Visual Dictionary of Architecture (HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE)

A systematic, often chronological narrative of significant events as relating to a particular people, country or period often including an explanation of their causes.

History

A cave in France, containing wall paintings and engravings thought to date from 13,000-8,500 BCE.

Lascaux Cave

A Neolithic settlement in Anatolia, dated 6500-5000 BCE. One of the world's earliest cities, it had mud-brick fortifications and houses, frescoed shrines, a fully developed agriculture, and extending trading in obsidian, the chief material for tool-making.

Catal Huyuk

A vast plateau between the Black, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, synonymous with the peninsula of Asia Minor; today comprises most of Turkey.

Anatolia

An ancient region in western Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, comprising the lands of Sumer and Akkad and occupied successively by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians; now part of Iraq.

Mesopotamia

An agricultural region arching from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the west to Iraq in the east, the location of humankind's earliest cultures.

Fertile Crescent

The architecture developed by the Sumerians, who dominated southern Mesopotamia from the 4th to the end of the 3rd millennium BC, characterised by monumental temples of sun-dried brick faced with burnt or glazed rich, often build upon the ruins of their predecessors.

Sumerian Architecture

An ancient region in southern Mesopotamia, where a number of independent cities and city-states were established as early as 5000 BC.. A number of its cities, such as Eridu, Uruk, an dUr, are major archeological sites.

Sumer

An artificial mound accumulated from the remains of one or more ancient settlements; often used in the Middle East as part of a place name.

Tell

An advanced state of human society marked by a relatives high level of cultural, technical, and political development.

Civilization

An enduring and cooperating large-scale community of people having common traditions, institutions, and identity, whose members have developed collective interests and beliefs through interaction with one another.

Society

The integrated pattern of human knowledge, beliefs, and behaviour built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Culture

A particular or distinctive form of artistic expression characteristic of a person, people or period.

Style

The manner in which meaning, spirit, or character is symbolised or communicated in the execution of an artistic work.

Expression

Of pertaining to or existing in the time prior to the recording of human events, knowledge of which is gained mainly though archaeological discoveries, study and research.

Prehistoric

The earliest know period of human culture preceding the Bronze Age and the Iron Age and characterised by the use of stone implements and weapons.

Stone Age

Of or relating to the last phase of the Stone Age, characterised by the cultivation of grain crops, domestication of animals, settlements of villages, manufacture of pottery and textiles, and use polished stone implements thought to have begun 9000-8000 BC.

Neolithic

A period of human history that began 4000-3000 BC, following the Stone Age and preceding the Iron Age, characterised by the use of bronze implements.

Bronze Age

A Bronze Age culture that flourished in the Indus Valley 2300-1500 BC.

Harappa

A neolithic culture in China centered around the fertile plains of the Yellow River, characterised by pit dwellings and fine pottery painted in geometric designs. Also, Yang Shao.

Yang Shao

A legendary dynasty in China, 2205-1766 BC. Also, Hsia.

Xia

A Chinese dynasty 1600 - 1030 BC marked by the introduction of writing, the development of an urban civilisation, and a mastery of bronze casting. Also, Yin.

Shang

The indigenous architecture of a vast country in easter Asia whose civilisation has continually evolved and surveyed longer than any other nation in the world. Despite the marked diversity in the architecture of various regions caused by differences in geographic and climate conditions, a unique system of wood frame construction gradually took shape over several millennia of innovation and synthesis and exerted a profound influence over the architecture of Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Chinese Architecture

The architecture of of the ancient civilisation that flourished along the Nile River in northwest Africa before 3000 BC to its annexation by Rome in 30 BC characterised especially by the axial planning of massive masonry tombs and temples, the use of trabeated construction with precise stonework, and the decoration of battered walls with pictographic carvings in relief. A preoccupation with eternity and the afterlife dominate the building of these funerary monuments and temples, which reproduced the features of domestic architecture but on a massive scale using stone for permanence.

Egyptian Architecture

The architecture of the Bronze Age civilisation that flourished on Crete from about 3000 to 1000 BC, named after the legendary King Minos of Knossos and characterised by the elaborate palaces at Knossos and Phaetus.

Minoan Architecture

The architecture of the Hittite Empire, which dominated Asia Minor and northern Syria from about 2000 to 1200 BC, characterised by fortifications of cyclopean stone masonry and gateways with portal sculptures.

Hittite Architecture

A Babylonian legal code instituted by Hammurabi in the mid-8th century BC, based o principles absorbed from Sumerian culture.

Code of Hammurabi

The architecture of the Aegean civilisation that spread its influence from Mycenea in southern Greece to many parts of the Mediterranean region from about 1600 to 11 BC, characterised by shaft graves, monumental beehive tombs, and palaces fortified with cyclopean walls.

Mycenaean Architecture

The Mesopotamian architecture developed under the Assyrian king-emperors of the 9th to 7th centuries BC. Within city walls strengthened by towers with crenelated battlements, palaces took precedence over religious buildings. Vaulting played a greater role than in southern Mesopotamia and polychrome glazed brickwork showed the influence of Egyptian decoration.

Assyrian Architecture

The architecture of the civilisation that the flourished on the Greek peninsula, in Asia Minor on the north coast of Africa, and in the western Mediterranean until the established of Roman dominion 146 CE, characterised by a system of construction based on rules of form and proportion. Temples of post-and-lintel construction were continually refined in a quest for perfection and their design influenced in a wide range of secular, civic buildings.

Greek Architecture

A Chinese Dynasty 1030-256 BC marked by the division of China into separate feudal states and the emergence of Confucianism and Taoism, which gave thrust to all subsequent Chinese Culture. Also, Chou.

Zhou

A philosophy that dominated China until the early 20th century, an ethical system based on the teachers of Confucius, emphasising love for humanity, harmony in thought and conduct, devotion to family, and reverence for parents, including the spirits of one's ancestors.

Confucianism

In Chinese philosophy and religion, the interaction of two opposing and complementary principles - one that is feminine, dark and negative (yin) and the other that is masculine, bright and positive (yang) that influences the destinies of creatures and things.

Yin Yang

Bright hall; a ritual structure in Chinese architecture that serves as the symbolic center of imperial power.

Mingtang

Jade ring moat; a ritual structure in Chinese architecture enclosing a space in the shape of the bi, a flat jade ceremonial disk. Originally a separate structure, the beyond later became part of a single ritual complex with the mingtang.

Biyong

Spirit altar: a raised astronomical observatory in Chinese architecture, usually the central, circular upper story of the mingtang.

Lingtai

A standard unit of space in Chinese architecture marked by adjacent frame supports. The nature and appropriate scale of a building determine the number of juan to be allotted; the resulting width, depth, and height of the building then determine the number of fen required for the cross section of each structural member. The spatial unit serves as a basis for the modular structure of a Chinese city; a number of jian connected become a building several buildings arranges along the sides of a lot frame a courtyard; a number of courtyard units side by side become an alley; a several alleys line up to create a small street district; a number of such district form a regular ward; wards surrounded the palace-city and create a grid of streets.

Jian

Of or pertaining to Mesoamerica culture from 2200 BC to 100 CE.

Preclassic

The Mesopotamian architecture that developed after the decline of the Assyrian Empire, deriving much from Assyrian architecture and enhanced by figured designs of heraldic animals in glazed brickwork.

Neo-Babylonia Architecture

A series of irrigated ornamental gardens planted on the terraces of the Citadel, the palace complex in ancient Babylon; regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Of or pertaining to ancient Greek history, culture and art, especially before the time of Alexander the Gread.

Hellenic

Of or pertaining to Greek history, culture and art from the time Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC through the 1st century BC during which Greek dynasties were established in Egypt, Syria, and Persia and Greek culture was modified by foreign elements.

Hellenistic

The architecture developed under the Acheamemenid dynasty of kinds who rules ancient Persia from 550 BC until its conquest by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, characterised by a synthesis of architecture elements of surrounding countries, such as Assyria, Egyp, and lorian Greece.

Persian Architecture

A telamon portrayed in Persian dress.

Persian

The grand columnar audience hall in a Persian palace.

Apadana

The architecture developed under Parthian rule in Iran and western Mesopotamia, from the 3rd central BC to the 3rd century CE combining classical with indigenous features.

Parthian Architecture

The architecture of the Etruscan people in west central Italy from the 8th to 3rd centuries BC before the rise of Rome. Its construction methods, especially that of the true stone arch, influenced later Roman architecture.

Etruscan Architecture

A fortified wall commenced under the Zhou dynasty to protect China against nomads from the north and serve as a means of communication. Various sections were built and connected until, during the Ming dynasty, it extended for 1,500 miles from southern Kansu province to the coast of east Beijing.

Great Wall of China

Chinese philosophy and religion considered next to Confucianism in importance. Based on the teachings of Lao-Tzu, it emphasises a life of simplicity and noninterference with the coarse of natural events in order to attain a happy existence in harmony with the Tao. As a religion, it dates from 143 CE, becoming popular during the deluxe of the Han dynasty and the introduction of Buddhism to China.

Taoism

The Way; the creative principle that orders the universe.

Tao

A pre-Incan culture that flourished on the northern coast of Peru from 200 BC to 700 CE noted for its fine pottery and the colossal Temple of the Sun, a terraced pyramid made entirely of adobe bricks. Also called Moche.

Mochica

A dynasty in China, 221-206 BC, makes by the emergence of a centralised government and the construction of much of the Great Wall of China. Also, Ch'in.

Qin

The architecture of the Mesoamerican civilisation which flourished 1200-500 BC in the tropical lowlands of the Mexican Gulf Coast, characterised by temple-pyramids and large ceremonial centres.

Olmec Architecture

The architecture of the Indian subcontinent, from the Indus Valley culture of the Harappa to the Mauryan era, and later to periods of foreign domination and indigenous rules, characterised especially by Hindu and Buddhist monuments, sometimes sharing the same site, and rhythmic, stratified multiplication of motifs and profuse carved ornamentation, often combining the religious and the sensuous.

Indian Architecture

A Peruvian culture lasting from 1000 BC to 200 BC based on the worship of the jaguar god and characterised by excellent stone sculpture, elaborate gold work, and remarkable ceramics; named after a town in central Peru, where a complex of massive stone buildings with subterranean galleries surround formal courtyards.

Chavin

A member of an ancient Indian people who united northern India and established an established an empire 320 BC architecture from this period shows the cultural influence or Achaemenid Persia and the first use of dressed stone.

Maurya

The architecture of the Chavin civilisation that developed in the northern Andean highlands from 900 BC to 200 BC characterised chiefly by the Chavin de Haunter temple complex.

Chain Architecture

A column of rock portraying a Chavin mythical being who provided the god's oracular declamation.

Lanzon

The architecture of ancient Greece and Rome on which the Italian Renaissance and subsequent styles, such as the Baroque and the Classic Revival, based on their development.

Classical Architecture

The architecture of the ancient Roman people, characterised by massive brick and concrete construction employing such features as the semicircular arch, the barrel and groin vaults, and the dome, a simplicity and grandeur of massing often combined with elaborate detailing, the elaboration of the Greek orders a purely decorative motifs for the adornment of facades and interiors, and the use of marble linings, mosaics and folded stucco interiors.

Roman Architecture

A city in the central part of Italy, which, according to tradition, was founded by Romulus and Remus in 758 BC; ancient capital of the Roman Empire and site of Vatican City, the seat of authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Rome

The main north-south route in an ancient Roman town or military camp.

Cardo

The main east-west route in an ancient Roman town or military camp.

Decumanus

An ancient Roman military camp having streets laid out in a grid pattern.

Castrum

An elaborate public bathing establishment of the ancient Greeks and Romans, consisting of hot, warm and cool plunges, swear rooms, and athletic and other facilities.

Thermae

The room in an ancient Roman thermal containing hot water for bathing.

Caldarium

A room containing a bath of moderately warm water in an ancient Roman thermal, located between the frigidarium and the caladium.

Tepidarium

The room in an ancient Roman thermal contains a bath of unheated water.

Frigidarium

A system of flues in the floor or walls of ancient Roman buildings, especially baths, that provided central heating by receiving and distributing the heat from a furnace.

Hypocaust

An underground cemetery consisting of linked galleries and chambers with recesses for coffins and tombs. The term most commonly refers to the subterranean complex of layered corridors with burial vaults, chambers, and niches, covered with inscribed tablets and often decorated with frescoes, built by the early Christians in and near Rome.

Catacombs

Of or pertaining to Mesopotamia culture from 100 to 900 CE.

Classic

The area extending from central Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula to Honduras and Nicaragua in which pre-Columbian civilisations flourished. These cultures shared temple-pyramids and a pantheon of deities including sun, wind, and rain gods. While they excelled in astronomy and the measurement of time, they are not know to have had the use of the wheel, iron implements, or an understanding of the true arch.

Mesoamerica

Of or pertaining to Americas before the voyages of Columbus.

Pre-Columbian

The dynasty of the Mauryan empire in northern India, 320-540 CE whose court was the center of classical Indian art and literature; the earliest substantial architecture remains are from this period.

Gupta

The architecture of Mesoamerican civilisation of the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, and part of Honduras, from the 1st century CE to its peak in the 9th century, characterised by magnificent ceremonial centres with temple-pyramids, ritual ball courts, spacious plazas, and palaces with sculptured facades.

Mayan Architecture

Mayan word for the deep water-filled sinkholes that the Itza associated with he underworld.

Cenote

A Hindu state established in southern India 350 CE contributed to the expansion of India culture into Southeast Asia.

Pallava

A style of Indian architecture in the Pallava period, named after the language spoken in southern India.

Dravidian

The final phase of Roman architecture, following the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by Constantine in 313 CE and lasting until the coronation of the Charlemagne in 800 CE as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, characterised by churches planned for congregational worship especially the basilica; coincident with and related to the rise of Byzantine architecture.

Early Christian Architecture

The architecture prevalent in Persia the formed a link between the older Mesopotamian traditions and the Byzantine, and characterised by palaces with elliptical vaults and domes set on squinches and stuccoed masonry walls articulated by pilasters and cornices.

Sassanian Architecture

The architecture of the European Middle Ages, comprising the architecture of the Byzantine, Pre-Romanesque, Romanesque and Gothic Periods.

Medieval Architecture

The time in European history between classical antiquity and the Renaissance, often dated from 476 CE when Romulus Agustulus, the last Roman Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed, to about 1500.

Middle Ages

The early part of the Middle Ages, from about 476 BE to 1000.

Dark Ages

The style of Architecture emerging in Italy and western Europe in the 9th century and lasting until the advent of Gothic architecture in the 12th century, comprising a variety of related regional styles and characterised by heavy, articulated masonry construction with narrow openings, the use of the round and barrel vault,the development of the vaulting rib and shaft, and the introduction of central and western towers for churches.

Romanesque Architecture

The early Romanesque architecture of the Frankish dynasty that reigned in France 751-987 CE and in Germany until 911 CE, characterised by a revival of the forms of classical antiquity modified by ecclesiastical requirements.

Carolingian Architecture

The early Romanesque architecture of northern Italy during the 7th and 8th centuries, characterised by the use of Early Christian and Roman forms and the development of the ribbed vault and vaulting shaft.

Lombard Architecture

The architecture of the eastern sphere of the later Roman Empire, developing from late Roman and early Christian antecedents in the 5th century CE and influencing church building in Greece, Italy and elsewhere former than a thousand years; characterised by masonry construction, round arches, shallow domes carried on pendentives, and the extensive use of rich frescoes, coloured glass mosaics, and marble revetments to cover whole interiors.

Byzantine Architecture

The eclectic architecture of the Amerindian civilisation which flourished 500 BCE - 1000 CE in the highland valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, assimilating influences from the Olmecs and from Teotihuacan during the Classic period.

Zapotec Architecture

A pre-incas culture existing c 300 BCE to 900 CE, chiefly in Peru and Bolivia characterised by monolithic stone carving polychrome pottery, and bronze artefacts.

Tiahuanaco

A well commonly found in western India, often several stories deep and having architectural features especially long staircases that reach down to a dependable, year-round supply of water from underground aquifer. Also called Boali, Bawdi.

Stepwell

The early Romanesque architecture of the German dynasty that ruled as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 962 to 1002 CE characterised by the development of forms derived from Carolingian and Byzantine concepts.

Ottonian Architecture

The early Romanesque architecture of England before the Norman Conquest in 1066, characterised by the translation of timber prototypes into stones.

Anglo-Saxon Architecture

The Romanesque architecture introduced from Normandy into England before the Norman Conquest and flourishing until the rise of Gothic architecture c. 1200, characterised by the building of great Benedictine Abbeys, the two-tower facade supplementing a central tower over the crossing, and the use of geometric ornamentation.

Norman Architecture

The conquest of England by the Normans under William the Conquereor in 1066.

Norman Conquest

The architect of the Muslim peoples from the 7th century on, developing in the wake of Muhammedan conquests of diverse territories from Spain the west to India in the east and absorbing elements of art and architecture from each region; characterised by the development of the mosque as a distinct building type, domes and tunnel vaults of brick and stone, round and horseshoe arches, and rich surface decorations incorporating calligraphy and floral motifs in geometric framework because of the ban on human and animal representations.

Islamic Architecture

The religious faith of Muslims, based on the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, the central themes of which are belief in the one God, Allah. The civilisation built on Islamic faith.

Islam

Arab prophet and founder of Islam, 570-632 CE,

Muhammad

The islamic architecture of North Africa and especially of the regions of Spain under Moorish domination, characterised by the building of large mosques and elaborate fortress-palaces.

Moorish Architecture

A member of the Muslim people of northwest Africa who invaded the Spain in the 8th century and occupied it until 1942.

Moor

A style of Spanish architecture produced from the 9th to 15 centuries by Christiams under Moorish influence, characterised by the horseshoe arch and other Moorish features.

Mozarabic Style