure that served as a chamber for the Ka statue of a deceased individual. Found in pyramid of Menkaure

Corbelled vaulting

construction technique where each successive course of horizontally-laid stones projects further inward until the two sides meet at the top

Minoan villas

excavated in Crete Share many features with the central Palaces (i.e., a conspicuous western facade, storage facilities, and a 'Minoan Hall') of the Neopalatial era occupants were familiar with palatial culture often richly decorated.

Raised Walkways

found between the mortuary and valley temple of Khafre, also Phaistos and Knossos possibly processional ways

Organic (grown) plan

gradual accretion of buildings constructed in haphazard manner throughout the life of the city; no planned layout, zoning generally minimal.

Agglutinative Architecture

houses clustered together with shared walls and courtyards, movement and house access via roofs Example: Çatalhöyük

START: Minoan Palace Features Kouloura/kouloures

large circular stone-built enclosures found in association with Minoan courtyard buildings; possibly used for grain storage but may have had different functions in different places. They go back to the Protopalatial period.

Ashlar Masonry

masonry style with smoothed rectangular cut blocks

Corridor Houses

monumental building type characteristic of the Early Helladic II period on the Greek mainland. The function is debated, but it likely represents some degree of social hierarchy within contemporary society and may be the seat of a local chief. Alternatively, it may be a meeting place for the community or even a larger region

Casemate construction

stone-walled compartments filled not with stones but with earth; a design used in Bronze Age Anatolia.

Peak Sanctuary

type of Minoan cult site located on the tops of mountains; characterized by minimal architecture and votives often in the form of terracotta figurines.