Terms and Periods of Greece and Rome

Geometric Period

900-700 BC, dark ages over, economy better, cities are being formed, trade is good, art, poetry, and writing are back, interest back in the human figure with painted pottery

Orientalizing Period

700-600 BC, trade is big with the near east and Asia, specifically Egypt, pottery, ceramics are evolving

Archaic Period

600-480 BC, flourishing period, growth, change, monumental stone sculpture is back

Early Classical Period

480-450 BC, characterized by solemnity, strength, and simplicity of a form.

High Classical Period

450-400 BC, fully developed concept of contrapposto stance, Intense study of human figure, Detail, Idealism, "High" Classical given by art historians due to unsurpassed excellence, Explore relationship between actual and ideal

black-figure technique

refined, controlled means of creating the effects on the decorated vases

red-figure technique

In later Greek pottery, the silhouetting of red figures against a black background, with painted linear details; the reverse of the black-figure technique.

Kouros/Kore

Young man/woman in Archaic Greek Statues

encaustic

mixing pigment with hot wax, apply pigment when its warm, slick and shiny, sheen to it

naos (cella)

large open area with the statue of deity

pronaos

little front porch area

peripteral

single row of columns, go all around the temple

frieze

a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration, especially on a wall near the ceiling.

entablature

a horizontal, continuous lintel on a classical building supported by columns or a wall, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

architrave

a main beam resting across the tops of columns, specifically the lower third entablature.

triglyph

a triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes

metope

panel between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, often sculpted in relief

pediment

the triangular top of a temple that contains sculpture

cornice

projecting molding on building (usually above columns or pillars)

stylobate

The uppermost course of the platform of a Greek temple, which supports the columns.

column (base, shaft, capital)

A vertical, weight-carrying architectural member, circular in cross-section and consisting of a base (sometimes omitted), a shaft, and a capital.

entasis

a slight convex curve in the shaft of a column, introduced to correct the visual illusion of concavity produced by a straight shaft.

Classical Orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian)

The orders describe the form and decoration of Greek and later Roman columns, and continue to be widely used in architecture today

caryatid

a female figure that functions as a supporting column

contrapposto

A style of Greek sculpture where people are depicted standing and leaning so that the person's weight is being put on one side. People are depicted with their bodies curved like an "S"

Golden Ratio

approximately 1.618 and is believed to be aesthetically pleasing in art and architecture