Ancient Greece Art Theory Practice Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering Minoan, Mycenaean, and Ancient Greek culture, architecture, and sculpture.

Linear A

An undeciphered script used by the Minoans, suggesting a non-Greek language.

Knossos

The most famous Minoan palace, known for its red columns and as the inspiration for the myth of the Labyrinth and Minotaur.

Pithoi

Large storage jars found in the magazines of Minoan palaces.

Kamares Ware

Minoan pottery featuring light-on-dark decoration with white, red, and orange motifs on a black background.

Snake Goddess

A Minoan figurine made of faience depicting a female figure holding snakes and wearing a tiered skirt.

Wanax

The title for Mycenaean warrior-kings who led a centralized, hierarchical political structure.

Linear B

A deciphered early form of the Greek language used by Mycenaeans for administrative and economic records.

Cyclopean Walls

Massive Mycenaean fortifications built from enormous irregular limestone blocks fitted without mortar.

Tholos

A beehive-shaped underground domed burial chamber used by the Mycenaeans.

Dromos

The long entrance pathway or corridor leading to a Mycenaean Tholos tomb.

Megaron

A large rectangular hall with a central hearth and front porch used in Mycenaean architecture; it served as the precursor to the Greek temple plan.

Arete

A fundamental Greek value representing honor and excellence.

Mens Sana in Corpore Sano

A Greek philosophy meaning ‘Healthy mind in a healthy body,’ striving for human excellence through reason.

Anthropomorphic

The characteristic of Greek gods appearing and behaving like humans, including having human frailties.

Golden Mean / Golden Ratio

A mathematical ratio of approximately $1.618$ used in Greek art and architecture to represent perfect beauty and harmony.

Trabeated

A building style based on the post and lintel method, consisting of vertical columns and horizontal beams.

Ashlar Masonry

Stone precisely cut and dressed into uniform shapes and laid in horizontal courses with minimal mortar.

Entasis

A slight convex bulge in a column shaft designed to correct the visual illusion of concavity.

Stylobate

The top step or platform of a Greek temple on which the columns stand.

Naos (Cella)

The inner sanctuary or chamber of a Greek temple.

Pediment

The triangular gable found at each end of a temple roof.

Entablature

The horizontal structure resting on topped of columns, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

Metope

Square panels, often decorated with relief sculpture, located between triglyphs in a Doric frieze.

Doric Order

The oldest and simplest architectural order, featuring sturdy columns with no base and a frieze of alternating triglyphs and metopes.

Ionic Order

An elegant architectural order featuring slender columns with a base and capitals decorated with volutes (scroll-like spirals).

Corinthian Order

The most ornate architectural order, characterized by capitals decorated with acanthus leaves.

Octastyle

An architectural plan featuring $8$ columns across the front and back facades, as seen in the Parthenon.

Chryselephantine

A type of sculpture made from gold and ivory, such as the colossal statue of Athena by Pheidias.

Contrapposto

A sculptural pose where weight is shifted onto one leg, creating a natural S-curve in the body and a sense of potential movement.

Kouros

An Archaic period standing male nude figure, often used as a grave marker or votive offering.

Kore

An Archaic period standing female draped figure.

Archaic Smile

A distinctive slight upward curve of the lips found in Archaic sculpture, used to suggest life rather than emotion.

The Canon

Polykleitos’s mathematical system of ideal proportions for the human figure.