Unit 2a Vocabulary (Egypt and Mesopotamia)

Abrasion

the process of scraping or wearing something away

Akhenaten

abandoned polytheism to embrace monotheism. He held that the sun, named Aton, was god, and god alone, and that he was Aton's physical son

Amarna

a more naturalistic artistic style centering on the Pharaoh Akhenaton

Amen -Ra

the god of the universe and the supreme Egyptian god during the period of Theban political supremacy

Anubis

god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine

Apadana

An enormous audience hall in a Persian palace

apotropaic

having the power to ward off evil or bad luck

Ashlar masonry

the stones are cut so they have the same shape, size and surface texture; they are then usually mortared together to create a wall or building

Aton

in ancient Egyptian religion, a sun god, depicted as the solar disk emitting rays terminating in human hands, whose worship briefly was the state religion

Axial plan

the parts of a building are organized longitudinally, or along a given axis (horizontally or vertically)

ben-ben (pyramidion)

The mound that arose from the primordial waters from the Ancient Egyptian creation story- it was in the shape of a pyramid

Bilateral symmetry

an image, object or design is mirrored equally through a vertical line. Ancient buildings such as the Parthenon in Athens are early examples

Book of the Dead

ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to 50 BCE, used to aid the deceased in the Afterlife

Capital

A topmost member of a column (pilaster), broadens the area of the column's supporting surface

causeway

A road that is raised above water, marshland, or sand

cella

the main room of a temple where the god is housed

Cardinal points

the four main directions (north, south, east, and west)

City- state

a city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state

clerestory

Windows above ground level with the purpose of providing daylight for the interior of the building

colonnade

A row of columns

Composite view

part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally; also called twisted perspective or descriptive perspective

Cuneiform

Ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia

Cyrus II

founder of the Persian empire. Persian prince and satrap: leader of the armed conspiracy against his brother King Artaxerxes II

Darius I

king of Persia who expanded the Persian Empire and invaded Greece but was defeated at the battle of Marathon

Euphrates

a river in Southwest Asia, joins the Tigris, important in ancient times for the extensive irrigation of its valley (in Mesopotamia)

Eshnunna

ancient Sumerian city and city-state in central Mesopotamia

Façade

The front face of a building

Fertile crescent

area of fertile land in the Middle East, extending around the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, where the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and Hebrew civilizations flourished

Foreshortening

portray or show (an object or view) as closer than it is or as having less depth or distance, as an effect of perspective or the angle of vision.

Frontal

a piece of art in which the figure is facing forward towards the viewer

Hammurabi

king of ancient Mesopotamia, known for putting the laws of his country into a formal code

Hathor

in ancient Egyptian religion, goddess of the sky, of women, and of fertility and love

Hatshepsut

queen of ancient Egypt; After her husband's death, she continued in power as regent to his son, Thutmose III. Her reign was peaceful, and she developed the resources of Egypt, built the famous temple in Thebes.

Hierarchical Scale

Artistic convention in which greater size means greater importance

Horus

the falcon-headed Egyptian god of light and the son of Osiris and Isis

Howard Carter

British archaeologist and Egyptologist who became world-famous after discovering the intact tomb of Pharaoh, Tutankhamen

Hypostyle hall

A hall with a roof supported by columns

In situ

in its original place, in position

Ka

Egyptian concept of the soul or spirit

Karnak

modern-day name for the ancient site of the Temple of Amun-Re at Thebes, Egypt

Khorsabad

Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria, "fortress of Sargon"

lamassu

Winged, 5 legged bulls with human heads (guardian statues from Mesopotamia and Persia)

Lapis lazuli

Relatively rare, precious stone that's prized for its intense blue color

Leonard Woolley

British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia.

Mortuary temple:

Located near the pyramid, place to worship the deceased king, A.K.A funerary temple

Necropolis

city of the dead (cemetery)

Nefertiti

queen of Egypt; wife of Akhenaton

Nemes

headdress worn by the Pharaoh

Osiris

Egyptian Lord of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead, brother-husband to Isis, and one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt.

Palette

A stone slab with a circular depression, used to prepare eye makeup in Ancient Egypt

Papyrus

a tall aquatic plant whose fiber is used as a writing surface in ancient egypt

pictograph

a pictorial symbol for a word or phrase. Pictographs were used as the earliest known form of writing, examples having been discovered in Egypt and Mesopotamia from before 3000 BC

Pylon

Ancient Egyptian gateway building in a truncated pyramidal form

register

One of a series of rows in a pictorial narrative

Relief sculpture

sculpture that projects from a flat background

Rosetta Stone

a basalt slab with identical texts inscribed in hieroglyphic, demotic (latin), and Greek, It gave us the key to Egyptian hieroglyphic.

sarcophagus

a stone coffin, typically adorned with a sculpture or inscription and associated with the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece

Shamash

in Mesopotamian religion, the god of the sun who, with the moon god Sin and the goddess of Venus Ishtar, was part of an astral triad of divinities

Stele

tone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument or grave marker, often has text, ornamentation, or both. These may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted

stylized

depict or treat in a mannered and nonrealistic style; a particular way of drawing something (such as people) over and over again

Tigris

a river in Southwest Asia, flowing southeast to the Euphrates

Tutankhamen

one of the few tombs found with the treasures and the mummy intact, its discovery afforded a new knowledge on Egyptian sculpture and life. Son of Akhenaten

Uraeus

a representation of a sacred serpent as an emblem of supreme power, worn on the headdresses of ancient Egyptian deities and sovereigns

Uruk

ancient city of Sumer, location of White Temple and Ziggurat

Votive

Gift/gratitude to a god

Ziggurat

A Sumerian temple platform made of sun-dried mud brick shaped like truncated pyramids