AP Art History Unit 2 Ancient Near Eastern Art Terms

Apadana

an audience hall in a Persian palace

Bent-axis plan

an architectural plan in which an approach to a building requires an angular change of direction, as opposed to a direct and straight entry

Capital

the top element of a column

Cella

the main room of a temple where the god is housed

Cuneiform

a system of writing in which the strokes are formed in a wedge or arrowhead shape

Facade

the front of a building. Sometimes, more poetically, a speaker can refer to a "side facade" or a "rear facade"

Ground line

A base line upon which figures stand (Ex. Standard of Ur)

Ground plan

the map of a floor of a building

Hierarchy of scale

a system of representation that expresses a person's importance by the size of his or her representation in a work of art

Lamassu

a colossal winged human-headed bull in Assyrian art

Lapis lazuli

a deep blue stone prized for its color

Negative space

empty space around an object or a person, such as the cut-out areas between a figure's legs or arms of a sculpture

Register

a horizontal band, often on top of another, that tells a narrative story

Relief sculpture

sculpture that projects from a flat background. A very shallow relief sculpture is called a bas-relief (pronounced "bah" relief)

Stele

(plural: stealae): a stone slab used to mark a grave or a site

Votive

offered in fulfillment of a vow or a pledge

Ziggurat

a pyramid-like building made of several stories that indent as the building gets taller; thus, ziggurats have terraces at each level