Ancient Mediterranean art history vocab

Agora

Public open space used for assemblies and markets in Ancient Greece

Anu

Personification of the sky and kings of the gods in ancient Mesopotamia

Clerestory

Raised part of a rook that’s crested with taller columns. It lets light it in.

Contrapposto

Style where the figures weight is on one foot, giving the body a graceful realistic shape.

Greek orders

Doric: simple, Ionic: capital has swirls and a simple base, Corinthian: intricate capital and base. Vegetal motifs

Hypostyle

Buildings with roofs supported by columns

Iconography

Images or symbols in art

Idealism

Artwork created to meet a cultural/personal idea of perfection

Kore

Statue of a goddess

Kouros

Statue of a young male

Lost wax casting

Metalworking technique in Ancient Greece where wax was melted away to make a hollow bronze sculpture.

Mosaic

Forming an image using tiny pieces of material, like tile or glass.

Pediment

Triangular upper part of the front of a building in classical Greek style.

Peristyle

External colonnade on all four sides of a temple or structure like the Parthenon

Pyramid text

Guidebook for the deceased on their way to the afterlife

Register

Band of relief sculptures. In architecture it’s called a Frieze

Sphinx

Mythical creature with the head of man and body of a lion and it has wings

Stele

Upright stone or slab with an inscription or design

Tell

Archeological mound of layers of human settlement

Theocracy

Type of government where a god is recognized as the ruler and the officials operate on behalf of the god.

Tholos

Round temple

Tripartite plan

Architectural design is divided into three main sections, with a central hall and rooms off to the side.

Tuscan column

Undoubted column with a Doric capital and simple base. Roman

Votive

Object offered in fulfillment of a vow

Ziggurat

Massive rectangular sloped tower, consisting of raised platform with four sloping sides. A place for spiritual worship.