Greek Art Vocabulary

Agora

a public plaza in a Greek city where commercial, religious, and societal activities are conducted

Amphiprostyle

having four columns in the front and rear of a temple

Amphora

a two-handled ancient Greek storage jar

Architrave

a plain, unornamented lintel on the entablature

Athena

Greek goddess of war and wisdom; patron of Athens

Canon

a body of rules or laws; in Greek art, the ideal mathematical proportion of a figure

Caryatid (male: atlantid)

a building column that is shaped like a female figure

Cella

the main room of a temple where the god is housed

Contrapposto

a graceful arrangement of the body based on titled shoulders and hips and bent knees

Corinthian

an order of ancient Greek architecture similar to the Ionic, except that the capitals are carved in tiers of leaves

Cornice

a projecting ledge over a wall

Doric

an order of ancient Greek architecture that features grooved columns with no grooved bases and an upper story with square sculpture called metopes

Encaustic

a type of painting in which colours are added to hot wax to affix to a surface

Entablature

the upper story of a Greek temple

Frieze

a horizontal band of sculpture

Gigantomachy

a mythical ancient Greek war between the giants and the Olympian gods

In situ

a Latin expression that means that something is in its original location

Ionic

an order of Greek architecture that features columns with scrolled capitals and an upper story with sculptures that are in friezes

Isocephalism

the tradition of depicting heads of figures on the same level

Kiln

an oven used for making pottery

Kouros (female: Kore)

an archaic Greek sculpture of a standing youth

Krater

a large ancient Greek bowl used for mixing water and wine

Metope

a small relief sculpture on the façade of a Greek temple

Mosaic

a decoration using pieces of stone, marble, or coloured glass, called tesserae, that are cemented to a wall or a floor

Nike

an ancient Greek goddess of victory

Niobe

the model of a grieving mother; after boasting of her fourteen children, jealous gods killed them

Panathenaic Way

a ceremonial road for a procession built to honor Athena during a festival

Pediment

the triangular top of a temple that contains sculpture

Peplos

a garment worn by women in ancient Greece, usually full length and tied at the waist

Peristyle

a colonnade surrounding a building or enclosing a courtyard

Propylaeum

a gateway leading to a Greek temple

Relief sculpture

sculpture that projects from a flat background. a very shallow relief sculpture is called a bas-relief

Shaft

the body of a column

Stele

an upright stone slab used to mark a grave or a site

Stoa

an ancient Greek covered walkway having columns on one side and a wall on the other

Tholos

an ancient Greek circular building

Triglyph

a projecting grooved element alternating with a metope on a Greek temple

Zeus

king of the ancient Greek gods; known as Jupiter to the Romans; god of the sky and weather