Vocabulary 2

Front 1

Aegean

Back 1

Of or relating to the region comprising the Aegean Sea and its coasts and islands.

Front 2

Cycladic

Back 2

Of or relating to the Cyclades.

Front 3

Cyclades

Back 3

A group of Greek islands in the southern Aegean Sea.

Front 4

Minoan

Back 4

Of, relating to, or denoting a Bronze Age civilization centered on Crete (c.3000–1050 bc), its people, or its language.

Front 5

Mycenaean

Back 5

Of or pertaining to the ancient city of Mycenae.

Front 6

Labyrinth

Back 6

A complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze.

Front 7

Minotaur

Back 7

A creature who was half man and half bull.

Front 8

Fresco (True Fresco)

Back 8

A technique of painting on the plaster surface of a wall or ceiling while it is still damp, so that the pigments become fused with the plaster as it dries.

Front 9

Fresco Secco

Back 9

A variant technique of fresco painting in which the paint is applied to dry plaster.

Front 10

Griffin

Back 10

A mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

Front 11

Faience

Back 11

Earthenware pottery decorated with brightly colored glazes.

Front 12

Hellas

Back 12

The Greek name for Greece.

Front 13

Citadel

Back 13

A fortress or other fortified area placed in an elevated or commanding position.

Front 14

Corbelled

Back 14

Brick or masonry courses, each projecting beyond, and supported by, the one below it; the meeting of two corbels would create an arch or vault.

Front 15

Tholos

Back 15

A circular tomb of beehive shape approached by a long, horizontal passage.

Front 16

Agamemnon

Back 16

King of Mycenae and commander of the Greek expedition against Troy.

Front 17

Relieving Triangle

Back 17

A space, often triangular, left above a lintel in megalithic construction to relieve the weight of the super incumbent masonry.

Front 18

Polis

Back 18

A city-state in ancient Greece.

Front 19

Classical

Back 19

Of or relating to ancient Greek or Latin literature, art, or culture.

Front 20

Amphora

Back 20

An ancient Greek two-handled vessel for storing grain, honey, oil, or wine.

Front 21

Krater

Back 21

A wide-mouthed bowl for mixing wine and water in ancient Greece.

Front 22

Kylix

Back 22

An ancient Greek drinking cup with a wide, shallow bowl.

Front 23

Terracotta

Back 23

An earthenware material, with or without a glaze.

Front 24

Slip

Back 24

In ceramics, a mixture of clay and water used (a) as a decorated finish or (B) to attach different parts of an object (e.g., Handles to the body of a vessel).

Front 25

Democracy

Back 25

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Front 26

Geometric

Back 26

A style of Greek pottery made between c. 900 and 700 B.C., characterized by geometric decoration.

Front 27

Black-figure

Back 27

Describing a style of Greek pottery painting of the sixth century B.C., in which the decoration is black on a red background.

Front 28

Red-figure

Back 28

Describing a style of Greek pottery painting of the sixth or fifth century B.C., in which the decoration is read on a black background.

Front 29

White-ground

Back 29

Describing a style of Greek pottery painting of the fifth century B.C., in which the decoration is usually black on a white background.

Front 30

Meander Pattern

Back 30

A fret or key pattern originating in the Greek geometric period

Front 31

Foreshortening

Back 31

The use of perspective to represent a single object extending back in space at an angle to the picture plane.

Front 32

Kouros

Back 32

Greek word for young man; an archaic Greek statue of a standing nude youth.

Front 33

Kore

Back 33

Greek word for maiden; an archaic Greek statue of a standing female, usually closed.

Front 34

Encaustic

Back 34

A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with a binder of hot wax and fixed by heat after application.

Front 35

Contrapposto

Back 35

The stance of the human body in which one lake there’s the weight, while the other is relaxed, creating an asymmetry in the hip-shoulder axis.

Front 36

Lost Wax

Back 36

A technique for casting bronze and other metals.

Front 37

Symmetria

Back 37

Greek for symmetry.

Front 38

Portico

Back 38

(a) A colonnade; (b) A porch with a roof supported by columns, usually at the entrance to a building.

Front 39

Orders of Architecture

Back 39

One of the architectural systems (Corinthian, Ionic, Doric) used by the Greeks and romans to decorate and the define the post-and-lintel systems of construction.

Front 40

Caryatid

Back 40

A supporting column in post-and-lintel construction carved to represent a human or animal figure.

Front 41

Egg and Dart

Back 41

A decorative molding consisting of alternating oval and downward- pointing elements.

Front 42

Leaf and Dart

Back 42

A decorative design consisting of alternating leaf- and dart-shaped elements.

Front 43

Fluting

Back 43

A series of vertical groups used to decorate the shafts of columns in classical architecture.

Front 44

Column

Back 44

A cylindrical support, usually with three parts – base, shaft, and capital.

Front 45

Base

Back 45

(a) That on which something rests; (B) The lowest part of a wall or column considered as a separate architectural feature.

Front 46

Shaft

Back 46

The vertical, cylindrical part of a column that supports the entablature.

Front 47

Drum

Back 47

(a) One of the cylindrical blocks of stone from which the shaft of a column is made; (b) The circular or polygon a wall of a building surmounted by a dome or cupola.

Front 48

Capital

Back 48

The decorated top of a column or pilaster, providing a transition from the shaft to the entablature.

Front 49

Frieze

Back 49

(a) The central section of the entablature in the classical orders; (B) Any horizontal decorative band.

Front 50

Metope

Back 50

The square area, often decorated with relief sculpture, between the triglyphs of a Doric frieze.

Front 51

Triglyph

Back 51

In a Doric frieze, the rectangular area between the metopes, decorated with three vertical groups (glyphs).

Front 52

Pediment

Back 52

(a) In classical architecture, the triangular section at the end of a gable roof, often decorated with sculpture; (B) A triangular feature placed as the decoration over doors and windows.