Late Antique Identification + Vocabulary

Catacomb of Priscilla

Rome, Italy

Late Antique Europe

Excavated tufa and fresco

Santa Sabina

Rome, Italy

Late Antique Europe

Brick and stone, wooden roof

Ambulatory

a passageway around the apse or altar of a church

Apse

the endpoint of a church where the altar is located

Atrium

a courtyard in a Roman house or before a Christian church

Axial Plan (Basilica plan, Longitudinal plan)

a church with a long nave whose focus is the apse; so-called because it is designed along an axis

Basilica

in Christian architecture, an axially planned church with a long nave, side aisles, and an apse for the altar

Catacomb

an underground passageway used for burial

Central plan

a church having a circular plan with the altar in the middle

Clerestory

the third, or window story of a church

Coffer

in architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling

Cubicula

small underground rooms in catacombs serving as mortuary chapels

Gospels

the first four books in the New Testament that chronicle the life of Jesus

Loculi

openings in the walls of catacombs to receive the dead

Lunette

a crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, that contains sculpture or painting

Narthex

the closest part of the atrium to the basilica, it serves as a vestibule, or lobby, of a church

Nave

the main aisle of a church

Orant figure

a figure with its hands raised in prayer

Spoilia

in art history, the reuse of architectural or sculptural pieces in buildings generally different from their original contexts

Transept

an aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave, where the clergy originally stood