Early Aegean Vocab

History of World Architecture I

Ashlar

hewn stone masonry with even faces and square edges laid in horizontal courses with

vertical joints

as opposed to rubble or unhewn stone straight from the quarry

Corbel

parallel masonry layers, each projecting beyond the one below

Corbel arch

a “false” arch constructed by progressively cantilevering or corbeling from the two sides with horizontal joints.

Cushion capital

in pre-Classical Greek architecture, a simple rounded capital carved from a block of stone, resembling a round cushion or pillow

Cyclopean stones

in pre-Classical Greek architecture, masonry constructed of very large irregular blocks of stone. The later Greeks believed such masonry was the work of a race of giants, the cyclopes

Dromos

a long, high-walled, sloping entrance passage to a Mycenaean tholos tomb

Jamb

the vertical face of an archway, doorway, or window

Labyrinth

a building with, or arrangement of, winding and confusing passageways

megaron

the principal hall of an Anatolian, Cretan, or Mycenaean palace or house. It is rectangular in plan, with a circular central hearth and a front porch formed by the prolongation of the side walls

Postern

a small gateway, sometimes concealed, at the back of a castle, town, or monastery

Propylaeum (propylon)

an entrance-gateway to an enclosure (usually to a temple or palace precinct)

Relieving arch

an arch, usually of rough construction, placed in a wall above an arch or any opening, to relieve it of much of the superincumbent weight

Tholos

(pl., tholoi) a round tomb. In Mycenaean architecture, a round, corbel-vaulted tomb; also referred to as the “beehive” tomb