Roman Art Exam 2

Domus

A large, single-family townhouse in ancient Rome, typically belonging to the wealthy or elite classes.

Domus Italica

The early, more traditional form of the domus, characterized by an axial plan with a central atrium and tablinum.

Hellenized Domus

A later, more elaborate form of the domus influenced by Greek architecture, notably including a peristyle garden.

Vestibulum

The entrance hall or passage leading from the street into the fauces or atrium.

Fauces

The narrow entrance passageway leading into the atrium from the vestibulum.

Atrium

The main central hall or reception area of a Roman house; often featured the impluvium and compluvium.

Impluvium

The sunken basin or pool in the floor of the atrium designed to collect rainwater from the compluvium.

Compluvium

The rectangular opening in the roof above the atrium that allowed light, air, and rain (which fed the impluvium) into the house.

Ala, alae

(Singular Ala) Open recesses or wings on either side of the atrium, often used to display ancestral portraits (imagines).

Tablinum

The main office, study, or reception room of the paterfamilias, located between the atrium and the peristyle.

Triclinium

The formal dining room of a Roman house, named for the three kline (couches) arranged around a central table.

Cubiculum, cubicula

(Singular Cubiculum) A small bedroom or private chamber.

Hortus

A garden, usually a simple garden space at the back of the domus italica.

Peristyle

A courtyard or garden area surrounded by a colonnaded walkway (portico), typical of the Hellenized domus.

Exedra

A semicircular or rectangular recess or large room, often opening onto the peristyle, used for conversation or receptions.

Taberna, tabernae

(Singular Taberna) A single-room shop or workshop opening onto the street, often located in the front of a domus or on the ground floor of an insula.

Thermopolium

A Roman fast-food counter or bar that served hot food and drinks.

Villa

A country house or estate, often large and luxurious, situated outside the city walls.

Freedperson (libertus/liberta)

A formerly enslaved person who has been legally freed (manumitted). Libertus (male), Liberta (female).

Manumission

The legal act of releasing an enslaved person from slavery.

Otium / Negotium

Otium refers to leisure, private life, and scholarly pursuits; Negotium refers to business, public affairs, and work.

1st Style (Masonry / Incrustation Style)

A style of Roman wall painting (c. 200 - 80 BCE) characterized by painted stucco reliefs mimicking costly stone veneers and colored marble blocks.

2nd Style (Architectural Style)

A style of Roman wall painting (c. 80 - 15 BCE) that used trompe-l'oeil techniques to create the illusion of three-dimensional architectural features and landscapes receding into the distance.

Salutatio

The daily formal morning reception where clients (clientes) paid respects to their patron (patronus) in the atrium.

Familia

The entire Roman household, including the paterfamilias, his wife, children, slaves (servi/servae), and freedpersons (liberti/libertae).

Paterfamilias (Dominus)

The male head of the Roman family, who held legal authority (patria potestas) over the familia. Dominus is another term for master or head of the house.

Materfamilias (Domina)

The wife of the paterfamilias and female head of the household. Domina is another term for mistress.

Amicus, pl. amici

A friend or, more commonly in the social context, a client who participated in the salutatio.

Liberti / Libertae

Plural for freedmen (liberti) and freedwomen (libertae).

Servi / Servae

Plural for enslaved men (servi) and enslaved women (servae).

3rd Style (Ornamental Style)

A style of Roman wall painting (c. 15 BCE - 50 CE) characterized by delicate, linear architectural elements, thin columns, and small, framed pictures set against monochromatic backgrounds.

4th Style (Intricate Style)

A style of Roman wall painting (c. 50 - 79 CE) that is a mix of the previous styles, featuring crowded compositions, fantastic architectural forms, and large mythological narrative panels.

acanthus

A Mediterranean plant whose stylized leaves form the primary decoration on Corinthian capitals and friezes.

atmospheric perspective

A technique used in painting to suggest distance by making objects in the background appear progressively paler, less detailed, and bluer.

grotto

A small, natural or artificial cave, often used as a decorative feature in gardens, sometimes associated with water.

hortus conclusus

Latin for "enclosed garden," a type of small, secluded garden, often with religious or symbolic meaning.

locus amoenus / locus horridus

Locus amoenus ("pleasant place") refers to an idealized, fertile, and secluded spot, often associated with pleasure and poetry; locus horridus ("horrible place") is a wild, untamed, and desolate landscape.

"sacral-idyllic"

A term used to describe landscape paintings (often found in the 2nd and 3rd Styles) that depict rustic sanctuaries, shrines, or herdsmen in a peaceful, idealized setting.

rus in urbe

Latin for "countryside in the city," referring to the practice of creating gardens (horti or peristyles) within urban houses to evoke a pastoral, rural feel.

Pistrina

A baker's shop or public bakery, often featuring large mills for grinding grain.

Fullo / Fullonica

A Fullo is a fuller, a laundry worker who cleaned and treated cloth; a Fullonica is the workshop where this trade was performed.

Collegium

A legally recognized association or guild of people sharing a profession, religious devotion, or social function.

Symposium (Greek)

A Greek drinking party, often involving intellectual discussion, music, and poetry.

Convivium

The Roman equivalent of a Greek symposium, a dinner party or banquet, but generally more focused on social and political networking than intellectual pursuits.

Epulum

A large, public feast or banquet, often associated with religious festivals.

Cena

The main Roman meal of the day, eaten in the late afternoon or evening.

Comissatio

The drinking phase following a Roman dinner (cena or convivium).

Kline / Lectus

Dining Couch

Summus / medius / imus

The three positions on a Roman dining couch (lectus)

Terra sigillata

A type of fine, mass-produced red-gloss Roman pottery, often decorated with molded relief designs.

Mosaic

Emblema

Asarotos Oikos mosaic

A famous style of mosaic, literally "unswept floor," depicting food scraps and remnants dropped on the floor after a banquet, often used in triclinia.

Gustatio / Mensae primae / Mensae secundae

The three courses of a formal Roman meal

Bird’s-eye view

A perspective that depicts a scene or object from high above, as if seen by a bird.

ludi

ludi scaenici, ludi circenses

munera

Private spectacles, typically gladiatorial combats, provided by individuals for the public good.

pulvinar

A special imperial box or viewing stand in the Circus Maximus or other venues, often resembling a temple facade.

euripus /spina

The euripus or spina is the long barrier running down the center of the Circus Maximus track.

metae

The turning posts at each end of the spina in the Circus Maximus, which marked the end of the circuit.

carceres

The starting gates in the Circus Maximus, where the chariots lined up before the race.

Balnea

Smaller, private, or neighborhood public baths.

thermae

Large, imperial public bath complexes, which included not only bathing facilities but also exercise areas, libraries, and gardens.

apodyterium

The changing room or locker room in a Roman bath.

tepidarium

The warm room in a Roman bath, serving as a transition space between the apodyterium and the hot room.

caldarium

The hot room in a Roman bath, typically heated by a hypocaust and containing a hot plunge bath.

frigidarium

The cold room in a Roman bath, containing a cold plunge bath.

palaestra

An open-air exercise ground or courtyard, typically attached to a bath complex.

hypocaust

An ancient Roman system of underfloor heating, used to heat the caldarium and tepidarium.

natatio

An open-air swimming pool in a Roman bath complex.

Syncresis

The fusion or blending of different religious or philosophical beliefs and practices (e.g., Roman deities with local deities).

defixio (pl. defixiones)

(Singular defixio) A curse tablet, often a thin sheet of lead or bronze inscribed with a magical curse or plea to a deity.

ex voto

An offering made to a deity in fulfillment of a vow.

labyrinth mosaics

Mosaics depicting a maze pattern, sometimes associated with the myth of the Minotaur.

Flavian Dynasty (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian)

The Roman imperial dynasty that ruled from 69 CE to 96 CE, succeeding the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.

Jewish War (66–73 CE)

A major rebellion by the Jewish people against the Roman Empire, culminating in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 CE.

Josephus

A Jewish historian (originally Joseph ben Mattityahu) who documented the Jewish War and other events of the period.

triumphal arch

A monumental archway, often built to commemorate a military victory or successful campaign, such as the Arch of Titus commemorating the Jewish War.

Attic inscription

An inscription placed on the attic (the uppermost story or extension above the main cornice) of a triumphal arch, typically recording the dedication.

barrel vault

A simple, semicircular vault, in effect a continuous arch, forming a tunnel.

keystone arch

An arch where the central, wedge-shaped stone (keystone) locks the other voussoirs into position.

Amazon

A member of a mythical race of female warriors, often depicted in Roman art.

personification

The representation of an abstract quality or idea (such as Victory, Rome, or a river) as a human figure.

deification / divinization / apotheosis

The act of elevating a person (like a deceased emperor) to divine rank; apotheosis is often specifically used for the process of an emperor becoming a god.

coffers

Recessed, sunken panels in a ceiling, vault, or dome, often used for decorative and structural purposes (e.g., in the Arch of Titus).

rosettes

Circular, rose-like decorative elements, often found within coffers.