Art History 100 Midterm Definitions

Front 1

Stele

Back 1

Upright stone or slab that bears an inscription or relief design (like a gravestone).

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Hellenistic

Back 2

A period in history defined as the time between the death of Alexander the Great and the rise of the Roman Empire. (323 BC - 31 BC)

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Acropolis

Back 3

A Greek, fortified city that is built on a hill. (i.e., Athens)

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Reliquary

Back 4

A container for holy relics.

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Mosaic

Back 5

A picture or pattern produced by arranging small pieces of stone or tile.

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Scriptorium

Back 6

A room set apart for writing and copying manuscripts.

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Caryatid

Back 7

A stone carving of a draped female figure, used as a pillar of Greek buildings.

Front 8

Kouros

Back 8

An archaic Greek statue of a young man, standing and often naked.

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Hieratic

Back 9

A system used to visually communicate power. Mostly used in Egyptian and Greek art, but is used in all other cultures.

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Arabesque

Back 10

A style that uses foliage, or fruit and sometimes animal and figural outlines to make an intricate pattern of interlaced lines.

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Relief Sculpture

Back 11

A sculptural technique where the subject remains attached to a sold background of the same material.

Front 12

Manuscript

Back 12

Hand written book.

Front 13

Clerestory

Back 13

Opening on top of Egyptian buildings to give off light (like windows, without glass).

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Courses

Back 14

Layers of dressed stone.

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Ziggurat

Back 15

A rectangular stepped tower sometimes surmounted by a temple.

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Mastaba

Back 16

An Egyptian tomb that is rectangular in shape with sloping sides and a flat roof.

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Arch

Back 17

A curved and symmetrical structure spanning an opening and supports a bridge, roof, or wall above it.

Front 18

Buttress

Back 18

A projecting support of stone or brick built against a wall.

Front 19

Kore

Back 19

An archaic Greek statue of a young woman, standing and clothed in long, loose robes.

Front 20

Idealism

Back 20

Art that is idealized (Egyptian and Greek artists made subjects look younger and more beautiful).

Front 21

Cuneiform

Back 21

Wedge-shaped characters used in ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia that are mainly impressed on clay tablets.

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Lamassu

Back 22

An Assyrian protective deity, often depicted as having a human head, a body of an ox or lion, and bird's wings.

Front 23

Entasis

Back 23

A slight convex curve in a column, introduced to correct the visual illusion of concavity produced by a straight shaft.

Front 24

Metope

Back 24

A square space between triglyphs in a DORIC frieze.

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Aesthetics

Back 25

Philosophical idea that deals with the principles of beauty and artistic taste.

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Finial

Back 26

A distinctive ornament at the apex of a roof, pinnacle, canopy, or similar structure in a building.

Front 27

Necropolis

Back 27

City of the dead.

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Canon

Back 28

The body of rules or standards that are accepted as universally binding in art. (Polykleitos Canon - 450 BCE)

Front 29

Capital

Back 29

Forms the topmost member of a column. (3 Kinds: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian)

Front 30

Triglyph

Back 30

A tablet in a DORIC frieze with three vertical grooves, they alternate with metopes.

Front 31

Forum

Back 31

Roman plaza, marketplace or public square on an ancient Roman city. It is the center of judicial and business affairs and a place of assembly for people.

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Basilica

Back 32

Roman building of administration.

Front 33

Trompe L'Oeil

Back 33

Tricking of the eyes (i.e., niches that aren't actually niches)

Front 34

Calligraphy

Back 34

Artistic form of writing, mostly used in Islamic and Asian art.

Front 35

Axis Mundi

Back 35

'Cosmic Axis' that is the world's center and connects Heaven and Earth in some beliefs and philosophies.

Front 36

Pediment

Back 36

The triangular upper part of the front and back of a building in classical style.

Front 37

Henge

Back 37

A prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of stone or wooden uprights, used for rituals or burials. (Think Stone HENGE)

Front 38

Corbelled

Back 38

Rows of stone stacked upon one another to create a dome like shape.

Front 39

Realism

Back 39

The attempt to represent subject matter truthfully (make what you see).

Front 40

Naturalism

Back 40

Refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting.

Front 41

Mural

Back 41

Giant painting on a wall or side of building.

Front 42

Toranas

Back 42

A type of gateway in Asian cultures.

Front 43

Kufic

Back 43

Type of angular and Islamic Writing (used in calligraphy).

Front 44

Iconoclasm

Back 44

The destruction of religious icons and other images or monuments for religious or political motives.

Front 45

Mosque

Back 45

An Islamic place of worship.

Front 46

Dolmen

Back 46

A megalithic tomb with a large flat stone laid on upright ones (Stonehenge).