Ancient Greek Art and Architecture Vocabulary

Flashcards defining key architectural terms, sculptural concepts, and historical cultures from the Greek art lecture notes.

Mycenaeans

A militaristic group from the north in ancient Greece who finished off the Minoans and buried their dead in Tholos tombs.

Minoans

An ancient civilization associated with the leaping bull picture, featuring decentralized, multi-level structures with air shafts rather than a single king's quarters.

Cycladic Art

Early Greek artwork from the Cycladic Islands, characterized predominantly by stylized female figures.

Stylobate

The foundation or base platform upon which architectural columns and structures sit.

Capital

The top or head portion of a column.

Ionic Frieze

A continuous band of artwork running around the upper part of a building without being broken into metopes and triglyphs.

Tholos Tombs

Beehive-shaped burial structures built by the Mycenaeans for burying the dead.

Corbeling

A masonry technique of stacking bricks or stones inward layer by layer to form an arch or a dome.

Contrapposto

A sculpted posture in which weight is shifted onto one hip, causing dynamic tilts in hips, shoulders, and head to make human figures look lifelike.

Critias Boy

A two-foot-tall ancient Greek sculpture that represents one of the earliest examples of the contrapposto stance.

Caryatids

Sculpted female figures that act as load-bearing pillars, supporting architectural structures like porches on their heads.

Temple of Athena Nike

An Ionic temple dedicated to Athena as the goddess of victory (Nike).

Chryselephantine Statue

A type of monumental statue made out of gold and ivory, such as the main cult statue of Athena originally located in the center of the Parthenon.

Funerary Stela

A freestanding stone slab created to commemorate the dead or serve as a grave marker.