Chap 5. Ancient Greece Arch Vocab

hypaethral

A building having no pediment or roof, open to the sky.

Hippodamian plan

A city plan devised by Hippodamos of Miletos ca. 466 bce, in which a strict grid was imposed on a site, regardless of the terrain, so that all streets would meet at right angles.

prostyle

A classical temple plan in which the columns are only in front of the cella and not on the sides or back.

amphiprostyle

A classical temple plan in which the columns are placed across both the front and back, but not along the sides.

monolith (adj. monolithic)

A column shaft that is all in one piece (not composed of drums); a large, single block or piece of stone used in megalithic structures.

caryatid

A female figure that functions as a supporting column. See also atlantid.

parapet

A low, protective wall along the edge of a balcony, roof, or bastion.

Corinthian capital

A more ornate form than Doric or Ionic; it consists of a double row of acanthus leaves from which tendrils and flowers grow, wrapped around a bell-shaped echinus. Although this capital form is often cited as the distinguishing feature of the Corinthian order, there is, strictly speaking, no Corinthian order, but only this style of capital used in the Ionic order.

pebble mosaic

A mosaic made of irregularly shaped stones of various colors.

encaustic

A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot.

apse

A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a Roman basilica or at the east end of a church.

portico

A roofed colonnade; also an entrance porch.

colonnade

A series or row of columns, usually spanned by lintels.

volute

A spiral, scroll-like form characteristic of the ancient Greek Ionic and the Roman Composite capital.

post-and-lintel system

A system of construction in which two posts support a lintel.

triglyph

A triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes.

column

A vertical, weight-carrying architectural member, circular in cross-section and consisting of a shaft, capital, and (sometimes) base.

glaze

A vitreous coating applied to pottery to seal and decorate the surface. It may be colored, transparent, or opaque, and glossy or matte. In oil painting, a thin, transparent, or semitransparent layer put over a color to alter it slightly.

palaestra

An ancient Greek and Roman exercise area, usually framed by a colonnade. In Greece, the palaestra was an independent building; in Rome, palaestras were also frequently incorporated into a bathing complex.

amphora

An ancient Greek two-handled jar used for general storage purposes, usually to hold wine or oil.

polis (pl. poleis)

An independent city-state in ancient Greece.

agora

An open square or space used for public meetings or business in ancient Greek cities.

meander

An ornament, usually in bands but also covering broad surfaces, consisting of interlocking geometric motifs. An ornamental pattern of contiguous straight lines joined usually at right angles.

bilingual vases

Experimental Greek vases produced for a short time in the late sixth century bce; one side featured black-figure decoration, the other red-figure.

Classical

The art and culture of ancient Greece between 480 and 323 BCE. Lower case classical refers more generally to Greco-Roman art and culture.

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.

ridgepole

The beam running the length of a building below the peak of the gabled roof.

emblema

The central framed figural panel of a mosaic floor.

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.

naos

The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.

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 counterpositioning 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.

interaxial or intercolumniation

The distance between the center of the lowest drum of a column and the center of the next.

intercolumniation

The distance between the center of the lowest drum of a column and the center of the next.

Orientalizing

The early phase of Archaic Greek art (seventh century BCE), so named because of the adoption of forms and motifs from the ancient Near East and Egypt.

orthogonal plan

The imposition of a strict grid plan on a site, regardless of the terrain, so that all streets meet at right angles. See also Hippodamian plan.

architrave

The lintel or lowest division of the entablature.

antae

The molded projecting ends of the walls forming the pronaos or opisthodomos of an ancient Greek temple.

Hellenes (adj. Hellenic)

The name the ancient Greeks called themselves as the people of Hellas.

metope

The panel between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, often sculpted in relief.

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. See register.

cornice

The projecting, crowning member of the entablature framing the pediment; also, any crowning projection.

Archaic smile

The smile that appears on all Archaic Greek statues from about 570 to 480 BCE. The smile is the Archaic sculptor's way of indicating that the person portrayed is alive.

pronaos

The space, or porch, in front of the cella, or naos, of an ancient Greek temple.

cult statue

The statue of the deity that stood in the cella of an ancient temple.

Geometric

The style of Greek art during the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, characterized by abstract geometric ornament and schematic figures.

shaft

The tall, cylindrical part of a column between the capital and the base.

Hellenistic

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 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.

foreshortening

The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.

minaret

the tower of a mosque, from which the Islamic faithful are called to worship.

cavea

Latin, "hollow place or cavity." The seating area in ancient Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters.

drum

One of the stacked cylindrical stones that form the shaft of a column. Also, the cylindrical wall that supports a dome.

Ionic

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 Ionic order is characterized by, among other features, volutes, capitals, columns with bases, and an uninterrupted frieze.

Doric

One of the two systems (or orders) invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical buildingthe 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. See also Ionic.

Daedalic

The Greek Orientalizing sculptural style of the seventh century bce named after the legendary Daedalus.

peripteral

In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es). A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides; a dipteral colonnade has a double row all around.

black-figure painting

In early Greek pottery, the silhouetting of dark figures against a light background of natural, reddish clay, with linear details incised through the silhouettes.

investment

In hollow-casting, the final clay mold applied to the exterior of the wax model,

peristyle

In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es). A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides; a dipteral colonnade has a double row all around.

order

In classical architecture, a style represented by a characteristic design of the columns and entablature. See also superimposed orders.

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.

orchestra

Greek, "dancing place." In ancient Greek theaters, the circular piece of earth with a hard and level surface on which the performance took place.

acropolis

Greek, "high city." In ancient Greece, usually the site of the city's most important temple(s).

pinakotheke

Greek, "picture gallery." An ancient building for the display of paintings on wood panels.

theatron

Greek, "place for seeing." In ancient Greek theaters, the slope overlooking the orchestra on which the spectators sat.

skene

Greek, "stage." The stage of a classical theater.

demos

Greek, "the people," from which the word democracy is derived.

Amazonomachy

In Greek mythology, the battle between the Greeks and Amazons.

treasury

In ancient Greece, a small building set up for the safe storage of votive offerings.

cuneus (pl. cunei)

In ancient Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters, the wedge-shaped section of stone benches separated by stairs.

opisthodomos

In ancient Greek architecture, a porch at the rear of a temple, set against the blank back wall of the cella.

stoa

In ancient Greek architecture, an open building with a roof supported by a row of columns parallel to the back wall. A covered colonnade or portico.

antis

In ancient Greek architecture, between the antae.

base

In ancient Greek architecture, the molded projecting lowest part of Ionic and Corinthian columns. (Doric columns do not have bases.)

centaur

In ancient Greek mythology, a creature with the front or top half of a human and the back or bottom half of a horse.

gigantomachy

In ancient Greek mythology, the battle between gods and giants.

centauromachy

In ancient Greek mythology, the battle between the Greeks and centaurs.

dipteral

In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es). A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides; a dipteral colonnade has a double row all around.

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.

flute or fluting

Vertical channeling, roughly semicircular in cross-section and used principally on columns and pilasters.