Ancient Mediterranean Vocab Flashcards
Apadana
An audience hall in a Persian Palace
Apotropaic
Having the power to ward of evil or bad luck
Capital (column)
The top element of a column
Cella
The main room of a temple where the god is housed
Cuneiform
System of writing in which the strokes are formed in a wedge or arrowhead shape
Facade
The front of a building
Lamassu
Colossal winged human-headed bull in Assyrian Art
Negative Space
Empty space around an object or person, such as the cut out areas between a figures legs/arms
Register
A horizontal band, that tells a narrative story
Votive
Offered in fulfillment of a vow or pledge
Ziggurat
Pyramid-like building made of several stories that indent as the building gets taller, terraces at each level.
Ankh
Egyptian symbol of life
Axial Plan
Building with an elongated plan, allowing the altar to become a focal point
Engaged Column
A column that is attached to a wall
Hypostyle
A hall in an Egyptian temple that has a roof supported by many columns
Ka
The soul, or spiritual essence of a human being that ascends to heaven or can live in an Egyptian statue
Mastaba
Arabic for “bench” – a low, flat roofed Egyptian tomb with sides sloping down to the ground
Necropolis
“city of the dead”, large burial area
Papyrus
A tall aquatic plant whose fiber is used as a writing surface in ancient Egypt
Peristyle
Colonnade surrounding a building or enclosing a courtyard
Sarcophagus
A stone coffin
Sunken Relief
Carving in which the outlines of figures are deeply carved into a surface so the figures seem to project forward
