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APAH Vocabulary Ch. 12
Byzantine vocabulary
38
Art History
Undergraduate 1
04/02/2011

Additional Art History Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Altar piece
Definition
A panel, painted or sculpted, situated above and behind an altar. See also retable.
Term
Ambulatory
Definition
A covered walkway, outdoors (as in a church cloister) or indoors; especially the passageway around the apse and the choir of a church. In Buddhist architecture, the passageway leading around the stupa in a chaitya hall.
Term
Athemius of Tralles
Definition
The Byzantine architect who replaced the Hagia Sophia at Constinople.
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
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
Brocade
Definition
The weaving together of threads of different colors.
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

Caliph(s)

 

Definition
Muslim rulers, regarded as successors of Muhammad.
Term

Cathedral

 

Definition
A bishop’s church.
Term
choir
Definition
The space reserved for the clergy and singers in the church, usually east of the transept but, in some instances, extending into the nave.
Term
Cloison
Definition
A cell made of metal wire or a narrow metal strip soldered edge-up to a metal base to hold enamel or other decorative materials.
Term
cloisonne
Definition
A process of enameling employing cloisons; also, decorative brickwork in later Byzantine architecture.
Term
conch
Definition
Half-dome.
Term
cupola
Definition
An exterior architectural feature composed of a drum with a shallow cap; a dome.
Term
enamel
Definition
A decorative coating, usually colored, fused onto the surface of metal, glass, or ceramics.
Term
Gospels
Definition
The four New Testament books that relate the life and teachings of Jesus.
Term
Greek Cross
Definition
A cross with four arms of equal length and at right angles.
Term
Hieratic
Definition
A fixed, stylized method of representation, often determined by religious principles and ideas.
Term
Icon
Definition
A portrait or image; especially in Byzantine art, a panel with a painting of sacred personages that are objects of veneration. In the visual arts, a painting, a piece of sculpture, or even a building regarded as an object of veneration.
Term
Iconoclasm
Definition
The destruction of images. In Byzantium, the period from 726 to 843 when there was an imperial ban on images. The destroyers of images were known as iconoclasts. Those who opposed such a ban were known as iconophiles or iconodules.
Term
Iconostasis
Definition
In Byzantine churches, a screen or a partition, with doors and many tiers of icons, separating the sanctuary from the main body of the church.
Term
Illumination
Definition
Decoration (usually in gold, silver, and bright colors), especially of medieval manuscript pages.
Term
Isidorus of Miletos
Definition
Greek architect who, along with Anthemius of Tralles, designed the church of Hagia Sophia in Constanople.
Term
Mandorla
Definition
An almond-shapednimbus surrounding the figure of Christ or other sacred figure.
Term
Nimbus
Definition
A halo or aureole appearing around the head of a holy figure to signify divinity.
Term
Pala
Definition
In churches, an altarpiece, or panel placed behind and over the altar.
Term
Pantocrater
Definition
Christ as ruler and judge of heaven and earth.
Term
parekklesion
Definition
The side chapel in a Byzantine church.
Term
pendentive
Definition
A concave, triangular section of a hemisphere, four of which provide the transition from a square area to the circular base of a covering dome. Although pendentives appear to be hanging (pendant) from the dome, they in fact support it.
Term
Psalter
Definition
A book containing the Psalms.
Term
Refectory
Definition
The dining hall of a Christian monastery.
Term
Rotunda
Definition
The circular area under a dome; also a domed round building.
Term
Andrei Rublev
Definition
(1370 CE - 1430 CE)  Considered the greatest medieval Russian painter of his time.  Perhaps his most notable work was the old testament Trinity.
Term
squinch
Definition
An architectural device used as a transition from a square to a polygonal or circular base for a dome. It may be composed of lintels, corbels, or arches.
Term
Tapestry
Definition
A weaving technique in which the weft threads are packed densely over the warp threads so that the designs are woven directly into the fabric.
Term
Templon
Definition
The columnar screen separating the sanctuary from the main body of a Byzantine church.
Term
Triptych
Definition
A three-paneled painting or altarpiece.
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