Western Civilizations (Ancient Times, Egypt, Greece, and Rome) Flashcards

1
Q

A linear civilization for nearly a thousand miles, along the Nile River; its concept of environment was one of absolute stability, based on an annual repetitive cycle of natural events

A

Ancient Egypt

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2
Q

The sun god of the Egyptians, greatest of the gods

A

Ra

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3
Q

Accepted as the son of Ra on earth, and therefore considered as a god; a ruler of Egypt

A

Pharaoh

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4
Q

Egyptian term for ‘soul,’ conceived to be within Pharaoh and, to a lesser extent, in his subject; the spiritual link between the eternal life and the present

A

Ka

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5
Q

An ancient Egyptian system of writing using pictures as words

A

Hieroglyphic

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6
Q

A tropical water plant (common name and genus), believed to be sacred by the Egyptians; eating the fruit was supposed to induce a dreamy euphoria

A

Lotus (Nymphaea)

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7
Q

Aquatic plant used by the Egyptians for the construction of primitive reed huts, and a recurrent motif in Egyptian architectural sculpture; used to make a paper-like writing material

A

Cyperus papyrus (Papyrus)

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8
Q

A device invented in Egypt for raising irrigation water from one level to another using a bucket and fulcrum

A

Shaduf

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9
Q

An ancient Egyptian stone figure having a lion’s body and a human or animal head, especially the huge statue near the Pyramids at Giza

A

Sphinx

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10
Q

The sepulchres, or burial chamber, of IVth Dynasty pharaohs (2613-2494 BC); possibly the simplest and most fundamental form in architecture (abstract geometry); monumental structures that are related asymmetrically one to another, yet precisely oriented to the cardinal points

A

Pyramids at Giza

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11
Q

Locations of the temples of the living and the mortuary temples, following the sun pattern, also influenced by the Egyptian’s belief that the cycle of nature is parallel to the cycle of human life, death and resurrection

A

East and West

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12
Q

Of Egyptian origin, symbolic of procreation; a tall vertical monument, usually monolithic, square in section and tapering up toward a pyramidal apex

A

Obelisk

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13
Q

The monumental entrance of an Egyptian temple or other wall enclosed space; symbolic of the mountains on each side of the Nile

A

Pylon

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14
Q

(1380 BC) A garden that depicts the elegant and ephemeral nature of domestic architecture and the decorative use of plants such as the fine trellis and the pomegranate; shows an ordered arrangement of specific plants around a rectangular basin stocked with fish

A

Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes

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15
Q

(1400 BC) A tomb dramatically sited at the base of a cliff on the west bank of the Nile River, comprised a series of monumental terraces and colonnades symmetrically organized around a processional axis, the Avenue of Sphinxes; with presence of exotic vegetation on its terraces such as myrrh trees from Somalia

A

Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatsheput, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt

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16
Q

A Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete (c. 2000-1470 BC)

A

Minoan Civilization

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17
Q

A term coined by Sir Arthur Williams; a religious or ceremonial symbol found extensively in Minoan contexts, also placed about the unfortified palace at Knossos; represented the bull sacrifice and symbolized the sacredness of the place

A

“Horns of Consecration” (bull horns)

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18
Q

Situated on a rugged, mountainous indented peninsulas and islands, including the Peloponnesus (mainland), the Aegean archipelago of islands and the western coast of Anatolia; composed of people isolated by separate political units; with hot, arid climate and little arable land area

A

Greece

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19
Q

An ancient city of Magna Graecia on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BC, was the earliest Greek colony in Italy

A

Cumae

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20
Q

A late Bronze Age Aegean civilization after the collapse of the Crete (1400 BC) located on the mainland

A

Mycenaean Civilization

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21
Q

Site of the cave of Persephone, also the site of the annual celebration of the rebirth of spring, reenacted as the mystery of Persephone’s return from the underworld

A

Eleusis, Greece

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22
Q

Legendary center of the world, which symbolized the religious unity of all Greece, and an oracular shrine of Gaia, the Earth Goddess; in the 7th century BC, the site had been rededicated to the worship of Apollo

A

Delphi, Greece

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23
Q

The sacred precinct allotted to the deity, containing the altar, temple (if any), and other sacral or natural features

A

Temenos

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24
Q

A Greek mystic and mathematician, who believed that universal essences or truth had an existence apart from the visible work of matter, man and time, and that here lay God; an ancient Athenian philosopher, pupil of Socrates, and teacher of Aristotle

A

Plato

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25
Q

Recognition and expression of the spirit of particular places; the most enduring legacy of Greece in landscape design

A

Genius loci

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26
Q

An Ionian Greek philosopher and mathematician (6th century BC), who first discovered a relation between spatial and musical proportions

A

Pythagoras of Samos

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27
Q

Basic order and idealized harmonies of forms

A

Golden Mean or Golden Section

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28
Q

The Greek word for “city-state”

A

Polis

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29
Q

The religious symbolic center of the Greek community; the citadel on the summit of most ancient Greek cities (“the high city”); comprised of the temples to local patron deity; non-axial grouping of structures that were arrived at obliquely

A

Acropolis

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30
Q

The national goddess and a legendary Athenian king, to whom the Acropolis of Athens was dedicated to

A

Pallas Athena and Erechtheus

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31
Q

An Athenian statesman who undertook a major campaign to restore the city of Athens and rebuild its temples, after the war with Persia

A

Pericles

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32
Q

An ancient Greek who codified principles of planning (c. 450)

A

Hippodamus

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33
Q

A system governing the design of columns and entablatures in classic architecture; a proportioning system based on the length and width of the column style

A

Order

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34
Q

The most famous of all temples located in the acropolis in Athens, Greece, which was completed c. 438 B.C.; considered the finest of all the Doric-style structures built during the golden age of Greece

A

Parthenon

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35
Q

An Ionic-style temple on the acropolis in Athens, Greece, built c. 420 BC; notable for the six caryatids on its south porch; left incomplete owing to the Peloponessian War (429-404 BC)

A

Erectheum (In Greek, Erechtheion)

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36
Q

Named after the procession which took place during an Anthenian festival in honour of Athena Polias and Erechtheus; marked the route from the city gates (Doric Propylaea) to the acropolis

A

Panathenaic Way

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37
Q

A central civic marketplace in a Greek town, also used as an open-air assembly; usually surrounded by porticos (forum); can be found the civic heart of the Athens, where people gathered to conduct personal business and participate in municipal affairs (200 BC)

A

Agora

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38
Q

A circular temple in Athena’s sanctuary

A

Tholos

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39
Q

Burned navel of the earth, where vapors emanated from the natural fissures

A

Omphalos

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40
Q

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

A

Classical

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41
Q

A characteristic of the Greek and Roman, especially relating to the arts and literature; a type or architecture that created rules and forms or orders

A

Classic

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42
Q

Of the Greek culture from the late eight century B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C.

A

Hellenic

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43
Q

Characteristic of the Greek culture after the death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C.

A

Hellenistic

44
Q

During this event, there was common agreement among the city states in Greece that there should be no war and that the festival should be one of body, mind, and spirit

A

Olympic Games (Games at Olympia)

45
Q

Aristotle’s philosophy of place as defined by specific natural features

A

Topos

46
Q

Places in their natural condition imbued with sacred significance; places of worship and meditation for the Greeks; became the setting for the academy

A

Sacred grove

47
Q

He is compared to the annual plants with brief seasonal cycle or short life; the Greeks associated him with the vegetation cycle

A

Adonis

48
Q

Small gardens in terracotta pots; basis of the courtyard gardens of the Mediterranean area with their potted plants

A

Adonis Garden

49
Q

Formalized architectural complex with facilities for schooling and development of the body as well as the mind; derived from the name of the grove where Plato held his seminars on philosophy

A

Academy

51
Q

Named for the Greek mathematician (c. 287 B.C. - 212 B.C.); a device comprised of a spiral or screw which turned inside an inclined closed cylinder for raising water to a height

A

Archimedean Screw

52
Q

A portion of a Greek or Roman house forming an enclosed entry hall or small court or courtyard with the roof opening to the sky in the center

A

Atrium

53
Q

The greek word of Basilica and its definition

A

Basileus means “for a king”

54
Q

A variation of the three classical Greek design orders; characterized by column capitals of ornamentally stylized acanthus leaves and curled fern fronds; slender columns with fluted shafts and fillets, and a base

A

Corinthian

55
Q

From Greco-Latin, a sculptured female figure employed as an architectural female figure employed as an architectural supporting member or columns

A

Caryatid

56
Q

Greek senate building or council house

A

Bouleuterion

57
Q

The earliest and simplest of the classical orders; characterized by columns without a base; relatively squatty shafts that were fluted, and simple and undecorated capitals

A

Doric

58
Q

The two main order and one subordinate order in Greek architecture

A

Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian

59
Q

One of the classical orders; characterized by capitals with spiral scrolls, tall, graceful fluted shafts, and molded

A

Ionic

60
Q

A plant with large toothed, scalloped leaves; often stylized into Corinthian capitals and other ornamental moldings, brackets and friezes

A

Acanthus (Acanthus mollis)

61
Q

A recess or alcove with raised seating where the discussions among scholars were held; for the Romans, any semicircular or rectangular recess with benches, also applied to an apse or niche in a church

A

Exedra

62
Q

Greek version of the Circus in the Roman Empire; an oval track for horse and chariot races, surrounded by tiered seats for spectators; used on a grand scale by Hadrian at his villa in Tivoli

A

Hippodrome

63
Q

The very slight convex swelling used on the shaft of Greek and later columns to counteract the illusion of concavity

A

Entasis

64
Q

A place or building in which young Greek men gathered for physical exercise and education

A

Gymnasium

65
Q

Term used to describe regular arrangement of streets in planned towns from ancient Greek times; like a checkerboard

A

Gridiron

67
Q

System of town planning using gridiron system of streets

A

Hippodamian

68
Q

A sanctuary of the nymphs; a building in Classic architecture for plants and running water ornamented with statues

A

Nymphaeum

68
Q

The Greek word for paradise; “park” or “garden”

A

Paradeisos

69
Q

An open colonnaded space or portico that forms an open building for public use; the great hall in Athens in which the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno gave the founding lectures of the Stoic school of philosophy

A

Stoa

69
Q

The Greek word for an enclosure; Greek architectural term for the colonnade or long portico especially used for athletics

A

Xystos

70
Q

A pre-Roman civilization or design style originating in west central Italy, eight century BC (ancient Italy and Corsica)

A

Etruscan (from Etruria)

71
Q

A civilization that originated in the hot, arid central Italian peninsula and expanded westward to Spain and Scotland, and eastward to the Persian Gulf

A

Roman Society

72
Q

Two main groups of the Roman World, one based on Greek democracy and religion and the other, had a class system under dictatorship of emperor

A
Roman Republic (510 - 27 BC)
and Roman Empire (27 BC - AD 476)
73
Q

First emperor of the Roman Empire (27 BC); the Pax Romana and the age of grandeur began with him

A

Augustus Caesar (Gaius Octavius)

74
Q

A Roman statesman, general and architect; a powerful deputy of Augustus; responsible for the construction of Pont du Gard at Nimes

A

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

75
Q

Any human-made channel for carrying water by means of gravity from a distant source to a designated destination; an engineered structure that supports the channel over a valley or river (ex. Pont de Gard)

A

Aqueduct

76
Q

A Roman townhouse (domus) located within the ruined ancient city of Pompeii, Italy; extraordinary archaeological remains of the Roman town was preserved by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (79 CE); contains a roofed colonnade and a paved atrium

A

House of the Vettii (Casa dei Vettii)

77
Q

A colonnade or rows of columns around the outside or a building, (Greek temple) or around the inside of a courtyard in a Greek or Roman residence; enclosed space

A

Peristyle

78
Q

Painting made by applying pigments to a wall while the plaster is still wet; usually garden scenes on the walls of the a peristyle garden which visually extended the space or created a sense of unlimited space

A

Fresco

79
Q

A seaside villa of Pliny the Younger at Laurentinum, west of Rome (c. 100 CE); planned according to their funtional and climatic requirements, and to take advantage of views

A

Pliny the Younger’s Villa

80
Q

Another type of Roman villa, a seaside villa

A

Villa marittima

81
Q

In Roman times, a self-contained farmstead serving a country estate and containing accommodation for the owner and employees; often expansive, yet walled

A

Villa or villa rustica

82
Q

The Roman residential structure located within the city; enclosed within walls, included formal, geometric gardens

A

Villa urbana

83
Q

(118 CE) Located 15 miles east of Rome in the foothills of the Sabine mountains; considered as the most influential of the landscapes of antiquity for the Renaissance; no organizing geometry unified the site plan, although each self-contained space was organized axially; held together conceptually by its thematic associations

A

Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli

84
Q

A long rectangular canal in Hadrian’s Villa, bordered by caryatids on one side and terminated at its southern end by an aped nymphaeum and a semicircular colonnade at its northern end; named after a branch of the Nile river

A

Canopus

85
Q

Named for the painted stoa at Athens, which provided a space to promenade year-round; a “painted portico”

A

Stoa poikile

86
Q

The site of an earlier building constructed by Marcus Agrippa (27 BC); the current structure was the largest concrete dome from the reign of Hadrian until the 15th century; the height of the dome equals its width; studied by Brunelleschi, a Renaissance architect, who designed an even larger dome in Florence

A

Pantheon, Rome

87
Q

An opening in the center of the dome, particularly in Pantheon, which creates dramatic lighting and atmospheric effects

A

Oculus

88
Q

A landmark or boundary post in an ancient Roman times in the form of a head of the god Terminus atop a stone pillar

A

Term

89
Q

The Roman god of boundaries, private property, municipal or nationa, where his image, in statue, was placed at the edges of gardens or property lines; also an endpoint, extremity of an axis, or a focal point

A

Terminus

90
Q

An elliptical or circular space surrounded by rising tiers of seats, as used by the Romans for gladiatorial contests; first made by the Greeks as settings for their dramas

A

Amphitheater

91
Q

From Latin, the two major streets that formed cross axes of an orthogonally laid-out community of the Entruscans and Romans; one is aligned north south while the other is oriented east-west

A

Cardo and Decumanus

92
Q

Latin for ‘fortified place,’ a Roman legion camp that evolved into a fortified walled town; usually rectangular in outline with a gridiron street arrangement within

A

Castrum

93
Q

Largest circus in Rome

A

Circus Maximus (150,000 seats)

94
Q

The Flavian amphitheater in Rome, built c. AD 78-80; its name derives from a statue of Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constaninus (Emperor Constantine I)

A

Colosseum

95
Q

Latin word for the Roman single-family house

A

Domus

96
Q

Latin word for a multi-family residential structure, often including shops along one or more of its outside walls and may have achieved five storied in height; an apartment building

A

Insula

97
Q

Italian word for an area designated for exercise

A

Gestatio

98
Q

The Romans defined it as “abode of the blessed,” park or orchard

A

Paradise

99
Q

In Greek and Roman houses, a shallow tank or pool under Roman houses, a shallow tank or pool under the opening in the roof of an atrium

A

Impluvium

100
Q

The Romans coined this word meaning the person who designed or made a such a garden

A

Topiarius

101
Q

For the Romans, it is a term used for the rear garden outside the house but enclosed within walls

A

Xystus

102
Q

Added by the Romans in the classic order; one resembles Doric and the other is a combination of Ionic and Corinthian

A

Tuscan and Composite

103
Q

A material used by the Romans, which revolutionized construction, was invented by a mixture of pozzolana (sand) and lime

A

Concrete

104
Q

The person who legalized Christianity as official religion in A.D. 313

A

Emperor Constantine

105
Q

The book where the phrase “genius of the place” first appeared

A

Book V of Virgil’s Aenid

106
Q

The Roman concept of leisure afforded by a natural setting exemplified by the idea of a country villa

A

Otium

107
Q

Monumental piece of urban design combined Hellenistic principles of movement about an axis with Roman technology; its grand staircases, ramps, and arcaded terraces that gracefully negotiated the slope and culminated in an exedra influenced Italian Renaissance designers; the sanctuary was over 1,000 feet above sea level and visible from the Tyrrhenian Sea

A

Temple of Fortuna Primigenia, Praeneste (Palestrina, Italy)