apah u3 vocab

Kouros

Archaic Greek statue of a nude male youth

Kore

Archaic Greek statue of a young female

High relief

a relief carving that almost breaks away from the background

Pediment

in a Classical temple, the triangular shape of a roof’s gable, often decorated with relief sculpture and above the horizontal entablature

Peristyle

continuous row of columns surrounding a building or courtyard on all 4 sides

Athena

patron goddess of Athens; goddess of wisdom and war; also known as Minerva

Agora

central public space in ancient Greek city-states

Panathenaic Way

road where the great procession of the Athenians to the Acropolis took place every four years

Contrapposto

an asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with while balancing those of the hips and legs; weight shift

Canon

a body of rules, principles, or standards that govern how something (often the human body) is portrayed in art

Krater

mixing bowl used to mix wine and water

Red-figure technique

a method of pottery painting; part of 3-stage firing process that allowed more modeling and details to be painted on figures than the black-figure technique

Herakles

celebrated Greek hero, son of Zeus, possessing exceptional strength; also known as Hercules

Niobe

provoked Apollo and Artemis to vengeance by taunting their mother Leto with the number and beauty of her own children

Mosaic

picture made of small usually colored pieces of stone, glass, etc.

Tesserae

a small block of stone, tile, glass, or other material used in the construction of a mosaic

Nike

Greek goddess who personifies victory, another aspect of Athena

Lost-wax casting

process using clay and wax in which the wax is melted out by molten metal, a hollow cast sculpture results; also known as cire perdue

Terracotta

hard, fired clay, brownish red in color

Archaic smile

slight smile of Greek sculptures in the 6th century BCE that indicates that the subject is living

Tufa

porous limestone that can be carved out and hardens in contact with air

Fresco

technique of painting on a wet plaster surface

Triclinium

a dining room usually containing couches for reclining on at meals; a dining couch used in ancient Rome

Verism

Hyperrealism in sculpture where the naturally occurring features of the subject are exaggerated

Bust

a sculpture of a person's head, shoulders, and chest

Patrician

person of noble rank; aristocrat

Impluvium

shallow, rectangular sunken portion of the atrium of a Roman house to gather rainwater, which drained into an underground cistern

Oculus

circular opening, especially one at the apex of a dome

Coffers

sunken panels in a dome or vault ceiling

Niche

recesses in a wall, often to hold statues of a god

Concrete

composite material made of coarse aggregate that hardens over time; allows for large spaces to be enclosed, is relatively fireproof and inexpensive

Forum

rectangular plaza surrounded by several important government buildings in Rome; originally a marketplace; akin to the Greek Agora

Basilica

type of building with a central nave and aisles and usually an apse at one or both ends

Apse

a covered semicircular or polygonal recess; also an Exedra