CLCV131: Archaic Period Vocab

Submycenaean

1125-1050 BC; less sophisticated; less heavily decorated; less skilled potters; haphazard decoration

Protogeometric

1050-900 BC; circles/curves painted w multiple brushes; usually don’t see animal/human figures

Early Geometric

900-850 BC; geometric wow; more sophisticated geometry; decoration takes up more of pot

Middle Geometric

850-750 BC; human and animal figures (not main decor)

Heroön

a shrine dedicated to an ancient Greek or Roman hero and used for the commemoration or cult worship of the hero; often erected over his or her supposed tomb

Apse

a domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church

Al-Mina

an ancient trading post on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria, in the estuary of the Orontes River, near Samandağ, in Hatay Province of Turkey

Emporion

trading center

Hekatompedon

"hundred feet" in Greek

Architectural Order

Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite. There are many separate elements that make up a complete column and entablature.

Xoanon

statue of a god protected by a temple; the oldest of which, called xoana,
were made of wood and thus quite fragile
(pl = Xoana)

Electrum

alloy of gold and silver, used to produce the first coins

Phoenicians

developed a written language – an alphabet, not a syllabary

Temenos

boundary in which worship activities took place

Altar

a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices or offerings to a deity

Naos/Hieron

dwelling of a god; inner part of a temple; shrine

Pronaos

a vestibule at the front of a classical temple, enclosed by a portico and projecting sidewalls

Opisthodomos

the rear room of an ancient Greek temple or the inner shrine

Pteron

a side (as of a temple) in classical architecture

Sekos

a sacred enclosure or inner sanctuary

Stoa

a freestanding colonnade or covered walkway; also, a long open building, its roof supported by one or more rows of columns parallel to the rear wall; porch(?)

Sphyrelata

a type of archaic Greek bronze votive statues of considerable size

Peribolos

wall around space (peri = all the way around)

Propylaia

fancy/monumental gate

Perirrhanterion

water basin for ritual cleaning

Agalma

(dedications) high value gifts; means “a thing for looking at”

Votive Offering

(dedications) little gifts to give to the god as reminders; do something nice for me in return

Votive Deposit

(dedications) buried extra votive offerings

Kernos

bowl with multiple little wells for the first things people produced that year (e.g: wool, cherries)

Asylia

(cf: modern asylum)

Miasma

“bad vibes”; need to be ritually cleaned

Acroterion

little sculptures on the roof

Pediment

the triangular place under the roof of a temple

Entablature

EVERYTHING ABOVE THE COLUMNS; a horizontal, continuous lintel on a classical building supported by columns or a wall, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice (NOT THE TRIANGLE PART?)

Doric frieze

uses triglyph and metope, in the entablature

Triglyph

(doric frieze) vertically channeled tablets

Metope

(doric frieze) a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs

Doric column

base of column sits right on the top step of the temple (styleobate), with nothing in between (no fr base ig, column just starts); top of column is very simple

Abacus

(doric column) square bit between the entablature and the capital

Echinus

(doric column) round bit below abacus

Flutes

(doric column) grooves running down a column

Column Shaft

(doric column) tall bit of column

Peristyle

holds the end of the roof up??; a row of columns surrounding a space within a building such as a court or internal garden or edging a veranda or porch

Pteron

walkway between outside(?) and temple

Columns in antis

columns between the ends of walls

Pronaos

“thing before the naos”; porch

Naos/Cella

main room

Adyton

fourth little room connected to the naos but no to the opisthodomos; "no go area"; for fancy votive offerings

Prostyle

features a row of columns on the front

Amphiprostyle

small temple with a row of columns in the front and back, NOT all the way around

Peripteral

features columns all the way around

Dipteral

features two sets of columns all the way around (double peristyle)

Hexastyle

6 columns across the front

Oktastyle

8 columns across the front

Entasis

swelling of the columns to make a building look lighter (less heavy, not less dark)

Visual Refinements

small adjustments to a building to influence the perception of the structure

Echinus

wider than abacus in Doric style

The Doric Corner Conflict

Have to end the corner of a doric temple on a column and want the triglyph centered over a column, but want to keep the triglyphs and metopes at regular sizes

Ionic Frieze

• Column with a base (as opposed to baseless doric columns)
• Column capital with volutes (curly pieces) / more décor in general
• Ionic Frieze - often sculpted with low reliefs (NO triglyphs or metopes)

Volute

curly pieces at the top of columns

Column Base

at the bottom of Ionic style columns??

Polychromy

painted with many colors

Daidalic Style

Crete and the Cycladic islands; mostly women; weirdly high up eyes; cinched waists; grid like hair

Kore / Korai

statue of young women/maiden; influenced by ANE

Kouros / Kouroi

statue of young man; influenced by Egypt; rarely clothed

Canon of Proportions

grid guideline for sketching before carving/painting; from Egypt but adopted by the Greeks

Archaic smile

technical issue; sign of status (geleontes = aristocrats/"the smiling ones")

Chiton

wide width of fabric draped to make a dress

Himation

mantle, wrap, cape

Peplos

narrower, heavier than Chiton; worn over Chiton; like wearing a jumper

Fibulae

clothespins

Kosmos

adornment, order, government, universe (women's beauty standards)

Kaos

chaos, disorder

Kerameikos

industrial part of Athens with pottery workshops and cemeteries

Prosthesis

lying in state of a body?

Protocorinthian style (pottery)

small objects, color + patterns, incision, influenced by ANE

Cycladic relief style (pottery)

decoration extrudes from the pot

Protoattic style (pottery)

decorated with scenes from mythology??; decorative fillers; foreshortening

Attic Black Figure

silhouette elaborated with red/white paint and engraved details

Slip

clay + water; used to decorate pots

Sinter

process by which slip turns to an impermeable, glassy surface

Kiln

furnace used to fire pottery

Amphora

a storage/transport vessel; associated with the burial of women

Pithos

very large storage jar

Krater

large open vessel for mixing wine; associated with the burial of men

Skyphos / Kantharos

deep drinking cup

Kylix

shallow drinking bowl

Olpe / Oinochoe

pouring jug

Pyxis

small jar with a lid for storage

Lekythos

pouring jug with a long neck for oil

Hoplite

Focused on combat between formations of non-elite citizen soldiers, as opposed to individual combat (e.g: in Trojan War epics)

Achilles

a mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; a foremost Greek warrior at the siege of Troy

Homeric Hero

men of superhuman strength, courage, or ability, favoured by the gods (e.g: Achilles)

Wedding of Peleus and Thetis

Aphrodite bribed Peleus that he would have a beautiful wife; Peleus marries Thetis, they birth Achilles

Connoisseurship

they have a deep love and extensive knowledge of a subject that's considered to be a matter of taste

Etruscans

member of an ancient people of Etruria, Italy; liked to collect Greek vases

Tumulus

an ancient burial mound; a barrow

Lydos

Attic vase painter in the black-figure style; signed "The Lydian"

Bilingual Vase Painting

vase with Side A (more important) & Side B depicting 2 different things; appear in the early development of the Attic red figure technique

The Pioneer Group

painters Euphronios, Euthymides, Smikros, Hypsias, the 'Dikaios Painter' and Phintias