Byzantine Art Vocabulary

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

Cathedral

the principal church of a diocese, where a bishop sits

Central plan

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

Chalice

a cup containing wine, used during a Christian service

Codex

a manuscript book

Continuous narrative

a work of art that contains several scenes of the same story painted or sculpted in a continuous succession

Cornice

a projecting ledge over a wall

Encaustic

a type of painting in which colours are added to hot wax to affix to a surface

Eucharist

the bread sanctified by the priest at the Christian ceremony commemorating the Last Supper

Genesis

first book of the Bible that details Creation, the Flood, Rebecca at the Well, and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, among other episodes

Icon

a devotional panel depicting a sacred image

Iconoclastic Controversy

the destruction of religious images in the Byzantine Empire during the eighth and ninth centuries

Iconostasis

a screen decorated with icons, which seperates the apse from the transept of a church

Illuminated manuscript

a manuscript that is hand decorated with painted initials, marginal illustrations, and larger images that add a pictorial element to the written text

Martyrium

a shrine built over a place of martyrdom or a grave of a martyred Christian saint

Mosaic

a decoration using pieces of stone, marble, or coloured glass, called tesserae, that are cemented to a wall or a floor

Paten

a plate, dish, or bowl used to hold the Eucharist at a Christian ceremony

Pendentive

a construction shaped like a triangle that transitions the space between flat walls and the base of a round dome

Squinch

the polygonal base of a dome that makes a transition from the round dome to a flat wall

Theotokos

the Virgin Mary in her role as the Mother of God

XP

the Christian monogram made up of the Greek letters khi and rho, the first two letters of Khristos, the Greek from of Christ’s name