Western Art History-Test One

Front 1

Modeling

Back 1

the shaping or fashioning of 3D forms in a soft material, such as clay

Front 2

Post and Lintel

Back 2

system of construction in which 2 posts support a lintel

Front 3

Megalithic Architecture

Back 3

Greek for "great stone", a large, roughly hewn stone used in the construction of monumental prehistoric structures.

Front 4

Trilithon

Back 4

pair of monoliths topped with a lintel; found in megalithic structures

Front 5

Ziggurat

Back 5

in ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a monumental platform for a temple

Front 6

Cuneiform

Back 6

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.

Front 7

Cella

Back 7

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

Front 8

Heraldic Composition

Back 8

symmetrical on either side of a central figure

Front 9

Register

Back 9

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

Front 10

Hierarchy of Scale

Back 10

artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance

Front 11

Votive Offering

Back 11

gift of gratitude to a deity

Front 12

Stele

Back 12

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

Front 13

Attribute

Back 13

distinctive identifying aspect of a person, for example, an object held, an associated animal, or a mark on the body

Front 14

Composite View

Back 14

convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile ad another part of the same figure is shown frontally

Front 15

Lamassu

Back 15

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

Front 16

Apadana

Back 16

great audience hall in ancient Persian palaces

Front 17

Hieroglyphics

Back 17

system of writing using symbols or pictures

Front 18

Mastaba

Back 18

Arabic, "bench,". Ancient Egyptian rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over a subterranean tomb chamber connected with the outside by a shaft

Front 19

Imhotep

Back 19

1st known architect--old pyramids (stepped)

Front 20

Serdab

Back 20

small concealed chamber in an Egyptian mastaba for the statue of the deceased

Front 21

Ka

Back 21

In Ancient Egypt, the immortal human life force.

Front 22

Necropolis

Back 22

Greek, "city of the dead." A large burial area or cemetery.

Front 23

Pharaoh

Back 23

An ancient Egyptian king.

Front 24

Canon of Proportions

Back 24

The Ancient Greeks considered beauty to be a matter of "correct" proportion and sought a canon of proportion, for the human figure and for buildings.

Front 25

Hypostyle Hall

Back 25

Hall with a roof supported by columns.

Front 26

Clerestory (lighting)

Back 26

The fenestrated part of a building that rises above the roofs of the other parts. The oldest known clerestories are Egyptian.

Front 27

Pylon

Back 27

Wide entrance gateway of an Egyptian tempe, characterized by it's sloping walls.

Front 28

Sunken Relief

Back 28

The artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself.

Front 29

Faience

Back 29

Low-fired opaque glasslike silicate.

Front 30

Fresco

Back 30

Painting on lime-plaster, either dry or wet.

Front 31

Citadel

Back 31

An Etruscan cylindrical container made of sheet bronze with cast handles and feet, often with elaborately engraved bodies, used for women’s toiletry articles.

Front 32

Tholos Tomb

Back 32

In Mycenaean architecture, a beehive-shaped tomb with a circular plane.

Front 33

Cyclopean Masonry

Back 33

Method of stone construction, named after the mythical Cyclopes, using massive, irregular blocks without mortar, characteristic of the Bronze Age fortifications of Tiryns and other Mycenaean sites.

Front 34

Corbeled vault/arch

Back 34

Support for some element in the superstructure. Two walls meeting at the topmost course. A Vault formed by the piling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the 2 walls meet in an arch.

Front 35

Relieving Triangle

Back 35

In Mycenaean architecture, the triangular opening above the lintel that serves o lighten the weight to be carried by the lintel itself.

Front 36

Peplos

Back 36

A simple, long belted garment of wool worn by women in ancient Greece.

Front 37

Amphora

Back 37

An ancient Greek two-handled jar used for general storage purposes, usually to hold wine or oil.

Front 38

Doric

Back 38

Systems used in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of elevation of a classical building-the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure. The Doric order is characterized by capitals with funnel-shaped echinuses, columns without bases and a frieze of triglyphs and metopes.

Front 39

Peristyle

Back 39

In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch. A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides; dipteral colonnade has a double row all around.

Front 40

Pediment

Back 40

In classical architecture, the triangular space (gable) at the end of a building, formed by the ends of the sloping roof above the colonnade; ornamental feature having this shape.

Front 41

Triglyph

Back 41

Triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes.

Front 42

Metope

Back 42

Square panel between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, often sculpted in relief.