ap art history vocab ancient Near Eastern Art

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

a 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

façade

the front of a building

Ground line

a baseline upon which figures stand

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 color

Negative space

empty space around an object or a person, such as the cut out areas between a figures 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

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 have terraces at each level