Art and Experience Exam 2 Vocab

domus Italica

a townhouse, a residence in the city walls, the ideal Italian residence

fauces

a narrow hallway that is the entryway into the house (latin for throat)

atrium

large central courtyard (atria is the chambers of the heart)

impluvium/compluvium

the water that falls into the impluvium, a basis or sorts under the compluvium a hole in the roof overhead

cubiculum, cubicula

smaller rooms around the courtyard, enclosed feeling to them - so many of them to account for the number of people in the house, the season of the year etc.

ala/alae

larger open air spaces at the end of the courtyard - a kind of wing to the house - wax ancestor masks possibly on display here

tablinum

the landowner/the dominus/the master of the house would have a desk or an office here, where visitors are received

triclinium

dining room, banquet hall in the house

hortus

a garden, a kitchen/garden in the house that evolves over time, integral to the house

tabernae

ground floor shops that open onto the street, businesses connected to the house that also could be rented out to others

thermopolium

a counter with holes/terracotta vessels that would have allowed for food production and hot food that you would have been able to come by and grab - these were also painted and decorated sometimes even showing the kind of food that would have been offered at that station

peristylium (peristyle)

a large garden space, open air, usually with planting and water feature (fountain, canal etc.) with columns, quatraporticus design but in miniature.

vestibulum

an additional layer within the fauces that could be another door to the house, more columns too and would have been manned by an enslaved “doorman”

exedra

a side room off the main house (like the summer dining room in the home of the tragic poet)

Salutatio

a formal greeting

Paterfamilia

the father of the family (dominus - house holder and owner)

Materfamilia

the mother of the family (domina - house holder and owner)

amicus

friends, really important and good friends of the family allowed in by the dominus

Liberti/Libertae

formerly enslaved people

Servi/Servae

enslaved people as part of the household

1st Style

masonry/incrustation style - a cornice (a protrusion between the wall and the celling) using fresco and stucco to give the illusion of stone blocks, of columns

2nd Style

architectural style - using art to create a cityscape, a fantasy, to include architectural imagery

3rd Style

ornamental style - a lot more abstract, not based on real elements and used shapes as stand ins.

4th Style

intricate style - a mix of everything else, high detail works, architectural vistas, very busy

acanthus

based on real floral and vegetal plants and patterns but it was also meant to be very, very symmetrical, harnessing the natural world and making it too succumb to the Augustan peace

grotto

a cavern or cave, a space with some water perhaps or location or connection to divinity

hortus conclusus

enclosed garden space

locus amoenus/locus horridus 

the idea of nature as a pleasant place, of song birds and running water - Livia’s garden for example

sacral-ldyllic

landscape, trees, water features, religious components like statues of gods etc.

rus in urbe

country in the city, using the visuals and art to bring the country into domestic spaces in the cities

Pistrina

purpose built baking and for residential activities

Fullo/Fullonica

the worker that cleans and finishes textiles/essentially like a laundry, the place where this work was done - usually within a larger residential structure - showing the connection between the residence and the work

Collegium

guild

symposium

a male only drinking party that followed dinner

daipnon

the evening meal, the main meal of the day in the elite culture

convivium

banquet (living together essentially, in Latin)

cena

dinner, an evening meal

comissatio

a drinking party, often after dinner, and not so gender segregated

epulum

the public banquet - Caesar was famous for these

triclinium

three-couch, literally - couches arranged in a triangle/three way structure, each could hold three people so nine people present across the three

summus

high

medius

medium

imus

low

summus in imo

the host’s place in the triclinium

imus in medio/losuc consularis

place of the guest of honor

Terra sigillata

“sealed earth” fine clay slip, waterproof coating on ceramics

Gustatio

the appetizer or first course of a meal

Mensae primae

the main course of a formal roman dinner served after the gustatio

Mensae secundae

the “second course” of a formal roman dinner served after the Mensae primae, the dessert

ludi

public games and festivals hosted by the roman state, 75 days were set aside each year for ludi, later it expands to 175

ludi scaenici

the public parades and celebrations

ludi circenses

the horse races and the events surrounding the the circus games

Pulvinar

the imperial box, where the emperor and his family sit during the games

euripus/spina

the central barrier in a roman circus or racetrack

metae

three turning points at the end of the spina in the circus maximus

carceres

the starting gates for the chariot races at the roman circus

balnea

a bathhouse, either public or private, originally a lot of these were out in the campus martius where there was a lot of room and then as the city grew as did the need more popped up, the older term

thermae

comes from the Greek word meaning hot, access to hot air and hot water which was very prided, also stands for the bathhouses especially the imperial ones, the newer term which again came with more imperial powers

palaestra

the exercise yard of the baths

apoditerium

the changing rooms of the baths

frigidarium

the cold room of the baths

tempidarium

the warm room of the baths

caldarium

the hot room of the baths

syncersis

the blending of religious and cultural things taking from many different traditions when a new group comes in a conquers another

defixio/nes

curse tablets - I’m fixing you with a curse - these tablets were found at this bath in Bath - we have examples of people “a-fixing curses in her name on these tablets”

hypocaust

roman system for central heating that circulated hot air beneath the floors of the baths

natatio

large unheated outdoor swimming pool found at the roman baths

ex voto

votive gifts or offerings that have been found at various baths either in thanks for healing or asking for intervention

The Flavian Dynasty

Vespasian, Titus, Domitian - a genuine succession plan/a real dynasty of father to son to brother (Vespasian came to power after Nero)

triumphal arch

a monumental free standing structure often built to commemorate a military victory or a significant event