History of Architecture 1: Etruscan, Roman, and Early Christian Architecture

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Etruscan, Classical Roman, and Early Christian architectural elements, building types, masonry techniques, and urban planning terms.

Bucchero ware

Shiny and black or gray pottery decorated with relief, developed by the Etruscans.

Pars antica

The deep front porch or hall of an Etruscan temple.

Tuscan Order

One of the five classical orders of architecture, developed by the Etruscans.

Composite Order

One of the five classical orders of architecture, developed by the Romans.

Canon of the Five Orders of Architecture

A book published in 1562 by Renaissance architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola that established the proportions of the five classical orders.

Pater Familias

The Father of the Family who headed the family unit, which was the basic unit of Roman society.

De Architectura Libri Decem

A treatise written by Vitruvius (also known as 'Ten Books of Architecture') focusing on Roman building methods, planning, and structural design.

Crown

The top of an arch, including the keystone, or the highest point of a vault.

Keystone

The central, often embellished wedge-shaped block (voussoir or key block) located at the apex of an arch.

Voussoir

A wedge-shaped masonry unit (wedgestone) in an arch or vault whose converging sides are cut to radial lines aligned with the center of the arch or vault.

Springer

The bottom voussoir of an arch resting directly upon an impost, where the vertical support ends and the curve begins (also known as a skewback or summer).

Impost

A masonry unit or course, often distinctively profiled, that receives and distributes the horizontal and vertical thrust at each end of an arch.

Intrados

The inner curve or soffit of an arch or vault forming its concave underside.

Extrados

The outer or exterior curve or face of an arch.

Springing line

The imaginary horizontal line where an arch or vault begins its curve and where the springers rest upon the imposts.

Abutment

A masonry mass that receives and counteracts the lateral thrust of an arch or vault, functioning similarly to a buttress.

Haunch

The middle section of an arch located between the crown and the springing point.

Spandrel

The roughly triangular wall area situated above and on either side of the curve of an arch.

Barrel Vault

An architectural element formed by the continuous extrusion of a single curve along a given distance, also referred to as a tunnel or wagon vault.

Groin Vault

A vault produced by the perpendicular, right-angle intersection of two barrel vaults (also known as a cross vault or double barrel vault).

Maison Carrée

A hexastyle, pseudo-peripteral Roman temple in Nîmes, France, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa in $16\text{ BCE}$ and dedicated to the sons of Emperor Augustus.

Oculus

A central circular opening at the crown of a dome, such as that in the Roman Pantheon, admitting natural light into the rotunda.

Coffer

A recessed or sunken square or polygonal ceiling panel (also called caisson or lacunar) that reduces ceiling weight and improves interior acoustics.

Opus Vittatum

A Roman construction technique utilizing squared tuff blocks intersected at regular or irregular intervals by horizontal brick bands.

Opus Incertum

A Roman masonry technique where small, irregular, uncut stones are randomly placed and inserted into a concrete core (Opus Caementicium).

Opus Reticulatum

Roman masonry using small squared stone blocks laid diagonally in a diamond or net-like pattern around a concrete core.

Opus Testaceum

A Roman construction technique characterized by thick horizontal brickwork facing.

Opus Latericium

Roman masonry featuring regularly laid courses of brick used to face a concrete core.

Opus Quadratum

A masonry technique where square or rectangular blocks of uniform height are set in parallel courses, often laid without mortar.

Opus Mixtum

Composite masonry combining Opus Reticulatum reinforced and intersected by horizontal brickbands or interlocked with Opus Latericium.

Opus Spicatum

A decorative and structural masonry pattern of bricks laid in a herringbone pattern to lock courses together and prevent sliding.

Opus Signinum

A composite material made of broken tiles pulverized into tiny pieces, blended with mortar, and firmly beaten down with a rammer.

Opus Sectile

An ancient decorative technique where larger, individually cut pieces of material are inlaid into walls and floors to create pictures or geometric designs.

Domus

A private, single-family Roman town house typically designed around an open central atrium and courtyards.

Atrium

The primary central inner reception hall of a Roman domus, featuring a central roof opening for light and rainwater collection.

Impluvium

A sunken water basin or cistern positioned in the floor at the center of a Roman atrium to catch rainwater.

Compluvium

An inward-sloping opening in the roof of an atrium that directs daylight and rainwater down to the impluvium.

Tablinum

The formal study or office space located off the atrium in a Roman domus, used to receive clients and house family records.

Triclinium

The formal dining room in a Roman house, typically fitted with three dining couches.

Peristylium

An open courtyard or garden (hortus) enclosed by a colonnaded walkway within a Roman residence.

Insula

A Roman urban apartment block (meaning 'island'), rising up to four stories, containing shops on the ground floor and lacking private sanitary baths.

Spina

The central raised dividing barrier or backbone running down the length of the track in a Roman circus, adorned with monuments, obelisks, and lap markers.

Velarium

A massive, retractable canvas awning system deployed above Roman amphitheaters like the Colosseum to shade spectators from the sun.

Vomitoria

Tiered passage exits and entrances in Roman theaters and amphitheaters that allowed crowds to enter and exit rapidly.

Hypogeum

The subterranean network of tunnels, cages, and mechanical lifts located beneath the arena floor of the Colosseum.

Thermae

Large public Roman bathing complexes that contained various heated and cold pools, recreational grounds, and libraries.

Caldarium

The warm/hot bath chamber in a Roman public bathhouse, strategically positioned to face southwest to capture maximum heat from the sun.

Frigidarium

The unheated, cold bath chamber located inside a Roman public bathing facility.

Hypocaust

An underfloor heating chamber where hot air and heated water from furnaces operated by slaves circulated beneath Roman floors and through wall flues.

Specus

The covered water conduit or channel supported on the uppermost arcade of a Roman aqueduct.

Cardo

The principal north-south oriented main street in a Roman grid-planned city or military encampment.

Decumanus

The secondary east-west oriented street in a Roman grid-planned city intersecting the cardo at the forum.

Catacombs

Subterranean networks of gallery tombs used by early Christians for secret worship and the burial of their deceased.

Ichthus

The early Christian symbol of a fish, formed by an acronym of the Greek words 'Iesous Christos Theou Yious Soter' (Jesus Christ God's Son Saviour).