Art History Midterm Vocabulary

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Hellenization

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To adopt Greek ways

eg// speech, culture

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Kione

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the Greek language commonly spoken and written in eastern Mediterranean countries in the Hellenistic and Roman periods

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Parrhasios

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A famous ancient Greek painter and artistic rival of Zeuxis

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Zeuxis

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A famous ancient Greek painter and artistic rival of Parrhasios

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Caere

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The Latin name for Cisra, one of the biggest Etruscan cities.

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Tufa

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A porous rock composed of calcium carbonate and formed by precipitation from water, e.g., around mineral springs

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Pre-Colombian

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Before Christopher Columbus

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Meso-American

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A region extending south and east from central Mexico to include parts of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, andNicaragua. In pre-Columbian times it was inhabited by diverse civilizations, including the Maya and the Olmec.

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Vasco da Gama

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A Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea

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Hernan Cortes

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A Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire

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King Shield Jaguar

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A Maya king who ruled in Yaxchilan from 681 until he died in the year 742

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Lady Xock

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Lady Xoc was a Maya Queen consort of Yaxchilan

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Yucatan Peninsula

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in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico

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Obsidian

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a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.

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Geogyohs

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is a large design or motif (generally longer than 4 metres) produced on the ground and typically formed by some durable element

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Llama

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is a domesticated South American camelid. Used for meat and as a packhorse

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Vicuna

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is one of two wild South American camelids which live in the highalpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticated alpacas

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Alpaca

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is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance. Used for wool.

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Mimbres

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a tradition within a sub region of the Mogollon culture area or to an interval of time, the "Classic Mimbres phase" within the Mimbres branch.

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Anesazi

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Ancient Pueblo People, or Ancestral Puebloans, is a preferred term for the cultural group of people often known as Anasazi who are the ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples

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Petroglyphs

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images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.

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Dentalium shells

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commonly used by Native American artists and anthropologists, refers to tooth shells or tusk shells used in indigenous jewelry, adornment, and commerce in western Canada and the United States

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Cowrie shells

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the shells of these snails, which overall are often shaped more or less like an egg, except that they are rather flat on the underside. Used for divination

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Haida Gwaii

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an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canadaliterally "Islands of the Haida people"

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Kwakwaka’wakw

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are a Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous people

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Coast Salish

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a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

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Nuu-Chah-Nulth

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are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada

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Tsimshian

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an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia and far southern Alaska

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Haida

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are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

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Tlingit

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are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America.[2]Their language is Lingít,[3] meaning "People of the Tides"

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Kerfed boxes

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the kerf-bent wooden box is the more ingenious example of a woodworking technology developed through eons of practice. It consists of just two planks of cedar. One is the flat bottom,The other is a single plank that has been deeply kerfed in three places

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Chilkat blanket

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The Chilkat blanket, associated with the Chilkat (a northern band of Tlingit), was traded along the Northwest Coast. The blanket was made of mountain goat wool

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Hamatsa

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the name of a Kwakwaka'wakw secret society

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potlatch

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is a gift-giving feast practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, among whom it is traditionally the primary economic system. This includes the Heiltsuk, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures

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Tesserae

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The small pieces used in mosaic work

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Fresco

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the art or technique of paintingon a moist, plaster surface with colors ground up in water or alimewater mixture.

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Cycles of the life of Christ

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The incarnation and theChildhood, the public ministry of Christ, the Passion of Christ, and finallythe period between the resurrection and the ascension.

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Rebus Script

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a riddle or puzzle made up of letters, pictures, or symbols whose names sound like the parts or syllables of a word or phrase

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Necropolis

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a large cemetery especially of an ancient city

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Tufa

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a porous limestoneformed from calcium carbonate deposited by springs or the like.

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Byzantium

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an ancient Greek colony on the site that later became Constantinople, and later still Istanbul

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Chi-rho

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the Christian monogram (☧) made from the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ.

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pendentive

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any of several spandrels, in the form of spherical triangles, forming a transition between the circular plan of a dome and the polygonal plan of the supporting masonry.

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iconoclastic controversy

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The controversy around the destruction of religious icons and other images or monuments for religious or political motives

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Iconoclast

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a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.

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iconophile/iconodule

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a connoisseur of icons or images

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Mandorla

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almond-shaped aureole of light surrounding the entire figure of a holy person. Often seen around Christ

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RapaNui

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Easter Island

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genocide

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the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial,political, or cultural group.

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Ecocide

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the destruction of large areas of the natural environment especially as a result of deliberate human action

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Moai

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Whole body rock statues often refered to as Easter Island heads

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monolithic

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formed or composed of material without joints or seams

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Maori

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the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand

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Aryan

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name originally given to a people who were said to speak an archaic Indo-European language and who were thought to have settled in prehistoric times in ancient Iran and the northern Indian subcontinent

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Vedic texts

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a large body of texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. The oldest scriptures of Hinduism

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four noble truths

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Life is suffering

The reason for suffering is desire

Suffering must be cased to cease desire

It will cease if you give up desire and find deliverance

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eightfold path

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The Eightfold Path of Buddhism is the means by which enlightenment may be realized. The historical Buddha first explained the Eightfold Path in his first sermon after hisenlightenment.

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Dharmachakra

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A religious symbol that represented the Buddhist dharma, Gautama Buddha's teaching of the path to Nirvana, since the time of early Buddhism

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Jataka Tales

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a large body of stories about the earlier lives of the Buddha. Many are in the form of animal fables that teach something about morality, not unlike Aesop's fables

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living rock

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Rock that is connected to the earthp

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Yaksha

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the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who arecaretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts

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Bhagavad Gita

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a 700-verse Hindu scripture in Sanskrit that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata

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Lingam

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an abstract or aniconicrepresentation of the Hindu deity, Shiva, used for worship in temples, smaller shrines, or as self-manifested natural objects, Resembles a penis.

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yoni

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The Sanskrit word for female genitals. Translates to "source of all life" or "sacred space."

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Kama Sutra

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is an ancient Indian Hindu text about sex and it's importance

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Fivepillars of Islam

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Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad;

Establishment of the daily prayers;

Concern for and almsgiving to the needy;

Self-purification through fasting;

The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able.

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Shahada

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an Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God (tawhid) and the acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet

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Mecca

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a city in the Hejaz in Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of that kingdom's Makkah Region. the alleged birthplace of Muhammad and the site of Muhammad's first revelation of the Quran. Muslims come here during the pilgrimage.

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Hajj

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is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. One of the 5 pillars.

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minbar

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a pulpit in the mosque where the imam (prayer leader) stands to deliver sermons

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mihrab

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a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying

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minarets

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a distinctive architectural structure akin to a tower and typically found adjacent to mosques traditionally used for the Muslim call to prayer

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sahn

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a courtyard in Islamic architecture

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qiblawall

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the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salat. It is fixed as the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca

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moriscos

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former Muslims who converted or were coerced into converting to Christianity, after Spain finally outlawed the open practice of Islam

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marranos

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Jews living in Iberia who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity yet continued to practice Judaism in secret

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squinches

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architecture is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a base to receive an octagonalor spherical dome

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St. Columba

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an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity. He founded the important abbey on Iona

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ecclesiastical

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relating to the church or the clergy

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Anglo-Saxon

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a people who inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. They comprised people fromGermanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe

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Cluniacs

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relating to a reformed Benedictine order founded at the French town of Cluny in 910

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Franciscans

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people and groups (religious orders) who adhere or claim to adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of Saint Francis of Assisi

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Dominicans

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amendicant Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Saint Dominic de Guzman in France

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Abbot Bernward

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An Abbot who commisioned and degised the Berward Doors

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enamel work

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technique of decoration whereby metal objects or surfaces are given a vitreous glaze that is fused onto the surface by intense heat to create a brilliantly coloured decorative effect

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cloisonné

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an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects. Enamel, glass, gemstones, ect...

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westwork

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the monumental, west-facing entrance section of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church.

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Romanesque

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an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches

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St.Benedict of Montecassino

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a rocky hill in Italy. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529

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liturgy

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literally 'the work of the people,' and translated idiomatically as 'public service' in secular terms is the customary public worship performed by a religious group

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Pilgrimage

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a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance

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El Camino

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the name of any of the pilgrimage routes, known as pilgrim ways, to the shrine of the apostle St. James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain

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Songof Roland

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an epic poem based on the Battle of Roncevaux in 778, during the reign of Charlemagne

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penitence

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a feeling of deep sadness because you have done something wrong

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ChristPantocrator

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refers to a specific depiction of ChristPantocrator is, used in this context, a translation of one of many names of God in Judaism.

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Reliquaries

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is a container for relicsis a container for relics, often religious.

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gallery

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a raised area, often having a stepped or sloping floor, in a theater,church, or other public building to accommodate spectators, exhibits,etc.

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triforium

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a shallow arched gallery within the thickness of an inner wall, above the nave of a church or cathedral.

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clerestorywindows

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a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church

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cockle-shell

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the shell of a cockle which is a small, edible sea water clam.

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tapestry

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a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom

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embroidery

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the handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn

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“Deus[lo] vult!,’

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Classical Latin for "God wills it", was the cry of the people at the declaration of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II

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Crusades

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a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church between the 11th and 16th centuries, especially the campaigns in the Eastern Mediterranean with the aim of capturing Jerusalem from Islamic rule.

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conflagration

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a large destructive fire or a war or conflict

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Doric

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The Greek Doric column was fluted, and had no base, dropping straight into the stylobate or platform on which the temple or other building stood

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Geometric

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Using simple geometric forms such as circles and squares in design and decoration

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Archaic

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marked by the characteristics of an earlier period

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Classical

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of, relating to, or characteristic of Greek and Roman antiquity

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Hellenistic

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covers the period of ancient Greek (Hellenic) history and Mediterranean history between the death ofAlexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire

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Black Figure Pottery

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is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BC. Figural depictions in black colour on a red background.

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Red Figure Pottery

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eveloped in Athens around 520 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century BC. he figural depictions in red colour on a black background.

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Engobe (slip)

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white or colored slip applied to pottery usually for decoration or to improve the surface texture

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Delian League

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an association of Greek city-states, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire

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Pericles

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a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age—specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon)

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Phedias

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Greek sculptor, painter and architect. Hisstatue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

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Polykleotios

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an ancient Greek sculptor in bronze of the 5th century BC

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Aeschylus

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an ancient Greek tragedian. His plays, alongside those of Sophocles and Euripides, are the only works of Classical Greek literature to have survived. He is often described as the father of tragedy

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Sophocles

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one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. Wrote Oedipus.

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Pythagoras

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an Ionian Greek philosopher,mathematician, and the putative founder of the movement called Pythagoreanism. Triangle stuff.

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Archimedes

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an Ancient Greek mathematician,physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. the area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere

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Socrates

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a classical Greek (Athenian) philosophercredited as one of the founders of Western philosophy

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Plato

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aphilosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world

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Aristotle

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a Greek philosopher and scientist. He tutored Alexander the great.

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Herodotus

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a Greek historian. the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation

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Hippocrates

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a Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece), and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

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Contrapposto

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It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs

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Ionic

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normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform; the cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart

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Corinthian

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is the most ornate of the orders, characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls

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Column

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a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below

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Entablature

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to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals

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Volute

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a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column

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Acanthus

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acanthus is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration

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Sylobate

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he top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed

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Stereobate

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the solid platform forming the floor and substructure of a classicaltemple; crepidoma; podium

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Frieze

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the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs

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Metope

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s a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze. It is decorative.

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Triglyph

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an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them

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Pediment

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an element in classical architecture, originally of a triangular shape, placed above the horizontal structure of the entablature, typically supported by columns

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Naos

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a small shrine is known in its typically Egyptian form since the beginning of Ancient Egyptian history. It eventually came to be represented as an Egyptian hieroglyph

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Cella Propylaia

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any monumental gateway in Greek architecture.

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Akroteria

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an architectural ornament placed on a flat base called the acroter or plinth, and mounted at the apex of the pediment of a building in the classical style

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Repatriation

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the process of returning a person - voluntarily or forcibly - to his or her place of origin or citizenship