Humanities Semester 1 Study Guide

Chauvet, Lascaux, Altamira

Locations where ancient paintings have been discovered.

Willendorf Venus

A prehistoric statuette discovered in Austria.

Megalith

A large stone used in the construction of ancient structures like Stonehenge.

Cromlech

A category of megalithic structures, including Stonehenge.

Sin

The moon god considered the resident god at Ur.

Babylonian army

Credited with capturing Jerusalem and deporting many Hebrews.

Narmer

Ancient Egyptian leader who unified Upper and Lower Egypt around 3000 B.C.E.

Amarna style

A new art style developed during the rule of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten.

Pi

A jade disc featuring a dragon and phoenix.

Thera

A place known for elaborately decorated homes and advanced sewage systems.

Bull

Symbolizes male virility and strength in Crete.

Pasiphae

Legendary Minoan queen who gave birth to the Minotaur.

Penelope

Wife of Odysseus in Greek mythology.

Acropolis

Translates to 'top of the city'; the religious center of an ancient Greek city-state.

Agora

A public meeting place and marketplace in an ancient Greek city-state.

Entasis

The architectural term for the swell and taper of columns.

Demes

Small local areas in the Athenian political system comparable to precincts.

Metope

Panels on the Parthenon depicting battles between Greeks and various enemies.

Marcus Junius Brutus

One of the assassins of Gaius Julius Caesar.

Imagines

Wax death masks used to create realistic portrait busts.

Augustus of Primaporta

Sculpture depicting Cupid riding a dolphin.

Ovid

Writings condemned by Augustus, resulting in Ovid's banishment from Rome.

Georgics

Literary works celebrating Augustus's gift of farmlands to veterans.

Colosseum

An amphitheater in Rome with three different architectural orders.

Pantheon

Contains an oculus conceived as the 'Eye of Jupiter'.

Patricians

Land-owning aristocrats in ancient Rome.

Plebeians

The poorer class in ancient Rome, including craftspeople and merchants.

Wergild

The value placed on a person's life in Anglo-Saxon law.

Beowulf

An epic poem about a Scandinavian warrior combating monsters.

Augustine

Credited with building key churches in England, including St. Paul’s.

Bishop Eadfrith

Designed the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Roland's horn

Made from ivory sourced from an elephant's tusk.

Refectory

The dining hall where monks ate.

Barrel vault

An elongated arched structure shaped like a half cylinder.

Voussoir

Wedge-shaped stones that form an arch in Romanesque architecture.

Chartres

Center of the Virgin cult during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Mary's tunic

The most cherished relic at Chartres Cathedral.

Stained-glass programs

Crafted to illustrate biblical stories in Gothic cathedrals.

Tree of Jesse

A stained-glass window showing Christ's genealogy at Chartres.

Flying buttress

Designed to support church walls and allow larger windows.

Saint Theodore

Figure on the jamb of Chartres’ south transept portal, depicted in contrapposto.

grammar, rhetoric, dialectic

The three foundational subjects of medieval education Trivium:

Bologna

The first city to establish a university, known for law studies.

Latin in education

Mandatory for all first-year studies in medieval educational systems.

Robert de Sorbon

Significant in organizing theology students in Paris.

Peter Abelard

Logician known for the dialectical method who authored 'Sic et Non'.

Trotula

Recognized for authoring 'On the Diseases of Women'.

Thomas Aquinas

Wrote the 'Summa Theologiae' and was a leading figure in Scholasticism.

Sainte-Chapelle

A Gothic church featuring the highest glass-to-stone ratio.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Known for painting the fresco 'Allegory of Good Government'.