Terms - ARTH
Art History 101
Terms
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- Hippodameia
- The daughter of Oenomaios and the wife of Pelops.
- Akhenaton
- Amenhotep IV. Created a new religion around "the sun disk," which he declared to be the one and only god
- Cyclopean masonry
- A method of construction using massive, irregular stones without mortar, characteristic of the Citadel of Tiryns in Crete
- amphiprostyle
- A classical temple plan in which the columns are placed across both the front and back but not the sides
- Votive Offering
- A gift of gratitude to a deity.
- ground line
- A painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand
- relieving triangle
- In Mycenean architecture, the triangle above the lintel that serves to lighten the weight carried by the lintel itself
- Myrtilos
- The guy who helped Pelops and Hippodameia remove the linchpins attaching the wheels to the chariot of Oenomaios.
- Mycenaean
- The prehistoric art of the late Helladic period in Greece, named after the citel of Mycenae
- sunken relief
- The artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself
- ziggurat
- A monumental platform for a temple
- Fibula
- A decorative pin, usually used to fasten garments
- Stoa
- In ancient Greek architecture, an open building with a roof supported by a row of columns parallel to the back wall. A covered colonnade or portico.
- White-ground painting
- An ancient Greek vace-painting technique in which the pot was first covered with a slip of very fine white clay, over and diluted brown, purple, red and white were used to color them.
- Treasury
- In ancient Greece, a small building set up for the safe storage of votive offerings.
- Cavea
- Latin, "hollow place or cavity." The seating area in ancient Greek and Roman theaters and amphitheaters.
- Skene
- In classical drama, the skene was the background building which connected the platform stage, in which costumes were stored and to which the periaktoi (painted panels serving as the background) were connected.
- stele
- An upright slab of wood or stone on which you find sculpture, painting, and/or text
- himation
- A mantle worn over the chiton and draped in various ways
- Agora
- An open square or space used for public meetings or business in ancient Greek cities.
- Sir Arthur Evans
- Discovered the Palace of Minos at Knossos in Crete
- Khafre
- Pharaoh, Second largest pyramid in the Great Pyramids of Gizeh
- Foreshortening
- The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.
- Acanthus
- An ambigious flower and a style of plant used for the caps of the corinthian columns
- cella
- The center of a temple, OR the room in which the cult statue usually stood
- bilingual vase
- A vase that features black-figure decoration on one side, and red-figure decoration on the other
- Cycladic
- Art from the Cyclades, islands in the Aegean Sea
- caryatid
- A female figure that functions as a supporting column
- Pelops
- King of Pisa in the Peloponnesus whose cult developed into the founding myth of the Olympic games.
- corbel vault
- A vault formed by the piling of horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the two walls meet in an arch
- frieze
- A superimposed pictorial representation of a scene in a register
- megaron
- The large reception hall and throne room in a Mycenean palace, fronted by an open, two-columned porch
- Demeter & Persephone
- Demeter: the goddess of grain and fertility, the pure. Persephone: The daughter of Demeter, the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld.
- post and lintel
- A type of construction in which two posts support a horizontal beam
- Tell el-Amarna
- City created by Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) to worship the god he created, named Akhenaton
- clerestory
- the raised part of a building to allow light to illuminate a large space
- Minoan
- The prehistoric art of Crete, named after the legendary king Minos of Knossos
- repousse
- Formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face.
- Menkaure
- Pharoah, Smallest pyramid in the Great Pyramids of Gizeh
- chiton
- A Greek tunic worn by men and women
- tholos tomb
- Beehive-shaped tomb with a circular plan
- Tessera
- Greek, "cubes." Tiny stones or pieces of glass cut to the desired shape and size to form a mosaic.
- relief
- Figures projecting from a background of which they are part
- canon
- A rule of human proportion, like the formula that Polykleitos created
- composite view
- twisted perspective; part of the body is frontal, part is in profile
- lapis lazuli
- Stone used in inlay: dark blue in color
- parts of a column
- base, shaft, capital
- chryselephantine
- fashioned of gold and ivory
- Elevation
- In architecture, a head on-view of an external or internal wall, showing its features and often other elements that would be visible beyond the before the wall.
- Pronaos
- The space, or porch, in front of the cella, or naos, of an ancient Greek temple
- centauromachy
- In ancient Greek mythology, the battle between the Greeks and the centaurs
- Imhotep
- Egyptian architect, Old Kingdom. Built the step pyramid and the funerary precinct of King Djoser
- Doryphoros
- Greek, "spear bearer"
- Orchestra
- Greek, "dancing place." In ancient Greek theaters, the circular piece of earth with a hard and level surface on which the performance took place.
- peplos
- A simple, long belted garment of wool worn by women in ancient Greece
- Senmut
- Egyptian architect, Hatshepsut's Funerary temple. also depicted in statue with princess Nefrua
- Polygnotos
- An ancient Greek painter from the middle of the 5th century BC, son of Aglaophon..
- Apotropaic
- Intended to ward off evil
- Necropolis
- Greek, "city of the dead". A large burial area or cemetery.
- black-figure painting
- The silhouetting of dark figures on a reddish clay background, with linear details incised through the silhouettes
- Centaur
- half-human, half-horse
- Oenomaios
- The father of Hippodameia of Pisa who was courted by Pelops. He challenged Pelops in a chariot race for his daughters hand in marriage.
- contrapposto
- The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another part (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counterpositioning of the body about its central axis. sometimes called "weight shift".
- apoxyomenos
- Greek, "athlete scraping oil from his body"
- bent-axis approach
- A plan that incorporates two or more angular changes in direction, characteristic of Sumerian architecture
- hypostyle hall
- A hall with a roof supported by columns
- serdab
- A small concealed chamber in Egyptian mastaba for the statue of the deceased for the Ka to find
- corbel arch
- Courses of stone in which each course projects beyond the one beneath it, meeting at the topmost course
- inlay
- Part of the surface is cut away and some other substance is imbedded into the hollowed-out area so that it is level with the surface of the piece.
- Tutankhamen
- Boy king, died at 18; discovered with tomb largely intact
- kore (korai)
- Greek for "young woman." An archaic statue of a young woman
- Red-figure painting
- In later Greek pottery, the sihouetting of red figures against a black background, with painted linear; the reverse of black-figure painting.
- ashlar masonry
- Carefully cut and regularly shaped blocks of stone used in construction, fitted together without mortar
- pylon
- The wide entrance gateway of an Egyptian temple, characterized by its sloping walls
- Hubris
- Greek, "arrogant pride".
- light well
- openings in the roof to allow light to enter room; Palace of Minos at Knossos
- Incise
- To cut into a surface with a sharp instrument.
- Heinrich Schliemann
- Discovered the Mycenean & Tiyrns citadels
- coffer
- a sunken panel, often ornamental, in a vault or ceiling
- mastaba
- An ancient Egyptian rectangular stone structure erected over a subterranean tomb
- fresco (wet)
- Painting on lime plaster, using pigments mixed with water to color the freshly laid plaster
- Khufu
- Pharaoh, Largest pyramid in the Great Pyramids of Gizeh
- block statue
- an ancient Egyptian statue that is a cubic stone image with simplified body parts
- kouros (kouroi)
- Greek for "young man." An archaic statue of a Greek man - rigid, frontal, with one leg forward (usu. left) and knees unbent
- Lekythos
- A flask containing perfumed oil.
- acropolis
- Greek, "high city." usually the site of the city's most important temples
- Pericles
- A prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
- Daedalic
- The Greek Orientalizing sculptural style
- Kamares Ware
- Extremely fine palace pottery
- Tholos
- A circular building
- register
- Particular bands that separate friezes and sometimes act as groundlines
- Archaic smile
- An archaic sculptor's way of indicating that the person being portrayed is alive