Shared Flashcard Set

Details

APAH Vocabulary ch. 10
Vocabulary for the Roman Empire
87
Art History
Undergraduate 1
04/02/2011

Additional Art History Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Aisle
Definition
The portion of a basilica flanking the nave and separated from it by a row of columns or piers.
Term
Amphitheater
Definition
Greek, “double theater.” A Roman building type resembling two Greek theaters put together. The Roman amphitheater featured a continuous elliptical cavea around a central arena.
Term
Apollodorus of Damascus
Definition
A Greek architect, engineer, designer and sculptor who flourished during the 2nd Century CE.  He was a favorite of the Emperor Trajan.  He is the designer of Trajan's Column and the Forum of Trajan.
Term
Apotheosis
Definition
Elevated to the rank of gods, or the ascent to heaven
Term
Apse
Definition
A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a Roman basilica or at the east end of a church.
Term
Apsidal
Definition
Rounded; apse shaped.
Term
Arcade
Definition
A series of arches supported by piers or columns.
Term
Arch
Definition
A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the downward pressure laterally.See also thrust.
Term
Atmospheric Perspective
Definition
Refers to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object  as it is seen from a distance.
Term
Atrium
Definition
The court of a Roman house that is partly open to the sky. Also the open, colonnaded court in front of and attached to a Christian basilica.
Term
Baroque
Definition
A blanket designation for the art of the period 1600 to 1750
Term
Barrel Vault
Definition
formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the example of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance.
Term
Base
Definition
In ancient Greek architecture, the lowest part of Ionic and Corinthian columns.
Term
Basilica
Definition
In Roman architecture, a civic building for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan with an entrance usually on a long side. In Christian architecture, a church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually entered from one end and with an apse at the other.
Term
Buttress
Definition
An exterior masonry structure that opposes the lateral thrust of an arch or a vault. A pier buttress is a solid mass of masonry; a flying buttress consists typically of an inclined member carried on an arch or a series of arches and a solid buttress to which it transmits lateral thrust.
Term
Caladarium
Definition
The hot-bath section of a Roman bathing establishment.
Term
Capitolium
Definition
An ancient Roman temple dedicated to the gods Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
Term
Cardo
Definition
The north-south street in a Roman town, intersecting the decumanus at right angles.
Term
Caryatid
Definition
A female figure that functions as a supporting column
Term
Castrum
Definition
A Roman military encampment.
Term
Catacombs
Definition
Subterranean networks of rock-cut galleries and chambers designed as cemeteries for the burial of the dead.
Term
Cavea
Definition
Latin, “hollow place or cavity.” The seating area in ancient Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters.
Term
Celer
Definition
An otherwise unknown foreman who oversaw the building of Rome's first walls.
Term
Cella
Definition
The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.
Term
Cestrum
Definition
A small spatula used in encaustic painting.
Term
Christogram
Definition
The three initial letters (chi-rho-iota) of Christ’s name in Greek (χ-ρ-ι), which came to serve as a monogram for Christ.
Term
coffer
Definition
A sunken panel, often ornamental, in a vault or a ceiling.
Term
Composite capital
Definition
A capital combining Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus leaves, first used by the ancient Romans.
Term
Concrete
Definition
A building material invented by the Romans and consisting of various proportions of lime mortar, volcanic sand, water, and small stones.
Term
Continous narration
Definition
In painting or sculpture, the convention of the same figure appearing more than once in the same space at different stages in a story.
Term
Course
Definition
In masonry construction, a horizontal row of stone blocks.
Term
groin vault (aka cross vault or double barrel vault)
Definition
Produced by the intersection of two barrel vaults at right angles.
Term
Cubiculum (Pl. Cubicula)
Definition
A small cubicle or bedroom that opened onto the atrium of a Roman house. Also, a chamber in an Early Christian catacomb that served as a mortuary chapel.
Term
Cuirass
Definition
A military breastplate.
Term
Damnatio Memoriae
Definition
The Roman decree condemning those who ran afoul of the Senate. Those who suffered damnatio memoriae had their memorials demolished and their names erased from public inscriptions.
Term
Decumanus
Definition
The east-west street in a Roman town, intersecting the cardo at right angles.
Term
Decursio
Definition
The ritual circling of a Roman funerary pyre.
Term
Denarius
Definition
The standard Roman silver coin from which the word penny ultimately derives.
Term
Domus
Definition
A Roman private house.
Term
drum
Definition
One of the stacked cylindrical stones that form the shaft of a column; the cylindrical wall that supports a dome.
Term
Encaustic
Definition
A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot.
Term
Exedra
Definition
Recessed area, usually semicircular.
Term
Fauces
Definition
Latin, “throat.” In a Roman house, the narrow foyer leading to the atrium.
Term
Fenestrated
Definition
Having windows.
Term
Fenestration
Definition
The arrangement of the windows of a building.
Term
First Style Mural (Also known as Masonry Style)
Definition
The earliest style of Roman mural painting. Also called the Masonry Style, because the aim of the artist was to imitate, using painted stucco relief, the appearance of costly marble panels.
Term
Forum
Definition
The public square of an ancient Roman city.
Term
Fourth Style Mural
Definition
In Roman mural painting, the Fourth Style marks a return to architectural illusionism, but the architectural vistas of the Fourth Style are irrational fantasies.
Term
Freedmen/Freedwomen
Definition
In ancient and medieval society, men and women who had been freed from servitude, as opposed to having been born free.
Term
Frigidarium
Definition
The coldbath section of a Roman bathing establishment.
Term
Groin
Definition
The edge formed by the intersection of two vaults.
Term
Imagines
Definition
In ancient Rome, wax portraits of ancestors.
Term
Imperator
Definition
Latin, “commander in chief, “ from which the word emperor is derived.
Term
Impluvium
Definition
In a Roman house, the basin located in the atrium that collected rainwater.
Term
Insula
Definition
In Roman architecture, a multistory apartment house, usually made of brick-faced concrete; also refers to an entire city block.
Term
Linear Perspective
Definition

The approximate representation on a flat surface of an image as it is seen by the eye.  It is characterised by:

smaller objects the further it gets from the observer, and, foreshortened.  The dimensions along the line of sight are shorter than the dimensions across the line of sight.

Term
Menorah
Definition
In antiquity, the Jewish sacred seven-branched candelabrum.
Term
Natatio
Definition
The swimming pool in a Roman bathing establishment.
Term
Nave
Definition
The central area of an ancient Roman basilica or of a church, demarcated from aisles by piers or columns.
Term
Oculus (Pl. Oculi)
Definition
Latin, “eye.” The round central opening of a dome. Also, a small round window in a Gothic cathedral.
Term
Palaestra
Definition
An ancient Greek and Roman exercise area, usually framed by a colonnade.
Term
Patricians
Definition
Roman freeborn landowners.
Term
Peripteral
Definition
A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides
Term
Dipteral Colonnade
Definition
a dipteral colonnade has a double row all around.
Term
Peristyle
Definition
In ancient Greek architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es).
Term
Pier Buttress
Definition
1. a pier serving wholly or in part as a buttress
2. the part of a buttress above the point of thrust
3. the pier receiving the thrust of a flying buttress
Term
Plebeian
Definition
The Roman social class that included small farmers, merchants, and freed slaves.
Term
Pontifex Maximus
Definition
Latin, “chief priest.” The high priest of the Roman state religion, often the emperor himself.
Term
Psuedoperipteral
Definition
In Roman architecture, a pseudoperipteral temple has a series of engaged columns all around the sides and back of the cella to give the appearance of a peripteral colonnade.
Term
Revetment
Definition
In architecture, a wall covering or facing.
Term
Rusticate
Definition
To give a rustic appearance by roughening the surfaces and beveling the edges of stone blocks to emphasize the joints between them. Rustication is a technique employed in ancient Roman architecture, and popular during the Renaissance, especially for stone courses at the ground-floor level.
Term
Second Style Mural
Definition
The style of Roman mural painting in which the aim was to dissolve the confining walls of a room and replace them with the illusion of a three-dimensional world constructed in the artist’s imagination.
Term
Senate
Definition
Latin, “council of elders.” The legislative body in Roman constitutional government.
Term
Severus
Definition
Lucius Septimius CE 146–211 Rom. emp. (193–211)CE
Term
Skenographia
Definition
Greek, “scene painting”; the Greek term for perspective painting.
Term
Spandrel
Definition
The roughly triangular space enclosed by the curves of adjacent arches and a horizontal member connecting their vertexes; also, the space enclosed by the curve of an arch and an enclosing right angle. The area between the arch proper and the framing columns and entablature.
Term
Taberna
Definition
In Roman architecture, a single-room shop usually covered by a barrel vault.
Term
Tablinum
Definition
The study or office in a Roman house.
Term
Tepidarium
Definition
The warmbath section of a Roman bathing establishment.
Term
Terracotta
Definition
Hard-baked clay, used for sculpture and as a building material. It may be glazed or painted.
Term
Third Style Mural
Definition
In Roman mural painting, the style in which delicate linear fantasies were sketched on predominantly monochromatic backgrounds.
Term
Thrust
Definition
The outward force exerted by an arch or a vault that must be counterbalanced by a buttress.
Term
Tondo
Definition
A circular painting or relief sculpture.
Term
Triclinium
Definition
The dining room of a Roman house.
Term
Triumphal Arch
Definition
In Roman architecture, a freestanding arch commemorating an important event, such as a military victory or the opening of a new road. In Christian architecture, the arch framing the apse at the end of a church nave.
Term
Velarium
Definition
In a Roman amphitheater, the cloth awning that could be rolled down from the top of the cavea to shield spectators from sun or rain.
Term
Veristic
Definition
True to natural appearance.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!