Roman Architecture Flashcards
Acanthus
A plant common to the Mediterranean, appearing often in such Roman architectural ornaments as the swirling vines of the Ara Pacis Augustae, and as rows of leaves in Corinthian and Composite capitals.
Adyton
A shrine on the interior altar of a Roman temple, as originally located in the Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek.
Aedicula (Aediculae)
Niches surrounded with temple-like columns and pediment. A profusion of them can be seen in the restored view of the Nymphaeum at Miletus.
Ala (Alae)
1) The “wings” of a Roman house where the shrines and images of family ancestors were kept; 2) The “wings” formed by the space between the outer walls of the cella and freestanding columns of some temples, most prominently the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus in Rome.
Ambulatio
A walkway, for example at Tiberius’ Villa Jovis on Capri.
Annular Vault
A ring vault used in a wide variety of Roman buildings from sanctuaries to theatres. The Santuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina is one example.
Apodyterium
The dressing room in a Roman bath building with recesses in the wall for clothes, for example in the Stabian Baths at Pompeii.
Arcosolium (Arcosolia)
Large arcuated horizontal niche that contained a deceased body and was sealed by a marble slab, as in the interior of the Tomb of the Caetennii in the Vatican Cemetery.
Arcuated Lintel
An entablature that has been arched up in the center to create a more dramatic effect. Possibly used first in Syria, it was introduced into Roman architecture under Hadrian in such varied locations as Tivoli, Ephesus, and Athens.
Arena
Elongated oval-shaped space, surrounded by tiered seating, in an amphitheater and used to showcase various spectator events, as in Rome’s Colosseum.
Atrium (Atria)
The main room of a Roman house where the paterfamilias greeted clients and other important symbols of marriage and married life were displayed.
Atrium Testudinatum
An atrium without an opening in the ceiling.
Aula Regia
An audience hall in an imperial villa or palace, for example Tiberius’ Villa Jovis on Capri and Domitian’s Domus Augustana in Rome.
Barrel Vault
Vault shaped like a barrel, used in such varied locations as a market hall at Ferentino and an underground cryptoporticus at Arles.
Basalt
A volcanic rock, usually black or grey in color, although its hue may change with oxidation. Its weight made it a good choice in Roman antiquity for support at the base of a wall or a dome, as well as for street pavement stones.
Basilica
An elongated rectangular building with a central nave and side aisles, sometimes lighted by a clerestory. It was most often used for legal transactions, as at Pompeii, but is also an example of the “interchangeability of form” when utilized in another context, for example as a dining room in a Herculaneum house.
Bucranium (Bucrania)
Skull of a bull or ox, used as a decorative motif, often with garlands, as in the inner frieze of the precinct of Rome’s Ara Pacis Augustae.
Caldarium
The hot room or sauna in a Roman bath building, normally with a niche with basin for cold-water splashes. Rectangular or round, depending on chronological date, caldaria are preserved in the Forum Baths at Pompeii and the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.
Cardo
Main north south street of a Roman city, which intersected with the decumanus.
Caryatid
A sculptured female figure that replaced a column and supported an entablature, first used in Greece and then adopted by the Romans, appearing in such contexts as the Forum of Augustus in Rome and Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli.
Carystian Marble
Green-tinged marble from Carystos in Greece, used at such disparate sites as the Severan Forum at Leptis Magna and the Library of Hadrian in Athens.
Castrum
Roman military camp, the plan of which was adopted for Roman town planning, and can be seen at Ostia in its earliest formulation.
Cavea
Semicircular seating of Roman theatres and amphitheaters, as in the Theater at Orange.
Cella (Cellae)
1) The central space of a temple, for example, the Temple of Mars Ultor in Rome and the Capitolium at Ostia; 2) The rectangular spaces at the front of a Roman house that could be opened up as the tabernae or kept closed from the street and used as additional interior residential quarters.
Cenacula (Cenaculae)
Second story dining rooms like those along the Via dell’Abbondanza in Pompeii.
Cenotaph
A marker that commemorates a person’s death, but doesn’t serve as his tomb.
Clerestory
A window-system, located in the second story of a basilica or basilicia-like space, usually above the inner columns or piers, which allows light to stream into the central nave or chamber, as in the Basilica Ulpia in Rome, or the oecus of the House of the Mosaic Atrium in Herculaneum.
Compluvium
The rectangular opening in the ceiling of the atrium of a Roman house that allows water to fall into the impluvium below.
Composite Capital
A capital, which combines features of the Ionic (volutes) and Corinthian (acanthus leaves) orders. The Romans used it infrequently but prominently, as on the Arch of Titus in Rome.
Corinthian Order
The third Greek order, used infrequently by the Greeks in the Hellenistic period. The Romans embraced it and made it their own because it was ornate and looked attractive from all sides. An early example is used at the so-called Temple of Vesta at Tivoli.
Cornice
The uppermost part of a Roman entablature.
Cryptoporticus
Barrel-vaulted underground passageway used in Roman antiquity for a street, storage, or as a dump for discarded antiquities in structures like the Sanctuaries of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina and Hercules Victor at Tivoli, and the Augustan Forum and Arles.
Cubiculum (Cubicula)
Small sleeping rooms that line the side walls of the atrium in a Roman house and sometimes surround the peristyle garden.
Cuneus (Cunei)
Wedge-shaped section of seats in a Roman amphitheater and theater, as in the amphitheater at Pozzuoli and the theater at Orange.
Decumanus
Main east west street of a Roman city, which intersected with the cardo.
Dolia
Urns to hold food that were placed in the open recesses of the counter of a Roman thermopolium.
Domus
The house of a family of means in Pompeii and elsewhere. Examples at Pompeii are the House of the Vettii and the House of the Faun.
Domus Italica
A simple early single-family dwelling, based on the ideal Roman house, known through a description by Vitruvius in De architectura.
Doric Order
One of the canonical Greek orders immortalized through the 5th-century B.C. Parthenon in Athens. Used sparingly in Roman architecture in the Republic (Temple of Hercules at Cori) and the Empire (Temple of Venus at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli) or in combination with the other Greek orders – Ionic and Corinthian – in a Hellenizing display. The façade of the Colosseum is the premiere example.
Engaged Columns
Partial columns that are attached to the wall as on the side and back of the Temple of Portunus in Rome.
Entablature
The horizontal element supported by a colonnade.
Exedra (Exedrae)
Semicircular space or recess, for example in the Forum of Augustus in Rome.
Fauces
The hallway leading into a Roman house. The fauces in Pompeii’s House of the Faun is a well-preserved example.
Frigidarium (Frigidaria)
The cold room of a Roman bath, which was circular with an oculus in its earlier form and rectangular with groin vaults in later versions.
Groin Vault
A ribbed vault formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults, which began to the used in Rome under Vespasian, for example in the second story of the Colosseum.
Headers and Stretchers
Large stones placed in an alternating pattern of long rectangular sides and short square sides as in the Servian Walls in Rome.
Hellenized Domus
A Roman dwelling initiated in the second-century B.C. under the influence of Greek peristyle houses and characterized by the addition of the Greek columnar order of facades, in atriums, and in gardens.
Hemicycle
Large semicircular space that was designed for such diverse Roman locations as a religious sanctuary (Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina) and a shopping mall (Markets of Trajan, Rome)
Horrea
Roman warehouses. The best examples, which are faced with exposed brick, are at Ostia.
Hortus
small garden open to the sky and located at the back of a Roman Domus Italica.
Hospitalia
Two wings flanking the Regia of a tripartite stage building or set, depicted in the Second Style Roman wall painting, for example, in the Room of the Masks in the House of Augustus in Rome.
Hymettian Marble
Marble from Mt Hymettos, southeast of Athens, and used in the Monument of Agrippa on the Athenian Acropolis.
Hypocaust
Under-floor heating system that supplied hot air for the tepidarium and caldarium of a Roman bath building. A well-preserved example in the Stabian Baths at Pompeii illustrates how it worked.
Hypogeum
The subterranean chambers under the floor of a Roman amphitheater, as have recently been revealed in the Colosseum.
Polygonal Masonry
Ashlar Masonry (Opus Quadratum)
Opus Incertum
Opus Reticulatum
Barrel Vault
Groin Vault
Segmented dome
Hemispherical dome
Pumpkin dome
Doric
Ionic
Corinthian
Elevation
Plan
Section
Axonometric View
