Roman art definition

Apotheosis

To become a god, often shown as the elevation to divine status through bodily ascension or the moment the figure is welcome into the company of the gods

Apotropaic

“To ward off evil”, usually with designs, often grotesque, frightening, and incorporating serpents, placed on the outside of buildings or objects to protect those within from harm

Atrium

The main or central room of a Roman house, usually directly accessible from the front door

Barrel vault

A cylindrical architectural feature formed by extending an arch along an indefinite length, creating a solid roofing system that is essentially a continuous arch

Basilica

A central hall with flanking aisles characterizes a Roman building, and often a porch on one end and a raised tribunal on the other, used for law courts

Caldarium

A hot room in a Roman bath complex usually featured a heated pool and radiant heat from the walls and floor

Capite velato

Latin, meaning “with covered head,” referring to the act of covering one’s head while performing a sacred ritual

Cella

The inner room of a temple. It served primarily to house the cult statue. It could also hold votive objects and ritual items such as vessels and braziers

Cryptoporticus

A vaulted covered passageway, usually open along one side, supports a building above. Often used to create large platforms for a Roman temple or villa

Dado

The lower portion of the wall of a room, often distinctly decorated with panels or painted in contrasting colours

Dentil frieze

A series of closely spaced projecting rectangular blocks that make a molding on a building, usually at the top of the wall just below the roofline

Frigidarium

The cold water room in a Roman bath complex, generally found in the core of the building away from the furnace or the sun

Hemicycle

A half-circle. In architecture, a hemicycle is a wall, building, or architectural feature constructed in the shape of a half-cricle

Hierarchy of scale

An artistic convention in which higher status or more important figures are portrayed as larger than lower status or subsidiary figures in a scene

Horror vacui

“Fear of empty space”, the filling of the entire surface of a work with details, often ones that are unrelated to the narrative or the main scene

Imbrication

An overlapping pattern like roof shingles or fish scales

Insula

Latin word for “island” refers to an apartment building that filled an entire block in a Roman city, with shops on the ground floor and apartments above

Necropolis

Greek words: “A city of the dead” refers to the extramural cemeteries often mimicking real cities organized by family tombs shaped like houses, sometimes with roads, sidewalks, and drains

Oculus

“eye” refers to a circular open skylight in the center of a dome to provide light into the building.

Opus sectile

“Cut work” refers to the decorative use of cut stone, usually colored imported marble, in patterns to create decorative floor and wall treatments

Orthogonal planning

The type of city plan in which the streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid

Pediment

The triangular gable is found below a pitched roof on either end of a building. Ancient temples were often filled with sculptures or relief decorations.

Peripteral

A building, usually a temple, with a single row of columns surrounding it

Peristyle

A structure with columns that enclose it, such as a peristyle temple with all four sides of the exterior or a peristyle courtyard with colonnaded porches on all four sides

Polychromy

The use of many colours in decoration, especially in architecture and sculpture. Refers to the brightly painted multi-coloured buildings and sculptures of the ancient world

Provenance

The place of origin or earliest known history of something. In art, it can refer to the chain of ownership of a piece from its origin to the present day

Pseudoperipteral

A building that mimics the peripteral colonnades that completely surrounded Greek temples. It has free-standing columns but engaged half columns around the side and back

Register

Division of an artistic field into parallel columns or rows. These  are usually horizontal bands, act as groundlines and aid in creating narrative (basically a divider)

Spandrel

The roughly triangular space between the curve of an arch and the surrounding molding that frames it. Spandrels on triumphal arches are usually filled with figures of Victory

Tablinum

A room in the Roman house off the atrium and directly opposite the front door. It was the major formal reception room, used to receive clients and conduct business

Tepidarium

The warm water room in a Roman bath complex, usually the largest and most central room of the bathing suite

Terminus post quem

“Time after which” refers to the notion that a datable object or event only tells us the date after which something might have occurred

Triclinium

Roman dining room laid out for nine diners relining on three couches (in Greek: tri cline) which the room get its name

Trompe l’oeil

“To fool the eye”, a technique in art to create the optical illusion of objects existing in three dimensional space

Tumulus

A type of tomb with a mound raised over it. Etruscan examples cover chamber tombs that belonged to extended families. Large tumuli resemble small hills

Veristic

“True” refers to a style of exaggerated naturalism or hyper-realism found in Roman portraits often to emphasize the age-dependent virtues of the subject

Votive

Something offered in fulfilment of a vow. These range from small statuettes to pieces of armor or altars or temples, all demonstrating the piety of the dedicant