Art History - Chapter 2 - Glossary

Front 1

apadana

Back 1

The great audience hall in ancient Persian palaces.

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arch

Back 2

A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the downward pressure laterally. See also thrust.

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arcuated

Back 3

Arch-shaped.

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blind arcade

Back 4

An arcade having no actual openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface.

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cella

Back 5

The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.

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city-state

Back 6

An independent, self-governing city.

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conceptual representation

Back 7

The representation of the fundamental distinguishing properties of a person or object, not the way a figure or object appears in space at a specific moment. See composite view.

Front 8

cuneiform

Back 8

Latin, wedge-shaped. A system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia, in which wedge-shaped characters were produced by pressing a stylus into a soft clay tablet, which was then baked or otherwise allowed to harden.

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cylinder seal

Back 9

A cylindrical piece of stone usually about an inch or so in height, decorated with an incised design, so that a raised pattern was left when the seal was rolled over soft clay. In the ancient Near East, documents, storage jars, and other important possessions were signed, sealed, and identified in this way. Stamps seals are an earlier, flat, form of seal used for similar purposes.

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foreshortening

Back 10

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.

Front 11

frieze

Back 11

The part of the entablature between the architrave and the cornice; also, any sculptured or painted band in a building. See register.

Front 12

ground line

Back 12

In paintings and reliefs, a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand.

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heraldic composition

Back 13

A composition that is symmetrical on either side of a central figure.

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hierarchy of scale

Back 14

An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.

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iwan

Back 15

In Islamic architecture, a vaulted rectangular recess opening onto a courtyard.

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lamassu

Back 16

Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged bull.

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pictograph

Back 17

A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock. See also hieroglyphic.

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register

Back 18

One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.

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stamp seal

Back 19

A cylindrical piece of stone usually about an inch or so in height, decorated with an incised design, so that a raised pattern was left when the seal was rolled over soft clay. In the ancient Near East, documents, storage jars, and other important possessions were signed, sealed, and identified in this way. Stamps seals are an earlier, flat, form of seal used for similar purposes.

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stele(pl. stelae)

Back 20

A carved stone slab used to mark graves or to commemorate historical events.

Front 21

stylus

Back 21

A needlelike tool used in engraving and incising; also, an ancient writing instrument used to inscribe clay or wax tablets.

Front 22

votive offering

Back 22

A gift of gratitude to a deity.

Front 23

ziggurat

Back 23

In ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a monumental platform for a temple