AP Art History Unit 1 Vocab

Apadana

An audience hall in a Persian palace.

Capital

The topmost member of a column.

Cella

The inner area of a temple.

Henge

A circular Neolithic monument used for rituals and marking astronomical events.

Mastaba

An Egyptian rectangular tomb with sloping sides, a flat roof, and an underground burial chamber.

Axial Plan

A design where parts of a building are organized longitudinally along a given axis.

Canon of Proportions

A rule for size relationships, often applied to the human figure and architecture.

Hierarchy of Scale

An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.

Register

A horizontal band used to organize compositional elements.

Unity

A principle of art that occurs when all elements combine to create a harmonious, complete whole.

Bitumen

A naturally-occurring tarry substance used in paint mixtures.

Gypsum

A soft white substance resembling chalk, used to make plaster.

Mud-brick

Sun-dried building material made from clay, water, and a binding material such as straw.

Spolia

The re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments.

Ziggurat

A terraced pyramid with a flat top from ancient Mesopotamia.

Biomorphic

Images that, while abstract, refer to living forms such as plants and the human body.

Conical

Having the shape of a cone.

Naturalism

A true-to-life depiction, closely related to realism.

Stylized

A nonrealistic manner of representing the visible world, abstracted from nature.

Formal

Pertaining to the purely visual aspects of art.

Iconographical Program

The meaning and symbols used in a work of art.

Ka

The Ancient Egyptian spiritual part of a person that survives after death (soul).

Lapis Lazuli

A blue semi-precious stone native to Afghanistan, used in the making of ultramarine pigment.

Shamanism

A religion in which good and evil spirits can be influenced by specialists with access to them.

Theocracy

A form of government in which a god is recognized as the supreme civil ruler.

Cuneiform

Wedge-shaped characters on clay tablets in the ancient writing of Mesopotamia.

Dynasty

A succession of people from the same family.

Empire

An extensive group of countries under a single supreme authority.

Polytheism

The belief in more than one god.

Realism

A true-to-life depiction, closely related to naturalism.

Modeling

Creating the illusion of volume on a two-dimensional surface by shading.

Relief Sculpture

Shapes carved on a surface to stand out from the background.

Stele

An upright stone slab used to mark a grave or a site.

Sarcophagus

A stone coffin associated with ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece.

Obelisk

An upright stone pillar with a square or rectangular shaft and a pyramidal top.

Lintel

A horizontal beam over an opening.

Post-and-Lintel

A method of construction in which two vertical supports hold up a horizontal beam.

Hypostyle Hall

A hall with many columns carrying the roof or ceiling.

Pylon

An Egyptian gateway with sloping sides.

Composition

The arrangement of visual elements in a work of art.

Function

The artist's intended use and actual use of the artwork, which may change based on audience, time, or location.

Technique

Skills, methods, tools, and technologies used in the art-making processes.

Innovation

The introduction of new ideas or methods.

Procession

A number of people moving forward in an orderly fashion as part of a ceremony.