Art Hist. 1 Ch. 5
Drum
One of the stacked cylindrical stones that form the shaft of a column. Also, the cylindrical wall that supports a dome.
Doric
One of the two systems (or orders) invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical building - the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure (entablature.) The Doric order is characterized by, among other features, capitals with funnel-shaped echinuses, columns without bases, and a frieze of triglyphs and metopes.
Engobe
A coating of white or coloured slip can be applied to the article to improve its appearance, to give a smoother surface to a rough body, mask an inferior colour or for decorative effect.
Caryatid
A female figure that functions as a supporting column.
Mausoleum
A monumental tomb. The name derives from the mid-fourth-century BCE tomb of Mausolos at Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
Encaustic
A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with melted wax and applied to the surface while the mixture is hot.
Volute
A spiral, scroll-like form characteristic of the ancient Greek Ionic and the Roman Composite capital.
Monolithic
A stone column shaft that is all in one piece (not composed of drums); a large, single block or piece of stone used in megalithic structures. Also, a colossal statue carved from a single piece of stone.
Triglyph
A triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes.
Naos
Also known as a cella. The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.
Cire Perdue
Also known as lost-wax process. A bronze casting method in which a figure is modeled in wax and covered with clay; the whole is fired, melting away the wax and hardening the clay, which then becomes a mold for molten metal.
Amphora
An ancient Greek two-handled jar used for general storage purposes, usually to hold wine or oil.
Polis/Poleis
An independent city-state in ancient Greece.
Chryselephantine
Fashioned of gold and ivory.
Acropolis
Greek, "High City." In ancient Greece, usually the site of the city's most important temple.
Tesserae
Greek, "cube." A tiny stone or piece of glass cut to the desired shape and size for use in forming a mosaic.
Pinakotheke
Greek, "picture gallery." An ancient Greek building for the display of paintings on wood panels.
Skiagraphia
Greek, "shadow painting." The Greek term for shading, said to have been invented by Apollodoros, an Athenian painter of the fifth century BCE.
Demos
Greek, "the people," from which the word democracy is derived.
Kouros (Plural, Kouroi)
Greek, "young man." An archaic Greek statue of a young man.
Kore (Plural, Korai)
Greek, "young woman." An archaic Greek statue of a young woman.
Centaur
In ancient Greek mythology, a creature with the front or top half of a human and the back or bottom half of a hourse.
Pediment
In classical architecture, the triangular space (gable) at the end of a building, formed by the ends of the sloping roof above the colonnade; also, an ornamental feature having this shape.
In Situ
In it's original place; in position.
Ionic
One of the two systems invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical building: the platform, the colonnade (a row of columns supporting a roof,) and the superstructure. The Ionic order is characterized by, among other features, volutes, capitals, columns with bases, and an uninterrupted frieze.
Mosaic
Patterns or pictures made by embedding small pieces (tesserae) of stone or glass in cement on surfaces such as walls and floors; also, the technique of making such works.
Archaic
The artistic style of 600-480 BCE in Greece, characterized in part by the use of the composite view for painted and relief figures and of Egyptian stances for statues.
Emblema
The central framed figural panel of a mosaic floor.
Echinus
The convex element of a capital directly below the abacus.
Entasis
The convex profile (an apparent swelling) in the shaft of a column.
Raking Cornice
The cornice on the sloping sides of a pediment.
Contrapposto
The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another part (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counter positioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called "weight shift" because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other.
Architrave
The lintel (A horizontal beam used to span an opening) or lowest division of the entablature; also called the epistyle
Entablature
The part of a building above the columns and below the roof. The entablature has three parts: architrave, frieze, and pediment.
Frieze
The part of the entablature between the architrave and the cornice; also, any sculptured or painted band in a building.
Cornice (and raking cornice)
The projecting, crowning member of the entablature framing the pediment; also, any crowning projection. (The cornice on the sloping sides of a pediment [In classical architecture, the triangular space at the end of a building, formed by the ends of the sloping roof above the colonnade; also an ornamental feature having this shape.])
Metope
The square panel between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, often sculpted in relief.
Shaft
The tall, cylindrical part of a column between the capital and the base.
Hellenism
The term given to the art and culture of the roughly three centuries between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and the death of Queen Cleopatra in 30 BCE, when Egypt became a Roman province.
Stylobate
The uppermost course of the platform of a classical Greek temple, which supports the columns.
Capital
The uppermost member of a column, serving as a transition from the shaft to the lintel. In classical architecture, the form of the capital varies with the order.
Abacus
The uppermost portion of the capital of a column, usually a thin slab.
Flute (Fluting)
Vertical channeling, roughly semicircular in cross-section and used principally on columns and pilasters.
