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Chapter Two
The Ancient Near East
26
Art History
12th Grade
09/07/2009

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Term
Acropolis
Definition
Greek, “high city.” In ancient Greece, usually the site of the city’s most important temple(s).
Term
Apadana
Definition
The great audience hall in ancient Persian palaces.
Term
Arch
Definition
A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the downward pressure laterally.
Term
Bestiary
Definition
A collection of illustrations of real and imaginary animals.
Term
Blind Arcade
Definition
An arcade having no actual openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface.
Term
Cella
Definition
The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.
Term
Cuneiform
Definition
Latin, “wedgeshaped.” 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.
Term
Cylinder Seal
Definition
A cylindrical piece of stone usually about an inch or so in height, decorated with an incised design, so that a raised pattern was left when the seal was rolled over soft clay. In the ancient Near East, documents, storage jars, and other important possessions were signed, sealed, and identified in this way.
Term
Facade
Definition
Usually, the front of a building; also, the other sides when they are emphasized architecturally.
Term
Foreshortening
Definition
The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.
Term
Frieze
Definition
The part of the entablature between the architrave and the cornice; also, any sculptured or painted band in a building.
Term
Glaze
Definition
A vitreous coating applied to pottery to seal and decorate the surface; it may be colored, transparent, or opaque, and glossy or matte. In oil painting, a thin, transparent, or semitransparent layer put over a color to alter it slightly.
Term
Glazed Brick
Definition
Bricks painted and then kiln fired to fuse the color with the baked clay.
Term
Heraldic Composition
Definition
A composition that is symmetrical on either side of a central figure.
Term
Hierarchy of Scale
Definition
An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.
Term
Iwan
Definition
In Islamic architecture, a vaulted rectangular recess opening onto a courtyard.
Term
Lamassu
Definition
Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged bull.
Term
Lapis Lazuli
Definition
A rich ultramarine semiprecious stone used for carving and as a source for pigment.
Term
Pictograph
Definition
A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock.
Term
Putto
Definition
A cherubic young boy.
Term
Register
Definition
One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.
Term
Repoussé
Definition
Formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face. The metal is hammered into a hollow mold of wood or some other pliable material and finished with a graver. See also relief.
Term
Stele
Definition
A carved stone slab used to mark graves or to commemorate historical events.
Term
Urna
Definition
A whorl of hair, represented as a dot, between the brows; one of the lakshanas of the Buddha.
Term
Votive Offering
Definition
A gift of gratitude to a deity.
Term
Ziggurat
Definition
An ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a monumental platform for a temple.
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