A

Abacus. The Latin equivalent of the Greek abax or abakion, which are not used by writers in English
(abakos in late Greek is a back-formation from the Latin). It means a flat rectangular slab, used in
architecture as the name of the low square or rectangular (in the Ionic Order) block of stone which comes
between the capital of a column and the main beam (architrave or epistyle) above it. The same word was
also used to describe a slab or board used to make calculations, with counters arranged in rows on top of it
or sliding in grooves, an important item of equipment for tax collectors, merchants or money changers.
Abaton. ‘Not to be entered’, a word used in Greek to describe a place to which entry was forbidden or
restricted, a ‘tabu house’ as it were. The best known example is a building at the healing sanctuary of
Epidaurus which bore this name. Here pilgrims in poor health slept, awaiting a divinely inspired message
from Aesculapius (cf. Adytum).
Abutment. The part of a structure on which the thrust of an arch or a vault is exerted.
Acanthus. A plant, the leaves of which inspired the ornamentation of the Corinthian and Composite
capitals.
Accidental red. An unintentional red area appearing on a part of a vase which was intended to be black,
as a result of incorrect preparation in the black or red figure techniques of vase decoration, of faulty
stacking of vases in a kiln or of the entry of fresh air into a kiln at the wrong moment during the firing
process.
Acrolithic/acrometallic. ‘With stone (or metal) extremities’. Some ancient Greek statues were made on a
timber framework with sheets of various materials laid over it to simulate drapery, while the head, hands
and feet were made in marble or in metal.
Acropolis. ‘High city, top of the city’. Many Greek cities grew up around a central high point, which in
the earliest times might be fortified as a citadel. Later, as cities expanded and built fortification walls
covering larger areas, it became customary to give the acropolis over to temples and other sacred
buildings. The equivalent word in Latin, less frequently used, is arx. At Corinth the acropolis was called
Acrocorinth.
Acrostolium. ‘Top of the stolos’. The stolos, a curved extension of the stem post of an ancient ship, was
often in naval vessels bent forward (or in Roman times backward) so that it ended in a horn-like point.
The original purpose of this may have been to symbolise strength. Like the aplustre (with which it is
sometimes confused), the stylis and the ram, it might be removed from a defeated vessel and displayed on
its own as a symbol of victory.
Acroterium. An ornament, either purely decorative in form or representing a human or animal figure,
which was placed at each corner of the gable of a building or on the ridge of a roof. Acroteria may in the
earliest stages of ancient architecture have had a protective or apotropaic purpose.
Actor’s mask, see Mask.
Added colours. In black and red figure vase painting the principal colours were produced not by pigments
but by a chemical process which depended for its successful outcome on the correct execution of a series
of stages in the firing of the pottery. Subsidiary colours, however, were produced by the use of pigments,
either before or after firing, and it is these which are said to be ‘added’.
Adjunct, see Attribute.
Adlocutio. ‘Address’, a word used by modern writers to describe a scene which is part of the repertoire of
Roman Imperial art, showing an emperor addressing his troops. It is found frequently on relief sculpture
and on coins. The pose and military costume of the free-standing statue of Augustus from Prima Porta
suggests that it is intended to represent the emperor on an occasion of this kind.
Adventus. ‘Arrival’, the name used by modern writers to describe a scene in Roman Imperial art in which
an emperor is shown arriving at a city, and being welcomed by its citizens and by its gods. It is found
frequently on relief sculpture and on coins. The emperor may be represented on foot or mounted. The well
known ‘Province’ series of coins struck by Hadrian to commemorate his journeys shows the Adventus of
Hadrian in each of the provinces which he visited.
Adytum. Like abaton, this word means ‘not to be entered’. It describes an inner room or shrine in a
temple, access-ible only from the cella, of the sort to which entry would be refused except to priests or
initiates (cf. Opisthodomus).
Aedes/aedicula. In Latin aedes means any kind of building, usually one of a monumental kind, and is
frequently found as the name of a temple; thus aedes Cereris is the temple of Ceres. The diminutive form
aedicula is used to describe a representation of the front of a temple-like building which was often placed
upon a wall to frame a painting or a statue (particularly, in a Roman house, the shrine which held the
Lares).
Aegina/Aigina. An island in the Saronic Gulf, not far from Athens, which was a centre for the production
of bronze work, particularly in the late archaic and classical periods. It was also the home of a major
sculptor who flourished c. 500 B.C., Onatas of Aegina, who may have been responsible for some of the
work on its most famous monument, the temple of Aphaia. Aegina was also probably the first place in
mainland Greece to mint coins, using silver imported from elsewhere, principally Siphnos. These coins
were exported to many other places which lacked silver. The Aeginetan coin weight standard (drachma of
6.1g, stater of 12.2g) was used elsewhere, for instance in the Peloponnese, at Delphi and on Crete.
Aegis/aigis. A shield or cloak which originally belonged to Zeus, but was sometimes borrowed by his
daughter Athena. It had representations of Terror and Fear upon it, and when shaken it would put an
enemy to flight. It is possible that the name was originally connected with a Greek word aix, meaning a
whirlwind or hurricane, but the existence of another word aigos, ‘goat’, seems also to have affected the
interpretation of it. In Greek art it is represented as a short cape, perhaps of goatskin, reaching almost to
the elbows, decorated at the edge with protomes of snakes and with a gorgoneion at the front and in the
centre. It had the power to protect as well as to terrify; hence the expression ‘under the aegis of...’. In
Greek art it is most often worn by Athena and in Roman art by Minerva. Since, however, it is also an
attribute of Zeus or Jupiter, Roman emperors occasionally wear it.
Aemilius Paullus, monument of. A monument set up at Delphi to commemorate the victory of the
Roman Aemilius Paullus over the Macedonians at the battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. It consisted of a
masonry base which supported an equestrian statue of the victorious general. Around the top of the base
ran a frieze showing a battle between Roman and Macedonian soldiers. Only the lower part of the
monument survives (the bronze equestrian statue has disappeared), but it is of interest because it provides
us with an early example of the way in which the Romans, as patrons, encouraged the use of subjects of a
historical rather than a mythological nature for commemorative works of this kind.
Aeolic. Part of the north-western area of Asia Minor is known as Aeolis, and some of the archaic column
capitals decorated with volute or spiral forms which seem to have preceded the full development of the
Ionic order have been found there. For this reason ‘Aeolic’ is sometimes used as an alternative to ‘Proto-
Ionic’ as a name for column capitals of this kind, even when they are found elsewhere, e.g. at Delphi. The
term has little merit (see Ionic).
Aerarium. The Roman name for a treasury, either in the sense of a building or of a large sum of money
stored up (from the Latin aes, ‘bronze’. During the Roman Republic the central or principal treasury of the
Roman state was located in the temple of Saturn on the edge of the Forum at the foot of the Capitoline
Hill, a short distance from the mint where coins were prepared. It may have been moved to a building to
the east of the Colosseum in the Flavian period, because the mint was certainly relocated to the bottom of
the Caelian Hill.
Aes. The Latin word for copper or bronze, often used as a general word referring to money or coinage in
any metal. It occurs regularly in a number of phrases, some of which are used by modern writers although
not always in the same sense as in ancient texts. Aes rude means ‘crude, unworked bronze’, and is used to
describe the lumps of cast bronze which are sometimes found in archaeological contexts of a kind which
suggests that they were thought of as objects of value. Their value, of course, would depend on their
weight, and unlike coins, pieces of aes rude would have had to be weighed on every occasion on which
there was a purchase or exchange. Aes signatum means ‘marked, stamped bronze’. In the Roman Republic
the expression seems to have been used to indicate coinage (as opposed to ‘worked bronze’, aes factum,
i.e. bronze which had been made into objects of one kind or another and aes infectum, ‘unworked
bronze’). Modern writers often use the phrase, by convention rather than because it has any ancient
authority, to describe the cast bronze bars, about five Roman pounds in weight, which preceded the more
normal coinage in bronze and silver which began c. 300 B.C. Aes grave, ‘heavy bronze’ is another phrase
which is regularly used by modern writers in a sense different from the one which it had in ancient times.
It is now often used to describe any of the early Roman cast bronze coinage, and some of the earlier struck
pieces, which were issued during the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. When the expression first began to be
used, however, it seems in fact to have denoted bronze coins of a full libral standard, such as were struck
before the weights of the bronze coinage began to be reduced, or to calculations made or fines or
expenditures determined on the basis of this unit.
Aetos. ‘Eagle’, the Greek word which was sometimes used in poetic language to describe the pediment of
a building. The image is perhaps inspired by the image of an eagle resting with its wings lowered towards
the ground on each side.
Agathodaemon. ‘Good spirit’, the Greek name for an Egyptian deity who promoted the fertility of the
earth. He was sometimes worshipped in human form, and sometimes in the form of a serpent.
Agias. A pancratiast (engaging in a mixture of boxing and wrestling) of the 5th century B.C. who was
commemorated in the following century by one of his descendants. Statues of the famous victor were set
up at his home town of Pharsalus in Thessaly, and at Delphi where he had won many of his victories. The
marble base of the statue at Pharsalus (which was probably made in bronze) survives, and the inscription
on it names Lysippus as the artist. A marble copy was discovered at Delphi; it is uncertain whether this is
also the work of Lysippus, or whether it only reflects his style in a general way, with some features being
attributable to the hand of a copyist.
Agger. ‘Mound, rampart’, particularly a rampart around a Roman military camp, formed from soil
excavated from the perimeter ditch, or fossa (see Vallum).
Agonistic. From the Greek agon, ‘contest’, meaning ‘connected with a contest’, either as a prize or in
some other way. An agonistic urn is an urn given as a prize, and a scene of athletes or chariot races may
be described as agonistic.
Agora. ‘Assembly’, the principal public area of a Greek city in which the citizens were most likely to
meet in formal or informal assemblies. Although it might contain temples, it was principally devoted to
administrative, political and commercial activities. It was the approximate equivalent of the Roman forum.
Aion, see Apotheosis.
Aisle, see Ala.
Akakia. This word appears in two forms in Byzantine texts, either as akakia, ‘not-evil’ or alexikakia,
‘averting evil’. It was the name of a bag containing dust (a symbol of the transitory nature of human life)
held by the emperor. It is easily confused with the mappa, which it seems to have replaced as an item of
the imperial regalia in the 7th century A.D.
Ala. ‘Wing’, a word used in Latin for a side room off the atrium of a Roman house, and then for each of
the side passages in a church or basilica flanking the central nave. In English the word became confused
with the word for an island, ile or yle, and when this began to be spelt with an s in the 18th century, the
combined form ‘aisle’ became regular.
Alabastos or Alabastron. ‘Alabaster’; also a small vase of more or less tubular form, four to eight inches
long, used for perfumes or ointments. It was not necessarily made from alabaster, although the name
suggests this. Because of its form a Greek comic writer could use it as a synonym for ‘penis’.
Alabastotheke. Literally, a container for objects or ornaments in alabaster; more generally, a casket or
box used for storing valuable objects of other kinds.
Aldobrandini wedding. A wall painting discovered at Rome in a building in the so-called Gardens of
Maecenas, and once owned by the Aldobrandini family. It is now in the collections of the Vatican. It
shows a wedding scene. The most likely subject is the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. It certainly belongs
to the time of Augustus, and may have been inspired by a marriage in the imperial family.
Alexander mosaic. A floor mosaic found at Pompeii in an exedra in the House of the Faun. It represents a
battle, probably the Battle of Issus in 333 B.C. at which Alexander the Great defeated King Darius of
Persia. The composition is not well suited to the decoration of a floor, and the mosaic is best explained as
a reproduction in this medium of a famous earlier painting. Several artists may be suggested as the
creators of the original design c. 300 B.C. The mosaic copy at Pompeii is to be dated at the beginning of
the 1st century B.C., quite early in the decorative history of the house in which it was found.
Altar. Altars in the ancient world took widely varying forms. The simplest was a small stone or terracotta
base on which offerings could be placed or a small fire lit. At the other extreme there was the altar of
Hiero(n) II at Syracuse, built between 241 and 215 B.C. This was a stone platform 200 metres in length
and 23 metres in width, large enough for a hecatomb (a hundred oxen) to be sacrificed at once. Another
notable altar was that of Zeus at Pergamum. The altar itself, built in the 2nd century B.C., was not of
abnormally large size, but was distinguished by the podium and colonnade surrounding it. These were
decorated with an external frieze showing a gigantomachy and an internal one showing events in the life
of the hero Telephus. The Ara Pacis Augustae is another example of an altar which was surrounded by an
enclosure decorated with sculpture (cf. Ara).
Alto rilievo, see High relief.
Amazonomachy. A battle between Greeks and Amazons, a mythical race of warrior women. In Greek art
it may be supposed to represent either a battle which occurred as the Greeks went on their way to attack
Troy, or a later attempt by the Amazons to invade Attica, when they were defeated by Theseus. Amazons
are represented in Greek art as women wearing short chitons, usually armed, sometimes helmeted and
sometimes riding. The fashion of representing them with one or both breasts bare led to (or was inspired
by) the supposed derivation of their name from the Greek a-mazos, meaning ‘not-breast’; this was
sometimes fancifully interpreted as meaning that each of them had cut off a breast so that it would not
interfere with the drawing of a bow.
Amentum. A strap or thong attached to the middle of a spear, which aided the throwing of it.
Amphiprostyle. Of a building, with a row of columns not in antis at each end (cf. Prostyle, -Style).
Amphitheatre. Round-about theatre’, a double theatre, i.e., a building in the form of two theatres joined
together to make an elliptical seating area, with a flat space in the middle. We normally think of
amphitheatres, which were so often used for gladiatorial contests and wild beast hunts, as being a part of
Roman rather than of Greek civilisation, but the fact that the name is Greek reminds us that the earliest
permanent amphitheatres of which we have knowledge belong to the southern part of Italy, where Greek
was spoken; for instance, the amphitheatre of Pompeii was built a generation before the earliest stone
amphitheatre at Rome (30 B.C.). The best known amphitheatre in the Roman world is the Flavian
Amphitheatre at Rome, usually known as the Colosseum. In addition to the types of display mentioned
above, the central area or arena (‘sand’) of an amphitheatre could sometimes be flooded so that mock sea
battles could take place there (but cf. Naumachia). Badly educated people now use ‘amphitheatre’ in the
sense of ‘outdoor theatre’, but this neglects the true meaning of the word.
Amphora. This is the Latin form of the Greek amphoreus. The word should be prounounced with the
stress on the first syllable, not on the second syllable. The Greek word and its plural amphoreis are not
used in English. The Latin plural amphorae and the English ‘amphoras’ are both acceptable. Amphorai,
however, which is sometimes found in modern books, should be avoided because although it looks Greek
it is not the correct plural form. The word is a contracted form of amphiphoreus, ‘double carrier’, meaning
that it is a vase with two carrying handles. Modern writers give the name of amphora to a variety of
storage or cartage containers which have two vertical handles, a neck narrower than the body and a body
which is wider at the shoulders than at the foot. Some amphoras have peg feet, and can only remain
upright if placed in a stand or dug into the ground, and others have flat bases. The amphoras with pointed
feet are the commercial type, undecorated, and used for the transport and storage of liquids or grains. They
occur in a wide variety of shapes, and often it is possible to identify their place of origin from the shape or
from the stamps which were sometimes impressed upon them at the time of their making.
The amphora was a favourite shape with vase painters. There are many basic forms among those which
were chosen for decoration. In the Geometric period some of the best examples of vase painting are found
on large examples of the type known as a neck amphora, because its neck takes the form of a separate
cylinder set upon the body. This is also common in the archaic and early classical periods. Amphoras with
the neck and body forming one unit, the so-called ‘one-piece’ amphoras, were also popular. One Athenian
potter, Nikosthenes, is particularly associated with a form of amphora characterised by a neck which has
the form of a truncated cone rather than of a cylinder. The form of this ‘Nikosthenic amphora’ can be
paralled in Etruscan work, so it may have been designed to appeal to the Etruscan market. Another
distinctive form stands on a base, but has a bottom above this which narrows down more than usual,
almost to a point. Many amphoras of this kind are decorated with the figure of an armed Athena on one
side, and athletes or a chariot on the other, and also bear an inscription which makes it clear that they were
given as prizes at the Panathenaic games at Athens. We call these Panathenaic amphoras, or ‘amphoras of
Panathenaic form’ if they are of this shape, but decorated with subjects which are not agonistic.
Anadyomene. ‘Rising’, a title given to Aphrodite in scenes which show her rising from the waves of the
sea. This alludes to the myth that told of her birth from the sea of Paphos at the southern end of Cyprus
(for which reason she is sometimes called the Cyprian or Paphian goddess). The Ludovisi throne may
represent this myth, as may a marble Aphrodite statue in the Syracuse museum which shows her wearing
drapery that billows around her legs in a shape reminiscent of a sea shell.
Anathyrosis. From thyra, a door, the name which is given to a technique of joining stones in which no
mortar is used, and where it is desired to save work on the vertical joints. The vertical sides of the stones
are dressed to fit exactly for a few inches around the edges only, the areas inside these edges being
roughly pecked back with a punch so that they do not touch the neighbouring stones. The effect is perhaps
slightly reminiscent of an open doorway. The same technique was also sometimes used on column drums.
Ancestral bust. During the later years of the Roman Republic, and during the early Empire, it was the
practice among upper-class Romans to keep in their houses portrait busts of the more notable earlier male
members of their families.The appearance of some of these portraits suggests that they may have been
made after death, although this is true of only a small minority. The busts were occasionally displayed on
ceremonial occasions. The practice falls short of ancestor-worship, because there is no suggestion that the
Romans regarded their ancestors as divine; the living descendants simply acquired merit from their
association with the great men of the past. The Roman interest in portraits of this kind may have been
inspired by Etruscan precedents.
Angel. From the Greek angelos, ‘messenger’, a word which has come to be used in the restricted sense of
a messenger from God. In early Christian art the Victory or Victoria of classical art, a draped and winged
female figure, was used as a model for these messengers. The Greek word is masculine (although it could
be used of a female messenger), whereas most personifications such as Victory, are feminine (see
Personifications). I there is any doubt as to the intended nature of a figure represented in art, it is only
correct to classify it as an angel if it is appears to be male, or lacking in any clear sexual characteristics. In
modern art, however, angels are sometimes represented as feminine.
Anta. In architecture, the decorated termination of a projecting wall, usually the side wall of a porch,
which in the best buildings might receive the kind of decorations, mouldings and perhaps fluting,
appropriate to an engaged column or a pilaster. When columns are placed between the antae in a porch,
they are said to be in antis, ‘in the antae’.
Antefix. ‘Fixed before’, the name used to describe the stone or terracotta facing which covers the exposed
outer edge of a roof tile along the line of a gutter. According to Vitruvius, it was desirable that in the best
work they should lean very slightly outwards to avoid giving an impression of weakness when seen by a
viewer from below.(see Refinements). Antefixes were decorated either with an anthemion pattern or with
human or animal heads, which may originally have had an apotropaic purpose.
Anthemion. ‘Flower, blossom’, a word occasionally used in Greek texts to describe a floral ornament on a
work of architecture. The Greek texts do not give us enough information to make it clear what form these
ornaments took. The word is sometimes used by writers in English as a name for a decorative band of
palmettes, or of alternating lotuses and palmettes.
Anthropomorphic. ‘Human-shaped’, a term which is used to describe the practice, common in the art and
literature of most countries, of representing divinities or abstract ideas in human form (cf.
Personifications).
Anvil die. The die, set into a base or anvil, which set its impression on the lower side of a coin, or
obverse, as opposed to the punch die, which struck it from above.
Apex. The small rod or spike, originally a twig, which projects from the top of the hat worn by some
Roman priests (see Tutulus). The word later came to be used as a name for the whole hat.
Aphlaston, see Aplustre.
Aphrodite. A goddess worshipped throughout the Greek world. Greek mythology told of her birth near
the island of Cyprus (see Anadyomene) and it may have been from that island that her cult spread; in
Homer however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She is a goddess of fertility, usually human
fertility, personifying the sexual instinct and the power of sexual love. In the archaic and early classical
period she is represented in art in the same way as other goddesses, but with Praxiteles the tradition began
of showing her nude, and as a result of this innovation there is a long series of nude Aphrodite types in
Greek art, known to us for the most part through the medium of Roman copies. The most famous
Aphrodite described in the literary sources was the Aphrodite made by Praxiteles for the people of Cnidus,
which became a tourist attraction. Other well known Aphrodite or Venus types are the Aphrodite of Melos
(the Venus de Milo), the Esquiline and Capitoline Venuses found in Rome and the Medici Venus which is
now in Florence.
Aplustre. The Latin form of the Greek aphlaston, which might be translated ‘stern ornament’. It was a
decorative extension of the stern post of a naval vessel, which in the simplest versions has the same form
as the acrostolium at the prow (the words are sometimes confused). In its more mature form it is divided
into several parts, and this gives it a more frond-like and spreading appearance. It was used in battle for
displaying signals. It was usually supported by a vertical bar with a cross-piece. This bar was called a
stylis, and the aplustre or aphlaston and the stylis occasionally appear in Greek and in Roman art as
symbols of naval victory.
Apollo. A god worshipped throughout the Greek world and also later by the Romans. His cult had many
aspects, the most important being those which associated him with the healing art of medicine, with music
and with prophecy. Like his sister Artemis/Diana he is sometimes represented as a hunter and carries a
bow (although this may also be interpreted as a symbol of plague, which he can send as well as cure). In
art he is represented as a youthful male figure, usually nude, although when he appears as a musician he
may wear a long robe and carry a lyre. His attributes as a god of prophecy are a tripod, or the omphalos or
navel stone of Delphi, on which he sits. The name of ‘Apollo’ has often been applied to the early kouros
figures, but although some of them may have been intended to represent him, there is no justification for
attaching it to them as a class.
Apophyge. ‘Fleeing away’, the imaginative name given to the curve at the base of an Ionic column where
the flutes end and the column spreads out a little above the upper torus of the base.
Apoptygma, see Chiton.
Apotheosis. From theos, ‘god’, a Greek word meaning the elevation of a person to the status of divinity.
In Greek mythology this was the fate of a small number of persons, usually of semi-divine parentage in
the first place (e.g. Hercules, the Dioscuri). In the Roman Empire it became the practice for the Senate to
deify emperors after their deaths (although deification was refused to some unpopular emperors).The
practice began with Julius Caesar, who became Divus Iulius, ‘the Divine Julius’, and continued until the
beginning of the 5th century A.D., even after the introduction of Christianity. In Roman Imperial art
apotheosis scenes show an emperor or empress being carried heavenward by an eagle, the bird of Jupiter
(the base of the column of Antoninus Pius varies this theme by introducing a male figure which is
probably intended to represent Aion (‘Time, Eternity’).
On coins the same message is often expressed by the representation of an altar, perhaps with an eagle
standing on it, or by the representation of a funeral pyre (see Ustrinum).
Apotropaic. ‘Turning away’, a word used of some deities who were considered to be protectors from evil,
and of works of art or decorations on buildings which seem (perhaps because of their fierce or ugly
appearance) to be designed to keep away evil spirits.
Apoxyomenos. ‘Scraping off’, a word which is given in Pliny’s Natural History as the name of a statue
by Lysippus which was brought to Rome at the end of the 1st century B.C. by Marcus Agrippa. It was said
to have so attracted the emperor Tiberius that he took it for himself, until the Roman people demanded
that it should be displayed in public again. The action of ‘scraping off’ refers to the use of a strigil as a
cleaning instrument.
Marble copies survive of the figure of an athlete with the slim proportions and relatively small head
which are believed to be ‘Lysippan’, (but cf. Agias) in an attitude which implies that he is using a strigil.
These are believed to be copies of the Apoxyomenos of Lysippus. The best known of these is in the
Vatican. The athlete uses the strigil with his left hand; this implies that the statue was originally one of a
pair, one left-handed and the other right-handed, an arrangement which the Roman habit of using statues
for purely decorative, rather than commemorative or cult purposes would have made common. There is no
reason to suppose that Lysippus made two statues.
Aqueduct. From the Latin aquae (or in late Latin aque) ductus, meaning a channel of water; an artificial
canal or channel directing water from one point to another. Some cities in the Greek world developed
aqueduct systems, but it was the Romans who practised this branch of engineering with the greatest
success. The aqueduct system of ancient Rome, developed during the Republic and early Empire, gave it a
better supply of water than many modern cities. Water was directed along channels which might be at
ground level, following the contours of the landscape where necessary, might go along underground
tunnels or might travel on rows of arches above ground. Outside Rome the remains of many ancient
aqueducts survive in the provinces; the best known are those at Nîmes in the south of France and at
Merida in Spain.
Aquila. ‘Eagle’ (see Standard).
Ara. An altar (see Altar). The word is used in the names of a number of Roman altars, e.g. the Ara Pietatis
or Altar of Piety at Rome. The most famous of these is the Ara Pacis Augustae or Altar of Augustan
Peace, which was constructed during the reign of Augustus. Its decoration shows a careful mixing of
mythological and historical elements combining scenes from the traditional early history of Rome,
representations of Roman personifications and divinities and portraits of the imperial family in the setting
of a procession of senators. This combination of elements was repeated in many later works of Roman
Imperial art.
Araeostyle. ‘Widely spaced’, a term used by Vitruvius to describe buildings in which the columns are
more than three column diameters apart, an arrangement which demands timber rather than the heavier
stone architraves (cf. -style).
Arcade. A row of arches supported by columns or piers, either as a decorative feature on its own or
supporting a roof or an upper story. Where the columns support flat lintels rather than arches, it is more
correct to speak of a colonnade or a portico.
Arch, see Voussoir, Corbel.
Archaic. The Greek words archaios and archaikos, which mean no more than ‘old, old-fashioned’, were
used by writers of the classical and later periods to describe the art and architecture of earlier times.
Modern writers use the word ‘archaic’ in a more precise sense, to describe Greek art of the period c. 700
B.C. to 480 B.C., the latter date being that of the second Persian invasion of Greece, which is a convenient
point at which to divide artistic periods, although it did not in itself cause any change in style (in fact, in
some parts of the Greek world, work in an ‘archaic’ style continued to be produced until the middle of the
5th century B.C. The principal characteristic of the archaic style is its gradual progression from a linear
and geometric rendering of forms towards the more plastic and naturalistic style of the classical period (cf.
Classical, Hellenistic). Work of the earlier part of the Roman Republic is also sometimes described as
archaic, but the word is not so common in this context. The terms ‘archaising’ or ‘archaistic’ are also used
to describe work which was deliberately produced in later periods in a style imitating the archaic. This is
rare in purely Greek art, but objects of this kind were sometimes produced for Roman patrons who
enjoyed this style or thought it appropriate in some decorative schemes, particularly in the 1st century
B.C. and the 1st century A.D.
Architrave. ‘Principal beam’ (the Latin architrabs, cf. Trabeated), the member of a building which
stretches across the columns, and supports any superstructure above. The alternative name ‘epistyle’, from
the Greek epistylion (cf. -Style) is less common.
Archon. ‘Leader, ruler’, the title of a principal magistrate in a number of Greek cities. At Athens the most
important archon was called the eponymous archon (from the Greek onoma, ‘name’), who gave his name
to the year in which he held office. This provided a system of dating which was used by many cities in the
Greek world, just as the Romans used a system of dating years by the names of their consuls. Some late
Panathenaic vases bear the names of eponymous archons on them, and can therefore be dated exactly.
Many inscriptions can also be dated by the names of the archons mentioned in them.
Arena, see Amphitheatre.
Arretine ware, see Terra Sigillata.
Arris. A sharp edge formed by two flat or curved surfaces meeting at an angle. The word is most
commonly used of the ridge formed where flutes meet in the Doric order (as opposed to the fillets of the
Ionic order).
Artemisium. A shrine or temple to Artemis. The most famous of these was at Ephesus. Here a temple to
Artemis was erected in the middle of the 6th century B.C. (often called the Croesus temple). It was later
destroyed, and was replaced by another in the 4th century. Other well known Artemisia were on the island
of Delos and at the northern tip of the island of Euboea; the latter gave its name to the sea battle which
was fought in the neighbouring waters during the second Persian invasion in 480 B.C.
Arx. A citadel (the Latin equivalent of the Greek acropolis).
Aryballos. The name now used to describe a small narrow-mouthed vase with a single handle or two
handles at the neck, which is found in the Archaic period and later as a development from the small
globular oinochoe which first appears in the Geometric period. There is no ancient authority for this, and
the name may originally have referred to a small jug, but the convention of using the word in the way
defined above is now well established. The first aryballoi appear among early Protocorinthian pottery and
are round in form. Thereafter the shape becomes piriform or ovoid, and then round again. It was used as a
container for perfumed oil, and in art is often shown as a part of the equipment of athletes, who would use
it, together with a strigil, to anoint and scrape themselves after exercise.
As. In Latin this word meant a unit of anything, or the whole of a unit, as opposed to its fractions (it may
be derived from a dialect form of the Greek word for ‘one’, heis ). There is no connection with the word
aes meaning ‘bronze’. It was used as the name of the first Roman bronze coins, which weighed one
pound, because the pound was the basic unit of measurement, and it continued to be used thereafter as the
name of the basic unit of bronze currency, even when as a result of many reductions in weight this came to
weigh no more than half an ounce. A Roman as of the 3rd century B.C. may therefore weigh as much as
270g, but by the 3rd century A.D., when the as went out of production, its weight had dropped to such an
extent that it sometimes weighed as little as 10g. During the Republic accounts were kept in asses until the
middle of the 2nd century B.C. After that time the sestertius usually replaced the as as the standard uni of
reckoning. In the Greek world an alternative form of the Latin word, assarion, was used in some cities as
the name of a bronze coin, This was not necessarily of the same value as the Roman as, and was not
intended to be exchanged against it, since bronze coins did not normally have any official value outside
the areas in which they were issued.
Asclepieum/Asklepieion. A shrine or temple of Aesculapius or Asklepios the god of healing (in Greek
Asklepieion ). The most important centres of his cult were at Epidaurus in the Peloponnese and at Athens,
at Pergamum and on the island of Cos (cf. Abaton).
Ashlar. A rectangular block of stone; ashlar masonry is masonry made up of such blocks.
Astragalus. ‘Knuckle-bone’, which might be used in a children’s game just as in more modern times.
There was also a kind of fortune-telling using knucklebones which was called astragalomancy. In
architecture the name is given to a moulding of semi-circular profile which is decorated with alternate
beads or berries and disk-like shapes which have reminded some of the shape of a cotton-reel; it is
therefore also sometimes called bead-and-reel. An astragalus moulding or astragal is regularly placed at
the top of the shaft of an Ionic column, and is also sometimes found in the Doric order.
Atlas. In Greek mythology Atlas was a Titan who was punished for attempting to overthrow Zeus by
being made to carry the sky on his shoulders. He was then located at the western end of the
Mediterranean. One of the last labours of Hercules was to obtain the golden apples which grew on a tree
guarded by a fierce dragon in the same place, and he changed places with Atlas briefly while the Titan
performed this dangerous task for him. In architecture a male figure supporting an architrave or console is
sometimes called an Atlas figure (cf. Telamon).
Atrium. A large open space in a Roman house, normally roofed. The traditional derivation of the word,
from ater, ‘black’ is explained as referring to its smoke-blackened walls (chimneys were not known in
houses in the ancient world). Other rooms opened off it, and in most arrangements there was an entrance
to the house at one side of it, and access to the rear parts of the house at the other. The atrium is an Italian
feature of houses as opposed to the peristyle, which was adopted from the Greek world. Vitruvius gives us
names for various kinds of atrium (which he calls cavum aedium, the ‘hollow of the house’). One type, the
Testudinate (from testudo, tortoise), was entirely roofed over, while the others had an opening in the
centre of the roof to admit rain water (a compluvium), which was collected in a basin set in the floor
below (an impluvium) and was then led into an underground cistern where it was stored for household
purposes. For small houses the simplest arrangement of this kind was the Tuscan, in which the roof beams
stretched all the way across the atrium without any support in the middle. A Tetrastyle atrium, on the other
hand, had four columns supporting the compluvium in the middle, and a Corinthian atrium had the same
arrangement, but with more than four columns. Finally Vitruvius gives the name of Displuviate or ‘rain-
shedding’ to an atrium which had a compluvium and impluvium, but had a roof which sloped towards the
outside walls of the house. The name of Atrium was also given to some public buildings at Rome, e.g. the
Atrium Vestae (of Vesta) and the Atrium Libertatis (of the personification of Liberty, to whom a cult was
established).
Attic. Attica is the part of Greece which includes the city of Athens. Although Athens, rather than the
countryside, is more likely to have inspired any developments which took place, it has nevertheless always
been the standard practice, both in ancient and in modern times, to call the dialect of Athens Attic, its
pottery Attic and the form of Ionic column base which is particularly associated with Athenian
architecture of the 5th century B.C. an Attic base. The same word is also used with a quite different
meaning, in the sense of an upper story, when we speak of the attic, or upper part, of a Roman
monumental arch.
Attic helmet, see Helmet.
Attribute. Anything worn, carried by or attached to a figure which helps to identify it. So Hercules carries
his club, or wears the skin of the Nemean lion which he slew, and Athena wears her aegis. It should be
distinguished from an adjunct, which appears in the vicinity of the figure but is not attached to it. Often it
is only by the attribute or adjunct associated with a mythological or divine figure, or a personification, that
it can be identified. An object which is found as the attribute of a figure may also appear alone. In that
case it is often possible that it is intended to be a symbol of that figure (see Symbol).
Augur. One of a college of Roman priests who practised a specialised form of divination which was
concerned with predicting the success or failure of actions; for example, it was customary to ‘take the
auguries’ before a battle. The traditional derivation of the word from the Latin auis, ‘bird’, is probably not
correct, but nevertheless the most common way of taking the auspices, as they were called, was to study
the behaviour of wild or domesticated birds. The particular mark of the augur was a short staff with the
end curving round into a flat spiral. This staff was called a lituus. When it appears on Roman coins it
alludes to the holding of the augurate by the person in whose name the coin was issued, and in other
works of art it may have the same meaning, or allude more generally to religious functions or offices.
Aulos. The Greek name (Latin tibia ) for a musical instrument. The word is often rendered in English as
‘flute’, but since the aulos seems to have had a double reed mouthpiece, a nearer modern equivalent would
be the oboe. Sometimes two auloi were joined together to make a double instrument which could produce
a greater range of sounds. It could be equipped with a strap which went round the back of the neck of the
player, and helped to keep it in place.
Auxerre goddess. A 7th century statuette of a kore, 65cm high, now in the museum at Auxerre in France,
carved in the style which is sometimes called ‘Daedalic’, i.e. belonging to the earliest phase of archaic
Greek art.
B
Bacchus, see Dionysus. A ‘bacchus’ was also the name of a torch carried in ceremonies connected with
the Eleusinian Mysteries, and it must be this which is represented on some of the coins of Eleusis.
Baetyl. A word of Semitic origin, meaning ‘house of the god’, which was adopted by the Greeks. It was
used to describe a stone which was worshipped; this was was most common with stones of meteoric
origin, which of course would have been supposed to have come from a divine source. On the whole such
aniconic representations are rare in the Greek world. For a notable exception, see Omphalus.
Bal(l)ista. A Roman siege engine or catapult of the larger size, as opposed to the smaller scorpio .
Band cup. The name given to a type of black figure kylix made at Athens in the second and third quarters
of the 6th century B.C. and decorated in a delicate miniaturist style (see Little Master cups). The band cup
is so called because has its decoration placed on a reserved band of red running around the cup between
the handles.
Banded. A word used to describe a number of different types of pottery decorated with bands of colour,
or other kinds of work decorated with bands of varying materials.
Barbiton or -os, see Lyre.
Barbotine. ‘Splashed’, a word used to describe the technique of decorating pottery with designs or letters
modelled in a thick slip of clay and applied before firing to a previously shaped vase. This should be
distinguished from the process of making pottery with relief decoration in moulds (see Terra sigillata).
Baroque. From the Italian barocco, meaning ‘odd, grotesque’, a term which was invented to describe the
more developed, or overdeveloped, stage of Italian art which followed the Renaissance. The word is
sometimes applied to the so-called ‘Pergamene’ style of Greek sculpture, to the latter stages of Attic red
figure vase painting and to Roman art of the end of the Antonine period, although it has no great
appropriateness in any of these cases.
Barrel amphora. An unusual form of amphora made in South Italy during the period when red figure
vase painting was in vogue. It has a body with an almost cylindrical, slightly concave profile.
Base. In monumental architecture, columns stand on a moulded base (except in the Doric order). These
bases take various forms, of which the most notable are the so-called ‘Attic’ and ‘Ephesian’ bases which
are found in some major Ionic buildings of the classical and later periods. These have various
combinations of torus and scotia mouldings; their names are given to them because specimens of the
former type appear in the Periclean buildings on the Acropolis of Athens, and of the latter in the 4th
century temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
In sculpture it was the normal practice for a statue which was to be displayed in public to be set on a
base, which might itself be decorated with work in relief. This base often also bore an inscription
identifying the work and its donor. Sometimes these bases have survived when the statues which they bore
have disappeared, and in such cases they may provide useful information about works of art which would
otherwise be completely lost.
Basilica. From the Greek basileus, ‘king’, a word meaning ‘royal’ which in some way not clearly
understood became the regular name among the Romans of a type of large building, used for secular
rather than religious purposes, which usually stood in the forum of a Roman city. ‘Town hall’ is a
translation which is sometimes used. We do not know why this Greek word was so frequently employed
by the Romans. It may be supposed that it was originally applied to a specific building or buildings in the
Greek world, and was then taken over by the Romans, although it was less appropriate for them. The word
does not imply any particular architectural form. The earliest basilicas were simple rectangular buildings.
In the course of time a type with a wide central aisle or nave, and with two narrower side aisles, became
normal. Sometimes clerestory windows gave light to the interiors of buildings constructed according to
this arrangement. In the later Roman Empire vaults began to be used, and semi-domes began to be used in
many buildings to create large niches. In a basilica these might contain the tribunal or magistrate’s seat, or
a statue of a deity or of the ruling emperor. Although meetings of Christians were at first conducted in
private houses or in small buildings usually used for other purposes, the public ceremonies of the
Christian Church began in due course to be conducted on a scale which demanded that they should be
staged in larger buildings, and the Roman basilica was, naturally enough, a good model for these. As a
result, the word is still sometimes used to describe major churches (e.g., the Basilica of St Peter at Rome).
Bas-relief. ‘Low relief’, from the Italian basso rilievo, describing a piece of relief carving which projects
from its background for less than half the depth of the figures (cf. alto rilievo and mezzo rilievo ).
Batter. The sloping of a wall, embankment etc. away from its base. If this batter occurs on both sides, it
may have been created for a purely structural reason, because it makes the upper part less thick and
therefore lighter than the lower part which supports it, and thus reduces the load upon the lower part and
the foundations. In other cases, however, the thickness of a sloping wall remains the same for the whole of
its height. In such instances, when the walls of a building lean inwards (an outward batter is structurally
unsound and must be the result of incorrect building or subsidence of foundations), it is possible that there
was an intention to produce an aesthetic or optical effect. In some Greek temples, for instance, the walls of
the cella have a slight but measurable inward batter which matches the inward inclination of the columns
of the peristyle. The evidence of Vitruvius suggests that this was intended to make the building appear
taller (see Refinements).
Bead and reel, see Astragalus.
Belvedere. In the earlier stages of the development of the Vatican Palace at Rome, one of the building that
it contained was named the Belvedere or ‘beautiful view’ because of its pleasant outlook. Although this
view disappeared as the palace was expanded, the name continued to be applied to the building. It was
also used as an addition to the titles of some works of art which found their way into that part of the
Vatican during the Renaissance. The most famous of these is the Belvedere Apollo or Apollo Belvedere (a
Roman copy of a Greek original of the 4th century B.C., which represents Apollo as an archer).
Bema. The Greek word for a speaker’s platform. At Athens the bema of the classical period survives, cut
into the rock of the Pnyx opposite the Acropolis.
Berlin goddess. An early kore figure, now in Berlin. It may have been intended to represent Persephone,
because the fruit which it holds in one hand may be a pomegranate, which is an attribute of that goddess.
Bestiarius. A man who fought against wild beasts in displays in the Roman amphitheatre, either as a paid
professional who might win or lose, or as an unarmed criminal who was sent to execution in this way to
provide public entertainment (cf. Gladiator).
Bibliotheca. A library. In the ancient world this was a building of very simple architectural form,
consisting of a large room or rooms, perhaps with alcoves in which books could be stored. The books,
whether they were scrolls or were produced in the later codex form with separate pages, were placed flat
on shelves. A library at Ephesus had the unusual feature of a narrow passage running between external
and internal walls. This passage provided access to a tomb below, probably that of Celsus the father of the
founder of the library, and may also have been intended to protect the books which were kept in the
central part of the building from damp.
Bifrons. ‘With two fronts’, a word sometimes used as an epithet of the Roman god Janus, also of an
archway which faces in two directions (the normal arrangement) as opposed to four (cf. Quadrifrons).
Biga. A two-horse chariot, described as ‘slow’ when the horses are walking and ‘fast’ when they are
galloping (cf. Quadriga, Triga; the Greek zeugos is not used in English). The name of bigatus was given to
a Roman Republican coin isued early in the denarius series, which had a biga as its reverse type.
Bilingual. A term which is used to describe inscriptions, coins etc. which have writing in two languages
on them. It is also applied to certain Attic vases of the later 6th century B.C. which are partly decorated in
the black figure technique and partly in red figure.
Black figure. A technique of vase decoration which reached its peak in the middle of the 6th century B.C.
at Athens. The basic colours used, a glossy black and a red/orange hue, were not produced from pigments
but by a process of firing in three stages, oxygenating, reducing and oxygenating again, at the end of
which some parts of the surface of the vase had turned permanently to red, while others remained in the
black colour which they had reached at the second stage of firing. This was possible only when the clay
which was used had a sufficiently high iron content, since the changes of colour depend on the conversion
of ferrous oxide to ferric oxide and vice versa. In black figure vase painting the figures and decorative
patterns were black against a red background, which made it a silhouette style. Anatomical and other
details were rendered for the most part with lines incised into the clay of the vase before firing. Some
other colours were also used, some applied before firing and some after. The black figure technique was
also occasionally used in other parts of the Greek world, and in Etruria.
Blond boy. A name which has been given to a marble head of c. 480 B.C. discovered on the Acropolis of
Athens, because of the remains of a light colouring pigment visible upon the hair. It was probably once
attached to the body of a kouros statue.
Bluebeard pediment. A name given to the remains of some pedimental sculpture of the mid-6th century
B.C. discovered on the Acropolis of Athens. They are believed to have come from a building of
Peisistratid date which originally stood on the site of the Parthenon. On the beard of one of the figures
remains of a dark blue pigment are still visible.
Boeotian shield. A type of shield which was associated with Boeotia, and was used as a symbol of the
Boeotian League of Thebes. It was oval in shape, with a notch cut out at each side. Its appearance suggests
that it may have been developed from the ‘figure of eight’ shield which is shown in Mycenaean and
Minoan art.
Boss. A projecting lump, such as is sometimes formed in the centre of a shield at the front, or in the centre
of a phiale (the ‘omphalos’). Rough lumps which are sometimes found projecting from the otherwise
finished stones of buildings are sometimes described as ‘lifting bosses’, on the assumption that they were
left there so that ropes could be placed around them. This is perhaps possible, but their purpose was more
probably to protect the surfaces from damage while the stones were being transported or installed.
Bouleuterion. The Greek word for the building in which the council or senate (the Boule) of a Greek city
met. The architectural requirements of such a building were simple: it consisted of a covered hall with
seating arranged around three sides in straight lines or a curve. The word implies a rather smaller building
than an ekklesiasterion, and a larger one than a prytaneum.
Boustrophedon. ‘Ox-turning’, a word used to describe writing arranged in the fashion in which a field
might be ploughed by a farmer driving an ox, i.e. with alternate lines reading in opposite directions. It is
occasionally found in the earliest examples of Greek writing in the archaic period When writing of this
period consists of no more than a single line, it frequently runs from right to left, rather than from left to
right. The boustrophedon style is therefore a less unnatural way of writing than it would seem to us.
Brac(c)ae. Trousers, which were not worn by the Greeks or Romans, but were used by barbarian nations
further north in Europe, and are occasionally represented in works of Greek and Roman art.
Bracket, see Corbel.
Brick. In the ancient world two kinds of brick were used, baked and unbaked. Unbaked (sun-dried) brick
was a good building material, provided that it could be shielded from the weather by cappings, plaster or
overhangs, but usually only faint traces of it survive today. Baked brick was not used for walling by the
Greeks, and in Roman work it is at first found only occasionally. When it begins to make an appearance it
is not used for complete walls, but to provide a facing (see Opus) or occasional through-courses in
concrete walls, or around wall openings. In early work flat roof tiles, divided diagonally, were employed
as facing bricks, with the cut edge on the outside and the rest of the brick projecting as a triangle into the
wall. In due course bricks were made specially for this purpose. Ancient bricks were of various sizes, but
were always thinner than modern bricks, and were laid with relatively wide mortar joints; as a general
rule, the wider the joint, the later the work.
Brush, multiple. The concentric circles and semicircles which decorate Geometric vases sometimes have
a small depression at the centre. This suggests that they were created with a compass-like instrument, or
that several lines were painted at the same time with a multiple brush.
Bucephalus or Bucephalas. The celebrated horse of Alexander the Great, sometimes represented with
him in works of art.
Bulla. An amulet or protective charm worn by Roman children until they attained adulthood. It was
placed in a bag or container and worn around the neck. Boys ceased to wear it when they attained
manhood, girls probably put it off when they married.
Bust. In Roman art a bust (i.e. a head and neck, with the shoulders and some of the chest shown beneath
them), was a regular alternative to a full length statue. In Republican times it was a common practice in
upper class families to keep portrait busts of ancestors in the family home, and to display them on certain
occasions. During the Empire, Imperial busts were displayed in many places, and a bust, showing enough
of the shoulders to indicate whether the emperor was togate or cuirassed, became a common obverse type
of the imperial coinage. As a rough guide (with some exceptions) it may be said that the later the bust, the
further it is likely to extend downwards from the neck.
C
Cable moulding, see Guilloche.
Cabled flutes. Flutes which are filled with a convex bead moulding running along their length.
Caduceus. The staff carried by Hermes as messenger and herald of the gods. It was originally adorned
with vines, but a later version was decorated at its tip with a pair of serpents, arranged in the shape of the
figure 8. This was said to illustrate the story that Hermes had used it to separate two fighting snakes. For
this reason the caduceus is sometimes used in art to symbolise the settling of quarrels. It is occasionally
decorated with wings, presumably the same wings as those which Hermes wears on his heels or on his hat.
Because Hermes was also the god of merchants, a caduceus can in some contexts be a symbol of
prosperity.
Caelature. In Latin the verb caelo has the meaning of modelling or chasing work in relief on metal or in
other materials. The English word is sometimes used in this sense, and the artist is then called a caelator or
celator. It is not correct to use the word of an artist who makes statues or other large works.
Caementicium, see Opus.
Caeretan hydrias. Cerveteri (the ancient Caere) in Etruria, was the scene of the discovery in the 19th
century of a number of hydrias decorated in a distinctive style, which were at first thought to be Etruscan
copies of Corinthian ware. It is now clear that the style of decoration is East Greek, probably Ionian, but
the original name is still applied to vases of this kind.
Calceus, see Consul.
Caldarium. The hot room in a Roman bath.
Calix or calyx, see Krater.
Calpis, see Hydria.
Cameo. A word of unknown origin and meaning which is used to describe a technique in which objects
which have two layers of colour are decorated by removing part of the upper layer. The upper layer then
forms the design while the lower layer provides the background. The cameo technique is used to the best
effect with stones with various layers of colour. A few examples of work of this kind in glass have
survived from Roman times. the best known being the Portland Vase in the British Museum, which is
made from a lower layer of blue glass and an upper layer of white glass fused to it.
Camp. In addition to being used in a general way for any temporary overnight accommodation, this word
is applied in English to a formal defensive arrangement which was regularly adopted by the Roman army,
and often became permanent (see Castra).
Campus Martius. ‘Field of Mars’, an area on the outskirts of Romewhich was used for military parades.
The imperial ustrina were located there.
Canalis and Canaliculus. ‘Channel’ and ‘little channel’. Vitruvius uses the first of these words for the
flute on an Ionic column, and the second for the groove on a Doric triglyph.
Cancelleria reliefs. Two panels of sculpture discovered on the site of the Palazzo della Cancelleria
Apostolica at Rome. They were made in the reign of Domitian and show the return of his father Vespasian
to Rome at the beginning of his reign (an Adventus scene) and his son Domitian setting out to make war
in Germany (a Profectio). On one panel the head of Domitian has been altered to turn the portrait into one
of Nerva. On the other the head of Domitian remains unchanged. This suggests that the panels were being
recut in order to be re-used, but that the project was abandoned. We may surmise that Nerva’ death caused
the project to be abandoned. The style of the carving is classicising, in contrast to some other monuments
of the Flavian period.
Candys. A Persian outer garment, associated in literature with kings and satraps. There is some
uncertainty as to the form which it took; some modern writers use the word of a piece of clothing like a
long jacket, others of a full length robe.
Canephorus or Canephora. ‘Basket bearer’, the title at Athens and elsewhere of priestesses who carried
baskets containing offerings or sacred objects in religious processions. They are sometimes represented in
Greek sculpture and paintings; the so-called Caryatids of the Acropolis of Athens may have been intended
to represent priestesses of this kind.
Canistrum. A wicker basket of approximately cylindrical form, but widening towards the top. It might be
used in religious ceremonies, filled with fruit and flowers (cf. Cista), and is sometimes an attribute of
Demeter/Ceres.
Canon. A rule, ruler or standard of size or weight. The fifth century B.C. Greek sculptor
Polycleitus/Polykleitos is said to have given this name to one of his statues, which Pliny describes as ‘a
boy of manly form, bearing a lance’. Copies of this survive (see Doryphoros). These give us some idea of
what might have been considered an ideal set of bodily proportions before the time of Lysippus.
Canopus. A city by one of the mouths of the Nile; also, a god of that city, represented in art by a jar
topped by a head of human form, and sometimes equipped with representations of feet. These ‘canopic
jars’, as Egyptologists call them, were placed in tombs and were used to hold the internal organs of the
dead after they had been removed during the process of embalming.
Cantharus or kantharos. A large cup or vase, sometimes of flat dish-like form (although not usually as
flat as a kylix) and sometimes much taller (the post-classical form) with a foot and two high vertical ear-
like handles extending above its rim. It is particularly associated with Dionysus, and even when it appears
alone it may be a symbol representing him.
Capis. ‘Taker’, the name of a ladle or dipper used in Roman religious ceremonies, which is sometimes
represented on coins and in sculpture with other religious implements. It is not correct to use it as the
name of a jug or ewer, as some writers do. The alternative forms capedo and its diminutive capeduncula
are sometimes found.
Capital. In architecture, the decorated top of a column between the top of the shaft and the architrave (see
Order).
Capitolium. This was originally the name of one of the two peaks of the hill to the north-west of the
Forum at Rome. On it was built a temple which, according to tradition, was originally dedicated to the
‘Capitoline Triad’ of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. During the time of the Roman Empire some other cities
used the name of Capitolium for their principal temples (not necessarily placed on a hill).
Capricorn. A sign of the Zodiac in the form of a goat with the tail of a fish or a dolphin, from whose back
grows a cornucopiae. It was the natal sign of Augustus, whose birthday fell in September, when the moon
is in Capricorn (modern astrologers base their calculations on the sun rather than the moon, so now
Capricorn is the natal sign of those born in December/January).
Capsa. A cylindrical container used to store documents or books in the form of scrolls.
Caracalla. A cloak with a hood, worn in Gaul. Because the son of Septimius Severus, originally called
Bassianus but renamed M. Aurelius Antoninus, made this garment fashionable, he was nicknamed
Caracallus. Modern writers, except for the most austere and pedantic ones, perpetuate a long standing
confusion between the name of the garment and the person named after it, and call him Caracalla. The
nickname was, of course, never applied to him in formal documents.
Carcer. ‘Prison’, the name of the stall in which a horse and chariot awaited the beginning of a race in the
Circus.
Cardo. ‘Hinge’, The term used to describe a major street running approximately north and south,
sometimes between gates, in a Roman city (cf. Centuriation, Decumanus).
Carinated. From the Latin carina, meaning ‘keel’, a word used to describe a ridge running around an
abject which is reminiscent of the keel of a ship.
Carnix or carnyx. A type of trumpet particularly associated with the Gauls. It was long and straight, and
its mouth, set at an angle to the stem, was often formed so as to imitate the mouth of an animal. A trumpet
of this sort was called a lituus by the Romans.
Carpentum. A two-wheeled carriage with a hood which was used at Rome to transport objects which for
religious reasons could not be exposed to view. Since traffic was restricted in the city, only married
women were allowed to use a carpentum for ordinary transport, and in the course of time even that
privilege was withdrawn. From that time onwards the right to use a carpentum in the city was a very rare
mark of distinction, granted only to a few women in the imperial family.
Caryatid. Vitruvius tells us that during the second Persian invasion of Greece the city of Caryae/Karyai in
the Peloponnese ‘medised’, i.e. decided to support the invaders, and that afterwards as a sign of their
shame statues of the women of that city were made, supporting architraves instead of columns, a
symbolical way of representing the weight of shame which the city bore. The story is obviously invented
in order to explain the fact that some female figures serving the purpose of columns in Greek architecture
were known as caryatids. The correct explanation is more likely to be connected with the fact that at
Caryae certain priestesses of Artemis were known as Karyatidai, although the connection between these
and the architectural figures is unknown (cf. Atlas, Telamon). A connection with Caria in Asia Minor is
also possible, although any such theory must await actual evidence to support it. Such literary evidence as
survives suggests that the name of caryatid in the strictest sense was applied only to figures with raised
hands supporting the architrave.above them. The famous figures which grace the Erechtheum on the
Acropolis of Athens may therefore not, strictly speaking, be caryatids (the only ancient text to mention
them calls them simply ‘maidens’, or korai. At Rome the Pantheon built by Agrippa, which preceded
Hadrian’s Pantheon, is said to have included caryatids, but their position in the building is unknown.
Castellum. A general word for a fort or fortress; also, in the Roman aqueduct system, the name of a
reservoir from which pipes were led in various directions to distribution points after the main flow had
been brought into the city (also sometimes called a dividiculum).
Castra. The Latin word for a military camp or fortress of a fully developed kind, as opposed to a minor
fort (see Camp). In British place names it often survives in such forms as -caster, -chester or Caer-.
Catacomb. This word comes from the late Latin catacumbas meaning ‘resting place’. Like the Greek
word with a similar meaning, koimeterion, from which we have ‘cemetery’, it was a general name for a
burial ground. The name then came to be particularly applied to a number of burial areas outside Rome
which consisted of underground passages with niches at the sides in which the corpses were laid. These
were not restricted to Christian burials, but they are particularly associated with the Christians because
they were also used as places of refuge during times of religious persecution, and because many examples
of early Christian art have been found decorating their walls.
Catapult, see Ballista.
Catenary line. A line of the kind which is formed by a cord suspended between two points, not
necessarily on the same level, making a more or less pronounced curve according to the distance between
these points. Between the 5th century B.C. and the 3rd century A.D. such lines appear regularly in
representations of drapery in Greek and Roman art. From the 3rd century A.D. onwards they are much
less common and when they are found may be taken as a sign of an attempt to retain a classical style.
Causia or kausia. A felt hat with a brim which formed part of the regalia of Macedonian kings. The same
word in its Latin form causia was used at Rome to describe a hat of similar form, although there it was
associated with poor people. In the Greek world outside Macedonia this kind of hat was called a petasos
(see Petasus).
Cavaedium or cavum aedium. The ‘hollow of a building’, an expression used by Vitruvius and by the
elder Pliny to describe what we call the atrium of a Roman house.
Cavea. The ‘hollow’ or auditorium of a Roman theatre.
Cavetto. A decorative moulding of a very simple form, which is found in Egyptian and in later
architecture. It consists of a simple concave curve passing through ninety degrees. It is regularly used in
modern buildings to conceal the point at which a wall and a ceiling join.
Cella. A ‘cell’ or room; in particular the principal room of a Greek or Roman temple. In larger buildings
its ceiling might be supported between the walls by a single row of columns along the centre line (an
obviously unsatisfactory arrangement, since it spoiled the view of a cult statue placed in the most natural
position) or by two rows of columns, one on each side of the centre line. The Parthenon introduced a new
and pleasing development of this arrangement by adding a small extra row of columns across the back of
the cella, framing the cult statue with a three-sided colonnade. Inside cellas it was a common practice to
support the ceiling on pairs of superimposed columns. These took up less floor space, because when the
correct proportions were used they were slimmer than columns reaching from floor to ceiling would have
been. In Greek practice temples had a single cella, usually with a pronaos before it and perhaps an
opisthodomos at the rear. In Roman building there is an occasional variation from this pattern, when a
temple may have more than one cella, the cellas being set side by side.
Cenaculum and cenatio (the spelling coen- is less correct). From cena, the Latin word for the principal
meal of the day, which in early times was usually eaten at midday, although later it tended to be consumed
at the end of the afternoon. Both of these words are found in the general sense of ‘dining room’ (cf.
Triclinium). In addition the former sometimes has a special sense. Since in some Roman houses a dining
room was located in an upper story, the term cenaculum may be used to describe an upper room which
may or may not have been used for the purpose of dining, and so, since poor people often lived on the top
floor of a building which more difficult of access and more exposed to the elements, a garret.
Cenotaph. ‘Empty tomb’ (from the Greek ikenosi and taphos), a word used to describe a memorial set up
in honour of a person or persons not actually buried there.
Censer. A stand on which incense may be burned.
Censor. The title of a Roman magistrate whose office was created, according to Roman tradition, for the
purpose of conducting a census of the people. In the course of time it acquired other functions. Among
these were the letting of contracts for public works every five years; the two censors, whose term of office
lasted for this period, were responsible for preparing a ‘Five Year Plan’ for public buildings, bridges etc.
Many Roman buildings were named after the censors who had been responsible for approving the
expenditure of funds for their construction.
Centaur. A hybrid creature of Greek mythology, represented in the earliest examples at the beginning of
the archaic period as a man with the body and hind legs of a horse attached to him at the rear. This
arrangement was soon modified, and centaurs were shown with a human body extending to the waist, and
the body and all four legs of a horse below this, a more artistically satisfactory combination. The home of
the Centaurs was in Thessaly, and the best known myth concerning them is the one that tells of their battle
with the neighbouring tribe of the Lapithae or Lapiths after they had been invited to a Lapith wedding and
had become drunk there. This struggle (called a Centauromachy, as the battle between the Greeks and
Amazons was called an Amazonomachy) was a popular subject in Greek art. Centaurs were normally
brutal and lascivious, but an exception was provided by Chiron, whose father was Cronus (the father of
Zeus). Cronus on the occasion when he became the father of Chiron by the nymph Philyra had taken the
form of a horse. Chiron was educated and gentle, and for a while was the tutor of Achilles.
Centuriation. ‘Division into hundreds’ (from centum, a hundred), the name given to a way of dividing
land for agricultural purposes which was practised by the Romans. The units or centuriae in fact consisted
of two hundred, rather than a hundred iugera (a iugerum was a little less than 3,000 square metres), and it
has therefore been suggested that the term ‘centuriation’ referred not to the size of the landholdings, but to
the groups of a hundred settlers among whom each major block of land was divided.. The land which was
divided in this way was criss-crossed by roads in a grid pattern. The terms cardo and decumanus were
sometimes applied to the dividing lines between each centuria and its neighbour.
Centurion. An officer commanding a hundred soldiers in a Roman army. His sign of office was a short
staff.
Centuripae ware. A polychrome style of vase decoration which was developed at the town of that name
at some time after 300 B.C.(see also Lipari ware). Unlike the earlier black and red figure techniques, it
gives us some idea of the way in which Greek artists of the period used the full range of colours available
to them.
Ceramicus (Kerameikos). The potters’ quarter of ancient Athens. This area, which was extensively
excavated in the 19th century, has produced many major monuments of Greek art, since from it a major
cemetery stretched along the road which led from the city towards the Peloponnese and Eleusis.
Cerberus, see Hercules.
Chalcidian. A name given to a class of black figure pottery which, by comparison with Attic products
which bear some stylistic resemblances to them, may be dated to the second half of the 6th century B.C.
These vases sometimes bear inscriptions in the alphabet used at the city of Chalcis on the Greek island of
Euboea. They were exported in large numbers to Etruria.
Chalcidicum. In architecture, a name given to a porch or colonnaded space attached to the short side of a
basilica. Although it may be imagined that the word began to be used because this arrangement imitated
some building at Chalcis on Euboea (or perhaps at some site on one of the Greek peninsulas known by the
name of Chalcidice), we have no knowledge of where this original ‘chalcidicum’ might have been.
Chalcus or chalkous. ‘Bronze’, the name for a standard bronze coin, one-eighth of a silver obol in value
at Athens, one-twelfth in some states which used the heavier Aeginetan weight standard for their silver
coinage.
Charon’s obol. In Greek and Roman graves a coin is occasionally found near a corpse or in its mouth
(which sometimes was the place where living people kept small coins for safety). Like other grave goods,
it may have been intended for use in the after-life. More specifically, it may have been placed there as the
traditional fee for the ferryman Charon who in Greek and Roman mythology carried the souls of the dead
across the river Styx to Hades. The term ‘Charon’s obol’ is not, however, known in ancient literature, and
was invented in more modern times.
Charon’s steps. A name preserved by Julius Pollux in his Onomasticon for what must have been a rare
arrangement of steps leading up to a stage from below, as if from the underworld.
Cheniscus. ‘Little goose’, the name of a curved ornament occasionally used to decorate the stern post of a
merchant ship (not a ‘gooseneck’ in modern yachting parlance, since that word now has a different
meaning for sailors).
Chevron. A V-shape, usually inverted, used in rows as a decoration in Geometric art.
Chiaroscuro. ‘Bright-dark’ (Italian’); a word used when describing work with strong contrasts of light
and shade.
Chigi vase. A Protocorinthian aryballos, named after its first modern owner, which is now in the Villa
Giulia Museum, Rome. It is interesting as a first class example, slightly larger than usual, of the best
Corinthian vase painting of the period (with the full use of the incision technique), and also as one of the
earliest representations of Greek soldiers fighting in formation (as hoplites) instead of individually. This
suggests that by the middle of the 7th century B.C. hoplite tactics had been fully developed at Corinth.
Chimaera. A mythical monster slain by the Greek hero Bellerophon. It had the forepart of a lion, the
middle part of a she-goat (with her head rising from the middle of its back) and the tail of a serpent. A
famous bronze representation of a chimaera, discovered at Arezzo in the 16th century and restored by
Benvenuto Cellini, is now in the Archaeological Museum of Florence. It may be of Etruscan manufacture,
or may be an imported Greek work.
Chiton. A tunic (the term is often reserved for the slightly more complex Ionic version, the Dorian one
being known as the peplos). Both types were normally worn belted (except by workmen or slaves), and
surplus material might be pulled up and allowed to hang over the belt in a pouch-like shape (the kolpos)
which in art, if not always in real life, was elegantly arranged. Extra bands or cords might hold the
garment over the shoulders (if, for example, the wearer was engaged in strenuous activity such as driving
a chariot or hunting). The Dorian chiton or peplos was formed from a piece of material which was folded
so that the top part, about a quarter of its total height, hung down on the outside, forming an overfold or
overfall (an apoptygma). A talaric chiton (from the Latin talus, ‘ankle’) is one which reaches to the ankles.
Chlaina. There is no exact Latin equivalent for this Greek word (lacerna, paenula or sagum are the
nearest). A chlaina was a large loose cloak or wrapper of no particular shape (it might also be used as a
coverlet or as a substitute for a bed). It was normally worn by men (a diminutive form of the same word,
chlanidion, was used for a similar garment worn by women). The distinction between a chlaina and a
himation is difficult to draw. In Greek texts the former word is more often used in contexts which suggest
a garment used in harsh weather and on military campaigns, and the latter in circumstances which suggest
more formal dress, particularly in the case of women.
Chlamys. A short cloak used only by men which could be worn even during the course of energetic
activities such as riding or hunting. It should be distinguished from the longer and heavier chlaina and
himation.
Choregic monument. When plays or other choral performances were presented at Athens the cost of
providing the wages and costumes of the choruses was defrayed by wealthy citizens who were chosen to
serve their city in this manner. The name of choregus or -agus (‘chorus leader’) which was given to the
trainer or principal member of the chorus was also applied to these financial backers. Plays were always
performed in competitions as a part of festivals in honour of Dionysus at Athens, and it was the custom for
the choregus (in the latter sense) of a play or choral contest which had been awarded the first prize of a
tripod to erect a monument to commemorate the victory. A street on the lower slopes of the Acropolis
leading to the Theatre of Dionysus, where some of these monuments were set up, is known as the Street of
the Tripods. The best known surviving monument of this kind there is the choregic monument of the
choregus Lysicrates (344 B.C.). This consists of a hollow stone drum with a conical roof on which a tripod
once stood. It is decorated externally with Corinthian pilasters and a frieze of tripods. In post-classical
times, because its shape resembled that of a lantern, and because of the quaint rumour that the famous
ancient orator Demosthenes had used it as a study in which to compose his speeches, it was sometimes
called the Lantern of Demosthenes.
Chous. In ancient Greek this word means simply ‘pourer’, and is used in a very general way as the name
of a small jug. Archaeologists sometimes use it to describe a class of trefoil-lipped jugs of the oenochoe
type which are found for the most part in Attic products of the late archaic and classical periods.
Christogram. A monogram of the Greek letters chi (X) and rho (P), sometimes with an added iota (I),
which begin the name of Christ. It is also sometimes called a chrism, but this word should be avoided
because in standard English it refers to the practice of anointing. The story is told of Constantine the Great
that in A.D. 312,when he was about to fight a battle against the forces of his rival Maxentius, he dreamed
that he saw in the sky the sign of the Cross and heard the words, ‘In this sign conquer’ (toutoi nika in our
Greek source, usually rendered in the Latin version hoc signo victor eris, ‘In this sign you will be the
victor’). A contemporary Latin writer, however, describes
the sign as the letter X with a line through it bent around at the top, and this seems a better explanation of
the story, since the Christogram appears on coins of Constantine as early as A.D. 3l5, and it is not until
later that the Cross becomes a popular symbol of Christianity. From A.D. 327 onwards the Christogram is
also sometimes found as a decoration upon a military vexillum in Roman art. This combination is called a
labarum.
Chryselephantine. This word is formed from the Greek chrysos (gold) and elephas (ivory). It was the
name given to a technique of statuary in which plates of such precious materials were laid over a wooden
framework to simulate flesh and drapery. The most famous works of Pheidias, his Zeus at Olympia and
his Athena Parthenos at Athens, were made in this manner.
Chthonic. From the Greek chthon, ‘earth’, the name given to gods or other cult figures who were believed
to dwell in or under the earth rather than above it.
Cidaris, see Persian headgear.
Cinerarium, see Columbarium.
Circus. The Roman name for the Greek hippodrome, an area in which races for horses and chariots were
conducted. In its simplest form its essential features were a barrier placed along the centre of the course so
that horses could race up one side of the circus and return along the other in view of the spectators, and a
line to mark the start and finish. Seating and other refinements came later. During the Roman Empire
monumental circuses were built in many cities and the passion with which all classes viewed chariot
racing and the enthusiasm with which they supported their teams knew no bounds (hence the expression
‘bread and circuses’, i.e. free food and entertainment given to the urban mob to keep them from making
mischief). The standard arrangement of a circus was as follows. At one end were the stalls (carceres) in
which the contestants awaited the signal to start, arranged at an angle or with a slight curve, so that all of
them had an equal chance of reaching the beginning of the barrier together. The barrier itself consisted
either of a high wall or of a long tank or pair of tanks filled with water. In either case statues or other
monuments of various kinds were set on top of it; for example at Rome a pair of Egyptian obelisks
decorated the barrier in the Circus Maximus. The barrier was usually called the euripus, an allusion to the
narrow strait of Euripus which separates the island of Euboea from the mainland of Greece, and is
notorious for its tides which flow in one direction and another many times a day. In later times the barrier
in the Roman circus was also called the spina or spine, a term which is often preferred by modern writers.
At each end of the euripus stood a group of three columns with balls on top called the metae or goals, and
at Rome and in some other places there were also arrangements of seven sculptured figures of dolphins
and seven pillars bearing egg-shaped objects. Each race consisted of seven laps of the course, and one egg
was removed, and one dolphin turned round, after each lap, so that spectators could know how far the race
had advanced. At Rome there were several circuses, the largest being the Circus Maximus at the foot of
the Palatine Hill on the side opposite the Forum. This was overlooked by the Imperial palace on the south
side of the Palatine, and in the middle of the northern row of seats in the Circus the imperial box, with
seating for the emperor and his attendants, was placed (this was sometimes called a pulvinar).
Cire perdue. ‘Lost wax’ (French), a term used to describe a process by which hollow objects in metal can
be cast. This process began to be used regularly by Greek artists in the 6th century B.C., and has been a
standard practice ever since. There are two methods, the direct and the indirect, both of which were used
in ancient times. In the direct method a core was built up of sand, clay etc., with a variety of stiffening
elements, finished off with fine clay to the approximate shape of the desired final work. A coating of wax
of the intended thickness of the metal was laid over this core, and the final basic modelling work done on
this. Nails or rods were then driven into the core, projecting for a few inches, so that when the wax had
been removed the outer tunic which was about to be applied would remain at the same distance from the
core, and thus provide a space into which molten metal could be poured. Holes were also left for metal to
enter and for air and wax to escape. This mould was then lowered into a pit, and a gentle fire built around
it, so that the wax could be melted out. This also had the effect of stabilising the sand and clay of the
mould. After this the metal from which the statue or other object was to be made was melted and poured
into the mould. When it had cooled the outer tunic of clay was removed, the inner core might be dug out
(although often much of it remains to be discovered in modern investigations), and the surface of the
metal was given whatever finishing treatment was considered necessary by burnishing and engraving and
patching spots where holes might have been left after the casting. Smaller statues might be cast in one
piece, but larger ones were always made in a number of separate pieces and joined together later. Some
parts (e.g. lips of pure copper and teeth of silver in a bronze statue) were inset later after casting. In the
indirect method a model was made in clay, in wood or in any other suitable material (or an original work
might be used, and used more than once). A clay mould was then made around it in as many sections as
necessary. The inside surfaces of these sections were then coated with wax in the same way as before, and
then fitted together round a core, after which the casting process took place as before.
Cista. A box or basket, particularly one used to hold properties used in religious ceremonies. The word
gave its name to the Greek coin known as a cistophorus, which was issued by the rulers of Pergamum in
the 2nd century B.C. This bore as its obverse type a cista mystica, a basket used in the celebration of the
mystic rites of Dionysus, containing the snakes which were also part of the cult. The reverse showed a
bow case (a symbol of Heracles), with a snake at each side. Other coins issued in the East by Mark
Antony and by some Roman emperors up to the 2nd century A.D. are called ‘cistophoric tetradrachms’ or
‘cistophoric medallions’ because they preserve, more or less, the weight standard of the original
cistophori, although they do not bear the same types upon them.
Cithara, see Lyre.
Clamp or cramp. At all periods in Greek, Roman and Byzantine architecture metal clamps were
sometimes used to hold parts of a building more tightly together, even if only in occasional repairs, but it
is in the best architecture of mainland Greece (as opposed to Asia, Sicily and Magna Graecia) that
clamping of stones was most common. In the most carefully constructed buildings stones were joined to
their neighbours by horizontal clamps of various forms and vertical dowels ran from one course to the
course below. In the sixth century, when use of these clamps began to be normal, the usual arrangement
was to make a pair of dovetail or swallowtail cuttings in the stones which were being joined, the narrowest
part of each cutting coming at the join, and to fill the cuttings either with molten lead alone or with molten
lead strengthened by a bar of iron or bronze. This type of cutting is rare after the beginning of the 5th
century B.C., and we associate it with coarser types of stone. In the classical period the most common
arrangement was to make cuttings in the form of an H or a double T, which again were filled with metal
rods bent to the same shape and sealed in position with molten lead. In the Hellenistic and Roman period a
further type of clamp is sometimes found, a rod with two points projecting downwards into the stone, for
which of course the corresponding cutting had to be made, Since in later times clamps were often removed
from buildings for the sake of their metal, their form must often be inferred from such cuttings as remain.
Classical. In current English this word has a wide range of meanings. The Latin word classicus, meaning
‘belonging to a (political) class or division’, came in general usage to mean ‘of the highest class’ (just as
‘quality’ now often means ‘of high quality’), and is used in modern times to refer to the periods in a
civilisation, or the stages of development in an art, when its highest point is reached. According to the
conventions which are now followed, the Classical period of Greek art, following the Archaic period, is
taken as beginning in 479 B.C. after the second Persian invasion of Greece. The first twenty or thirty
years, when archaic conventions still strongly influenced much of the work which was produced, are
described as the Transitional period or the period of Severe Style. The Classical period is sometimes said
to end in 323 B.C. with the death of Alexander the Great (cf. Archaic, Hellenistic); some’ however,
restrict it to the 5th century B.C. and consider the 4th century to be a separate period. The word ‘classical’
is sometimes also used to describe the best or major periods of Roman Republican and Imperial art, but it
is less precise in these contexts and is better avoided.
Classicising. This word is used to describe post-classical work which is made in imitation of the classical
style (cf. Archaising).
Clepsydra. ‘Steal-water’, a Greek word with several meanings. It was the name of a spring at the foot of
the Acropolis at Athens, over which a monumental fountain house was built. It was also used as the name
of a clock operated by water, the best known example being the one in the Agora of Athens. This told the
time with a marker which descended a graduated scale as the water in the basin on which it floated seeped
away. The word could also be used as the name of a pipette for transferring liquids.
Clipeus (or clupeus or clypeus). A shield of circular form, as opposed to the oblong scutum which was
the standard type with which Roman soldiers were equipped.It was taken over by the Romans from the
Greeks as a symbol of valour and victory (and it is therefore this type which is always held by Victoria, in
Roman art.just as it had been held by Nike). Among the honours awarded to Augustus by the Senate were
the clipeus virtutis or shield of valour, the wreath of oak leaves which was awarded to a soldier who had
saved the life of a comrade in battle (see Corona) and wreaths of laurel as a symbol of victory, which were
attached to the door posts of his house. The shield of valour is represented on his coins, bearing the
inscription CL(ipeus) V(irtutis), and combined with wreaths of oak or laurel leaves. Another artistic form
which the Romans copied from the Greeks was the making of honorific portraits in the form of a head or
bust within a circular frame imitating a round shield. The Romans used this arrangement, which was
called a ‘shield portrait’ or imago clipeata, both for portraits on a large scale and for portrait medallions,
such as might be worn by imperial servants as a badge of office or attached to military standards.
Cloaca. The Latin name for a drain or sewer. The best known construction of this kind is the great drain
or Cloaca Maxima which was built at Rome to drain the Forum in the 6th century B.C. It was vaulted over
in the 2nd century B.C., and the arched outflow into the Tiber may still be seen. A statue of Venus which
happened to stand near this drain in the Forum received the title Cloacina.
Codex. In Latin caudex or codex means the trunk of a tree, or a plank cut from a tree trunk. The same
word also came to be used for a leaf of anything, particularly of writing material, and so became the name
for a book made as our modern books are, of flat sheets rather than consisting of a continous scroll or
volumen. It is not possible to say exactly when the codex form of book was first used, because single small
sheets of papyrus were always likely to be used, or placed one on top of another in some circumstances.
When vellum began to be used as a writing material, this favoured the codex, since it was more difficult to
join pieces of vellum or parchment together to make a continuous scroll. It is noticeable that from the 3rd
century A.D the codex began to increase in popularity, particularly when used for Christian texts. This
may be partly because it was easier to consult passages in books of this form, when scriptural or other
authority was being sought during the course of religious disputation. A diminutive form codicillus is
sometimes found, which might be rendered as ‘note-book’.
Coen- see Cen-.
Coffer. A box; in particular, a box-like depression between ceiling beams, often used as a field for
decoration when it occurs in monumental architecture.
Coin, see Quoin.
Colossus. This word, which is possibly of Egyptian origin, appears first in Greek literature (in the form
kolossos) as the name of an Egyptian type of statue as opposed to a Greek one. Later, however, it came to
be used to describe a statue of a size much greater than life, in particular the famous statue of Helios the
Sun which was erected by the side of the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes. It may have been this statue
which inspired Nero to erect a standing figure of Sol at Rome, 102 1/2 feet high, with a head crowned
with seven rays and with features which, according to one account, resembled his own. This was later
moved to a position near the Flavian Amphitheatre and its presence may be the reason for the use of the
term Colosseum as a name for this building. Colossal statues were also made of some later emperors.
Columbarium. ‘Dovecot’, from the Latin columba, a dove. This word is sometimes used by modern
writers to describe a kind of underground repository for the ashes of the dead at Rome, which had niches
in the walls to receive urns containing the ashes of the dead, and perhaps their portrait busts.
Column. In architecture, a support of rounded form (as opposed to a pier or pilaster), which usually bears
a lintel or arch, although occasionally columns are free-standing or support statues. The elements of a
column are its base (except in Greek Doric), its shaft and its capital (see Orders).
Comast or komast. ‘Reveller’, the name given to a kind of figure seen on some Greek vases of the
archaic and classical periods from Corinth and Athens. In some cases these dancing revellers wear
costumes of an unusual kind (see Padded dancers), and it may be suspected that they are not simply party-
goers, but participants in ceremonies in honour of Dionysus, or in some other cult, probably one designed
to promote fertility.
Compluvium. In the atrium of a Roman house it was common for rain water to be directed from an
opening in the centre of the roof, which was called the compluvium, into a square basin in the floor called
an impluvium. From this it was channelled into an underground cistern and drawn up in buckets when
required.
Composite. The name of a type of column capital occasionally found in Roman architecture, which
combines the volutes of the Ionic order with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order.
Concentric circles. A regular feature of the decoration of Geometric pottery, sometimes apparently
created by the use of compasses and a multiple brush.
Concrete. A mixture of sand, a binding agent or cement, and an aggregate composed of pieces of stone,
which in Latin was called structura or opus caementicium. Roman builders, having discovered the good
binding properties of the kind of volcanic sand available in central Italy (often called pozzolana, from the
town of Pozzuoli, the ancient Puteoli, near Naples), employed concrete at first only for the podiums of
buildings, but later used it for walls, and finally for vaults and domes. By modern standards their concrete
was relatively weak, and was not reinforced with metal rods or mesh as modern concrete usually is. For
the kinds of facing between which concrete walls were sometimes built up, see Opus.
Congé. ‘Dismissal’ (French), a word sometimes in the past used in architectural writing to describe the
cavetto moulding which occurs at the bottom of the shaft of a capital, at the commencement of its base.
Comitium. From the Latin coire, ‘go together’, the name of the area on the edge of the Forum at Rome
which was used as a place of public assembly and where elections took place (the plural, comitia, was
used as the name of the assemblies which were held there).
Concordia. The personification of concord or harmony, worshipped as a goddess by the Romans (the first
temple in her honour at Rome was built in 367 B.C.). She is represented in art as a draped female figure
with a wide range of attributes which include cornucopiae, patera, sceptre, olive branch, flower and ears of
corn. Sometimes she holds a statuette of Spes or a military standard. The idea of Concordia is also
expressed in Roman art by a pair of clasped hands, or by scenes which show two or more imperial figures
in attitudes which suggest that they are in a harmonious relationship.
Congiarium. From the Latin congius, the name of a liquid measure of about three litres, originally a gift
made in the form of oil or wine by magistrates or generals or by candidates at elections. It is not clear
when it became the practice to give money in place of the traditional congiarium, but thereafter the name
was retained for a distribution of money to the people, as opposed to a donativum, which was a
distribution of money to the soldiers. Scenes of this kind, which show an emperor distributing money to
the people and thus demonstrating his virtue of Liberalitas, occasionally appear in Roman imperial art.
Consecratio. This word was originally used by the Romans to describe the process by which something
was made sacer, so that it was given or forfeited to the gods (for example, a newly built temple, or the
property of criminals). During the Roman Empire it was also used to describe the apotheosis or deification
of a deceased member of the imperial family, who then became an object of cult together with the other
gods of the state. At the end of the Republic Julius Caesar was declared to have become divine (see
Divus), and subsequently Augustus was deified by Tiberius and his empress Livia by Claudius. Not all
later emperors received this honour (see also Apotheosis, Damnatio Memoriae for the expression of the
idea of consecratio and its reverse in art).
Consul. When Rome ceased to be a monarchy and became a Republic, the highest officials of the state
were the two consuls (originally called praetors) who were elected annually. Even after the beginning of
the Empire the consulship continued to be an office of high status, and was often held by the emperors
themselves. It was last filled by a private citizen in the 6th century A.D., although it continued to be held
by emperors occasionally for ceremonial reasons, the last isolated instance of this being the eastern
Roman emperor Manuel I Comnenus in the 12th century A.D. In art a consul may be recognised by the
toga which he wears and by other attributes. He may carry the consular sceptre or scipio decorated with an
eagle, and may wear a crown. Consuls wore calcei patricii, boots once reserved for patricians but in later
times assigned to holders of the higher magistracies. On some occasions a consul might wear a toga picta
or decorated toga, particularly at his processus consularis, the procession which marked his assumption of
office. On other occasions he might wear the toga or tunica palmata decorated with palms. These
garments were inherited from the Etruscan kings. A consul was also entitled to be accompanied by lictors.
The representation in art of a consul in a chariot was originally an indication of victory, but in later art it is
more likely to allude to his function of presiding at games in the Circus.
Continuous style. A term invented by the 19th century scholar Franz Wickhoff in a study of Roman art
which prefaced his introduction to the printed facsimile publication of the Vienna manuscript of the Book
of Genesis (Die Wiener Genesis). It describes the ‘strip cartoon’ arrangement which is found in the
sculptural decoration of the spiral columns of Rome and Constantinople, and occasionally elsewhere, in
which a figure appears in a series of consecutive scenes. Although not completely unknown in Greek art
(a most notable example is the Telephus frieze from Pergamum, the so-called ‘Megarian bowls’ use this
kind of convention, and we may suspect that it was also sometimes used in large scale paintings, now
lost), it is more often associated with the art of the later Roman Empire and with Christian art‘
Contorniate. From the Italian contorno, ‘edge, border, surround’, referring to the groove which runs
around the circumference of these coin-like objects. They are large bronze medallions of the fourth and
fifth centuries A.D., issued at Rome, showing a variety of subjects, some Greek and some Roman. The
fact that many of the types are connected with chariot racing suggests a connection with the Roman circus.
Contraction. In architecture, the reduction in width of the last intercolumniation in a row of columns
(single contraction) or the last two intercolumniations (double contraction). This variation from a regular
spacing of columns counteracted the tendency of the human eye to see the corner columns as being
isolated from their neighbours, particularly when seen from an angle which allowed air, rather than stone,
to be seen between them and the closest column; in the Doric order it may also perhaps be considered as a
part of the attemps made to solve the problem of the placing of triglyphs at a corner (see Refinements).
Copy. The copying of works of sculpture and painting, and later of mosaics, was a common practice in
ancient times. Although most ancient wall or easel paintings have been lost, there is still some evidence
for this practice in the wall paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii, where multiple versions of wall
paintings survive, and mosaics sometimes reproduce one another, or reproduce paintings, in many parts of
the Roman world. This suggests that artists might sometimes make more than one copy of a work, or
might work from copy or pattern books, or from drawings that circulated from one hand to another. Vase
paintings also sometimes appear to reproduce major painted works, sometimes using a composition which
is not well suited to the rounded surface on which the copy is made. Much evidence also survives for the
practice of copying sculpture. This might be done for several reasons. In the first place, more than one
version of an original work might be made, if it was to be displayed in more than one place. In such a
situation, it might happen that an expensive bronze statue would have a cheaper marble copy made. This
explains the formula ‘marble copy of a bronze original’ which is so often used to describe surviving works
of art in modern collections (the bronze originals were, because of the value and alternative usefulness of
the metal, more likely to have been melted down in times of trouble).
The conquest of Greece by the Romans inspired a great increase in the amount of copying that took
place. Victorious generals and their subordinates, provincial governors and emperors, appropriated works
of Greek art and set a fashion for decorating public and private places with them. Those who were unable
to aquire original works were willing to acept copies, which greek artists were even more willing to
provide for them. As a result, although almost all of the works of the great artists of the classical period
have disappeared, we often have a good idea of their appearance from the copies that survive (which can
be identified from the literary descriptions of them by ancient authors), although it must be accepted that
these are usually of lower quality than the originals would have been.
columns counteracted the tendency of the human eye to see the corner columns as being isolated from
their neighbours; in the Doric order it should also perhaps be considered as a part of the attempts made to
solve the problem of the placing of triglyphs at a corner (see Refinements).
Contrapposto. The representation of a human figure in which the hips and legs are turned in a different
direction from that of the shoulders and head; the twisting of a figure on its own vertical axis. Especially a
way of representing a human figure in a natural pose with the weight of one leg, the shoulder, and hips
counterbalancing each other (from the Italian word meaning ‘opposite, opposition’).
Copy. The copying of works of sculpture, of paintings and later of mosaics, was a common practice in
ancient times. Although most ancient painting (except vase painting) has been lost, there is some surviving
evidence for the practice in this medium;multiple copies of some painted Attic vases survive, at Pompeii
and Herculaneum there are occasional duplicates (not necessarily created with absolute fidelity to their
originals) of wall paintings, and mosaics found in different parts of the Roman world sometimes show the
same scene, or repeat similar parts of scenes. This suggests that it was sometimes the practice for artists to
make more than one copy of a work, or to work from copy or pattern books, or from drawings which
might circulate or themselves be copied. Vase paintings, wall paintings by minor artists and mosaics also
sometimes appear to reproduce lost major paintings in another medium. Much evidence also survives for
the practice of copying sculpture. This was done for several reasons. In the first place, more than one copy
of a work might be required, for display in more than one place. In such a situation, it might sometimes
happen that the best or original version of a work of sculpture was created in bronze, and lesser copies in
marble, since work in stone was cheaper. This explains the formula ‘marble copy of a bronze original’
which is so often used to describe surviving works of art in modern collections. Marble copies have a
better survival rate than originals in bronze or some other expensive material, since it is likely that they
were more numerous in the first place, and were also less likely to be destroyed for the sake of the metal
which they contained.
The conquest of Greece by the Romans inspired a great increase in the amount of copying which took
place. Victorious generals and their subordinates, provincial governors and emperors, appropriated works
of Greek art and set a fashion for decorating public and private places with them. Those who were unable
to acquire original works were willing to accept copies, which Greek artists were even more willing to
provide for them. As a result, although almost all of the works of the great artists of the classical period
have disappeared, we often have a good idea of their appearance from the copies which survive, although
it must be accepted that these are usually of lower quality than the originals would have been. Copies in
bronze could be made by taking moulds of the separate parts of a work, which could then be used to
produce casts which could be joined together (see Cire perdue). For work in stone, the pointing process
was used. After measurements had been taken from the original work (or from a cast of it), holes were
drilled into a block of stone at regular intervals, and the surface of the stone was then cut away down to
the depth of each of these holes. The resulting rough copy could then be finished off by the sculptor.
Sometimes on surviving statues a small hole marks the place where a point was placed, and either drilled a
little too deep or accidentally left visible by the copyist. Such a ‘pointing hole’ is good evidence that a
statue is a copy and not an original, if the matter is otherwise in doubt. The variations which may be
observed when more than one such copy survives make it clear that artists allowed themselves some
latitude when creating copies.
When scholars are attempting to decide whether a statue is an original work or a copy, the question is
sometimes very easy to answer. Italian rather than Greek marble, or anachronistic or clumsy treatments of
anatomy or drapery, may leave no doubt. Sometimes, however, it is difficult to be certain. The most
famous debate of this kind is the one which has been conducted over the ‘genuineness’ of the Hermes and
Dionysus group discovered in the temple of Hera at Olympia, which many are prepared to accept as an
original work by Praxiteles, but others believe to be post-classical in date.
Corbel. A bracket (also called a modillion) supporting a projecting element in architecture. A corbelled
vault is one produced by extending the stones in successive courses inwards until they meet in the centre
(an inherently less satisfactory method than by using voussoirs).
Corinthian. The commercial and artistic prominence of Corinth in the archaic and classical periods led, as
might be expected, to the development and advancement of a number of architectural and artistic forms
there as the city itself developed and advanced. Corinth was a major centre for the production and export
of painted pottery during the archaic period. As a result, Protocorinthian and Corinthian ware is abundant,
has been much studied, and can be fairly closely dated. It is therefore of considerable archaeological
importance whenever it is found on a site which is being excavated. It is the prime example of what is
called the Orientalising stage of Greek art, when motifs from the art of the Levant or Egypt replaced or
were added to the decorative patterns which had become established in the Geometric period. In the
archaic period Corinth also became known as one of the major centres of production of decorative bronze
work, not only sculpture but ornaments, furniture etc. As a result genuine ‘Corinthian bronze’ was much
sought after in later Greek and Roman times. Somehow a most unlikely story gained currency, that this
marvellous bronze was produced by an amalgamation of base and precious metals which took place in the
conflagration which followed the Roman capture of Corinth in 146 B.C. One use of bronze was for
armour, and there is a type of helmet which is called ‘Corinthian’ by modern writers, although it is also
found elsewhere. It is made in a single piece, without a separate visor, and has a bar, which stretches
downward between the plates which protect the cheeks, and covers the nose. Corinth may also have been
the place at which a new type of column capital was invented soon after the middle of the 5th century B.C.
(although the first known example of its use is at the temple of Apollo at Bassae on the other side of the
Peloponnese). This capital was decorated with representations of acanthus leaves. It is common practice
now to speak of the ‘Corinthian order’, although apart from having slightly slimmer proportions
Corinthian buildings differ from Ionic only in the form of the capital (see also Composite). It is possible
that the Corinthian column was originally conceived as a way of representing a vegetation deity in
aniconic form. If so, this origin was forgotten or ignored, and it became extremely popular, particularly
among the Romans, simply because of its decorative quality, and because it was easy to use at corners and
in circular buildings.
Cornice (in Latin corona and in Greek geison). The crowning member of a building below gutter level. In
the case of a gabled building, the cornices at the gabled ends are described as ‘raking’ or ‘sloping’ instead
of horizontal.
Cornucopiae (Latin; the Greek keras, ‘horn’, is not used in English). The horn of the goat (or of the
nymph Amalthea taking the form of a goat) which suckled the infant Zeus was used in Greek art as a
symbol of prosperity and abundance. To express the idea further it was shown overflowing with ears of
grain and with fruit. As Greek and Roman art developed a range of figures representing abstract ideas in a
personified form (see Personifications), many received a cornucopiae as one of their attributes. This is
particularly noticeable in the coinage of the Ptolemies and in Roman official art, where it was so often
necessary to symbolise the idea of imperial beneficence of one kind or another. The Latin word combines
two nouns cornu and copiae (the latter in the genitive case), and means ‘horn of plenty’. In Latin its plural
is formed by changing the ending of the first word only, to make cornuacopiae, ‘horns of plenty’. This is
difficult for English speakers to understand, and so it is becoming common to find ‘cornucopia’, which is
also the Italian form, as a singular form in English. The plural may then properly become ‘cornucopias’;
those who know a little but not enough Latin also use ‘cornucopiae’ as its plural, but this is undesirable.
Corolla. A wreath or garland (cf. Corona).
Corona. The Latin equivalent of the Greek stephanos, meaning a wreath or diadem of the kind which was
awarded as a mark of honour. Among the Romans wreaths were awarded to those who had distinguished
themselves in battle. The practice became formalised, so although like the Greeks they may originally
have made wreaths out of natural materials, the convention became established of making them in metal.
The triumphal wreath or corona triumphalis, originally made from the leaves of the bay or laurel bush,
appears early on Republican coins as an attribute of Victory and on its own as a symbol of Victory. It is
worn by triumphators and later by emperors. Another crown or wreath, the corona civica or civic crown,
was made of oak leaves and was originally awarded to a man who had saved the life of a fellow citizen in
battle, or by his actions had saved his fellow-citizens or the state (it might also be described as a corona
quercea, from quercus, an oak). This corona civica was awarded to Augustus by the Senate in 27 B.C. It
appears on his coins, and those of later emperors, either in memory of this event or, as in the case of
Vespasian and Titus, because a new award had been made.
The corona navalis (also called corona rostrata because it was decorated with representations of the
beaks or rams, the rostra, of defeated warships, or classica, from classis, ‘fleet’) commemorated a naval
victory. The corona muralis (from murus, a wall) was awarded to the man who first scaled the enemy’s
ramparts. In art it is shown as a crown with battlements like the ‘mural crown’ of Greek city goddesses.
Two other sorts of crown, the corona vallaris given to the first soldier to surmount the earthworks
(vallum) of an enemy camp and the corona obsidionalis or ‘siege crown’ which was the reward of a
commander who had preserved his troops when besieged, have no easily recognisable form in art,
although some of the circular ornaments which appear on military standards may be intended to represent
them (see Rostra, Standard). Two more non-military crowns may also be mentioned. The first is the rayed
crown or corona radiata (cf. Radiate). This was an attribute ofthe sun god (Helios/Sol), and also appears
as an ornament worn by some Roman emperors on coins and statues. There is also the crown or wreath of
vine leaves, the corona pampinea, which is an attribute of Dionysus/Bacchus.
Cortina. The Latin equivalent of the Greek lebes. In art it may, particularly when associated with a tripod,
have an agonistic significance.
Corymbus. ‘Peak’, a word which perhaps sometimes described the aplustre or acrostolium of a ship, and
may also in some contexts mean the crest of a hill. The word is sometimes found with a quite different
meaning, that of a cluster of fruit or flowers. It is also used to describe a style of dressing the hair, which is
piled on top of the head and tied at the bottom above the scalp in such a way that above the tie it resembles
a bunch of berries (cf. Crobylus).
Cottabus. A party game invented by Greek settlers in Sicily. It took two forms. In one a metal stand was
set up, on top of which a circular plate was set. It was used as a target by drinkers, who would hurl the
heel-taps from their cups at it, in order to dislodge the plate. In the second, a basin was used (called a
kottabeion), and the drinkers tried to sink little dishes floating in it.
Cotula or cotyle. A small cup or bowl; the word is often found as a unit of measure, the volume of it
being between a quarter or a third of a litre, or a large cup.
Crater. A mixing bowl, in particular one in which wine and water were mixed, since among the ancient
Greeks it was normal to dilute wine with water. The craters which were chosen for the purpose of
decoration by artists have several main forms, the calyx crater with handles like the calyces of a flower,
the bell crater with a body in the shape of a bell, the column crater with more or less straight handles
supporting the rim and the volute crater with handles like the volutes of an Ionic column.
Crepis or crepidoma. The Greek krepis has the literal meaning of ‘boot’, and in architecture is used to
describe the basis or supporting part of a building, as opposed to the part of it on which the columns rest
(cf. Stylobate). The second form, krepidoma, is an abstract noun, less common, and is found only in an
architectural sense.
Criophorus see Kriophoros.
Crobylus. On the occasions when this rare word is found in ancient Greeek texts it seems to mean a style
of wearing men’s hair. Ancient commentators were divided in their interpretation of it; vase paintings,
however, suggest that it most probably referred to hair gathered in a bun at the back of the neck. There is
no certain instance of the use of the word by Roman writers, but in passages in which it may have
appeared, it seems to refer to women’s hair as well as to men’s, and to a piling of the hair on the top of the
head (cf. Corymbus). Modern writers sometimes use it in this sense.
Cross. The cross with lines slanting from side to side (nowadays called a saltire or St Andrew’s cross),
often with dots inserted in the angles, is a common decorative motif in Greek art from the Geometric
period onwards. It is rare in Roman art. On the other hand a cross with one vertical and one horizontal arm
is occasionally found in Roman art as a mint mark on coins, and from the later fourth century A.D.
onwards it begins to replace the Christogram as a Christian symbol. The earliest form in which it appears
is that of the so-called Greek cross (+), followed by the type which is called the long cross or Latin cross
(†). The cross became respectable, as it were (for in the Roman world if it had any symbolism it was only
as one of a number of ways of executing criminals), after the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the
Great, discovered remnants of the True Cross at Jerusalem in A.D. 326, and Constantine presented a great
golden cross to the Lateran Basilica at Rome. In A.D. 420 Theodosius II erected a new cross, ornamented
with gold and jewels, on the supposed site of the Crucifixion. As a result of this, it is not surprising that
from the end of the 4th century A.D. the long cross becomes a regular attribute of Victory in Roman art.
Cross-hatching. The decorating of an area with parallel lines.
Cross-vaulting. The arrangement of a roof with vaults which intersect at an angle (cf. Groin).
Cryptoporticus. ‘Hidden portico’, a word which was used to describe a subterranean vaulted corridor, as
opposed to the simple ‘crypt’ which does not suggest any particular architectural form.
Cubiculum. A room for resting or reclining, a bedroom in a Roman house. Also as an architectural term
in Latin in the same sense as cubile, the bed or joint on which a stone rests.
Culina. The Latin word for a kitchen.
Cuneus. ‘Wedge’, a Latin word used by some modern writers to describe a wedge-shaped block of seats
in a theatre or amphitheatre (Greek kerkis). The Latin word (but not, apparently, its Greek equivalent) was
also sometimes used to describe a voussoir in an arch.
Cupid. The Latin cupido is the equivalent of the Greek eros, ‘desire’, Both words are used to describe the
son of the goddess of Love, Aphrodite/Venus, who is represented in art as a small boy or putto, sometimes
armed with a bow or some other weapon.
Cupola. A diminutive form of the Latin cupa, a tub or vat, sometimes used in English, and frequently in
Italian, to describe a dome.
Curia. A word of obscure derivation, possibly coming from the Sabine town of Cures. After the Romans
united with the Sabines it became the name of a ‘court’ or political division, and then of a building in
which religious or other meetings might take place. Later it was used as the name of a building in which
the Senate at Rome, or the senate of a provincial city, might meet. At Rome the original Senate House in
the Forum Romanum, known as the Curia Hostilia after its original builder Tullus Hostilius, was rebuilt
several times. A completely new building was commenced by Sulla in 80 B.C., but was destroyed by fire.
Julius Caesar had commenced its reconstruction when he was assassinated in 44 B.C. (at that time the
Senate was meeting in another building half a mile ago called the Curia Pompei or Senate House of
Pompey). It was completed by Augustus and restored again by Domitian. Another complete rebuilding
took place under Diocletian, and it is this building which may be seen in the Forum today. It was
converted into a church in the 7th century, but restored to its Diocletianic form in 1935-38.
Curvature, see Refinements.
Curule chair. The word ‘curule’ is traditionally derived from currus, ‘chariot’, and alludes to the giving
of justice by the Etruscan kings from a seat placed in a chariot. The term was applied among the Romans
to the highest offices of state, those which, so to speak, replaced the functions of the kings. A seat of the
kind associated with this Etruscan practice, shaped like an X or like two Us, one inverted beneath the
other, became the symbol of military commanders or of the highest magistracies at Rome.
Cyathus. A small ladle for transferring wine from a krater to a drinking cup.
Cyclades. A name given to the group of islands which is located in a circle, or kyklos, around Delos. Since
it is sometimes impossible to distinguish the artistic products of one island from those of another, the
general term ‘Cycladic’ is often used to describe them.
Cyclops (pl. Cyclopes). In Greek mythology the Cyclopes were a race of giants, divine or semi-divine in
their ancestry, distinguished by having only one eye (artists sometimes illogically gave them a large eye
set in the middle of the forehead, with two normal eyes beneath it). The most famous Cyclops,
Polyphemus, trapped Odysseus and his crew, but he was outwitted and Odysseus blinded him and
escaped, an episode which is the subject of a number of surviving works of art. Among other tasks the
Cyclopes were credited with building the walls of the Mycenaean fortress of Tiryns, and for this reason
the expression ‘Cyclopean walling’ is frequently used to describe early masonry constructed with very
large roughly shaped stones.
Cyma and cymatium. These words (from the Greek kyma, ‘wave’ and its diminutive form kymation) are
employed to describe mouldings in architecture. It is clear from the small number of documents in which
examples of their use survive that their meaning to the Greeks and the Romans was less precise than it
has, by convention, become to modern writers. In modern usage the diminutive form cymatium is used
either as a general term for a moulding (which can sometimes be identified as an ovolo or a cyma reversa),
or to describe the small ‘echinus’ which appears between the volutes of the Ionic capital.
The terms cyma recta’ and ‘cyma reversa’ are modern, not ancient. They describe two mouldings of
opposed forms, each with a double curve. When the upper section is concave and the lower section
convex, the moulding is called a cyma recta, and is traditionally decorated with a lotus and palmette
ornament (see Anthemion). When the upper section is convex and the lower concave, the moulding is
called a cyma reversa, and has a leaf-and-dart pattern. This is also called ‘Lesbian leaf’, and so some
writers call the cyma reversa a Lesbian cymatium.
Cyst, see Cista.
Cyzicus. A city on the south shore of the Sea of Marmara or Propontis. It was the place of manufacture of
an electrum coinage which was widely used in Asia during the archaic and classical periods. The coins
were known as ‘Cyzicenes’. In domestic architecture there was also, Vitruvius tells us, a type of room
known as Cyzicene. This faced to the north (and would therefore be cool in summer), and had folding
doors opening on to a garden.
D
Dado. A continous decorated band along the lower part of a wall; also (less commonly), the square block or pedestal
sometimes used to support a column or statue.
Daedalus/Daidalos. A mythical craftsman at Athens who made statues so lifelike that they appeared to be real. He
was said to have served the legendary King Minos of Crete. While he was there he made the artificial cow in which
Queen Pasiphae hid herself in order to conceive the Minotaur, and he also created the maze in which the Minotaur
was hidden. Later, when trying to escape from Crete with his son Icarus, he made wings for them both from wax and
feathers, but Icarus, who flew too high, was killed when the sun melted the wax. Many other ingenious devices and
remarkable buildings were attributed to him.
In modern times the term ‘Daedalic’ has sometimes been used to describe the earliest stages of Greek sculpture in
the 7th century B.C. The term has no justification or appropriateness, and is best avoided.
Damnatio memoriae. ‘Condemnation of memory’, a penalty which might be applied by the Romans to a person
guilty of crimes against the state. His first name (praenomen) was no longer given to anyone in his family, and if he
had received public honours such as statues or honorific inscriptions, the statues were removed and his name was
deleted from the inscriptions, even from milestones. During the time of the Roman Empire the process was formally
applied to several emperors after their deaths, to Nero, Domitian, Commodus, Didius Julianus and Elagabalus.
Caracalla tried to abolish the memory of his brother Geta in a similar way, after arranging to have him murdered.
Daric. The name given in ancient and in modern times to the gold stater which was the principal currency of the
kings of Persia. It was probably first minted late in the 6th century B.C. in the reign of Darius I, and the traditional
Greek derivation of the word from the name of the king is therefore probably more likely to be correct than other
derivations which have been suggested. The obverse shows a bearded figure with spear, bow and quiver (for which
reason the coins were sometimes called ‘archers’). The reverse is decorated only with punch marks. It is generally
assumed that the figure on the obverse is intended to represent the king of Persia, although there is no attempt to
create an individualised portrait on any of the issues. Because the coins were so well known, the word was
sometimes used as a general term to describe any gold coin.
Decadrachm. A coin of ten drachmas, a rare denomination in Greek coinage since at most mints the largest coin
issued was a tetradrachm. The best known example is the ‘Arethusa’ series struck by the mint of Syracuse during the
5th century B.C. (the so-called ‘Demareteion’ issues) which, like some other exceptionally large Greek coins, should
be thought of as being medallic in character although their weight was such that they were certainly also capable of
being used as coins. The spelling ‘tetradrachma’ as a supposed singular form is incorrect, since in Greek the singular
and (neuter) plural are tetradrachmon and tetradrachma.
Decastyle. ‘With ten columns’ (see -style).
Decennalia, see Votum.
Decumanus. A major street running approximately east to west in a Roman city, sometimes between gates (cf.
Cardo, Centuriation).The word means literally ‘pertaining to a tenth’, and acquired its meaning because in surveying
land it was customary to mark a major division, usually running east to west, after every ten actus (the actus was a
measure of 120 feet).
Decursio. ‘Running down, charge', a Latin word which came to be applied to military or equestrian manoeuvres. It is
sometimes used by modern writers to describe a scene found in official Roman art which shows the emperor taking
part in a cavalry parade. Coins of Nero which show a scene of this kind bear the legend DECVRSIO.
Decussis. A Roman coin of ten asses (a very rare denomination; see As).
Delos. The island at the centre of the Cyclades, sacred to Artemis and Apollo. In addition to the shrines which were
constructed there, and to its importance during the Hellenistic period as a centre of commerce, it also had a great
reputation as a major producer of artistic work in bronze, although no specifically ‘Delian style’ of modelling can
now be identified.
Delphi. A site on the lower slopes of Mount Parnassus in Central Greece, not far from the northern coast of the Gulf
of Corinth. It was one of the greatest religious centres of the Greek world, until the Christian religion replaced pagan
cults. In the earliest times it was also known as Pytho (see Pythia). Its most important monument was a temple of
Apollo, built and rebuilt several times, which was attended by persons from all over the Greek world seeking
information through the medium of the oracles which were dispensed by the Delphic priesthood. Although it was
looted by the Romans and by later invaders, a wealth of architecture, sculpture and inscriptions, has survived.
In addition to the remains of the temple, which belong to its latest rebuilding in the 4th century B.C., other
buildings may be seen, most notably a theatre and some small structures called ‘treasuries’ which date to the late
archaic and early classical periods. Some way above the sanctuary there was a stadium, and a hippodrome was
located at a lower point, in the direction of the valley of the river Pleistos.Of the sculpture found at Delphi the most
notable pieces are two kouroi of the middle of the archaic period who may be intended to represent Cleobis/Kleobis
and Biton of Argos, whose story is recorded by Herodotus, and the bronze ‘charioteer of Delphi’, part of a
monument consisting of a quadriga with driver and groom which was erected in the 470s B.C. to commemorate a
victory by the team of Polyzalos the tyrant of Gela in Sicily.
Demareteion. According to Diodorus, who wrote in the 1st century B.C., this name was given to a coin struck in
honour of Demarete wife of Gelon I of Syracuse. The Carthaginians had presented her with a hundred talents of gold
as a reward for her help in making peace after they had been defeated at the battle of Himera in 480 B.C. Other
sources say that the coin weighed ten Attic drachmas and that in Syracusan terms it was a coin of fifty litrai, a
pentekontalitron. It has been supposed that the earliest decadrachms issued by Syracuse in the 5th century B.C. are
specimens of this issue, and they are frequently called Demareteia. It has also been imagined that the head of
Arethusa which appears on them is a portrait of Demarete. Neither suggestion is probable. A similar head appears on
much earlier coins of Syracuse, and it is natural to identify it as the head of the local nymph Arethusa (it is in fact so
labelled on one issue of the end of the fifth century). Hoard evidence also suggests that the earliest decadrachms
were not struck before 470 B.C. The whole story is therefore probably an invention.
Denarius. ‘Tenner’, the name of a Roman silver coin first struck c. 211 B.C. during the Second Punic War. It was so
called because it was worth ten bronze asses. Soon after the middle of the 2nd century B.C. the relative weights of
the silver and bronze coins, and the relative values of the metals themselves, had changed, and the denarius and the
as were retariffed in relation to each other, so that one denarius was now worth sixteen asses. In spite of this changed
relationship the same name continued to be used for the silver coin. During the Roman Empire the silver content of
the denarius was lowered, and its weight was reduced until it became a small copper coin of no intrinsic value. It was
not struck after the beginning of the 4th century A.D., although sums of money continued to be calculated in denarii
for another two and a half centuries. In the Middle Ages it gave its name to a number of other coins, such as the dinar
and the penny. The Biblical ‘Tribute Penny’ is sometimes said to have been a denarius, although in Palestine tribute
would more probably have been paid in the local silver coinage.
Dentil. ‘Little tooth’, the name given to each of the square projections placed at regular intervals at the bottom of a
cornice in architecture. Their appearance suggests that they represent the end of beams supporting a flat roof,
translated into a decorative feature in stone architecture. They are very common in Ionic buildings, and are
occasionally found in Doric buildings which show Ionic influence.
Dexileos. An Athenian cavalryman, killed in battle in 394 B.C., whose funerary stele was set up in the Kerameikos
cemetery at Athens. It shows a horseman defeating a falling enemy, and is an excellent example of relief sculpture in
the Classical style, important because it can be dated exactly.
Diadema. A band or diadem worn round the head, with fluttering ends. In the Hellenistic period it was used as a sign
of kingship, after Alexander the Great had taken over the fashion from the kings of Persia.
Diadoumenos. ‘Binding on’, the title which is preserved in Pliny’s Natural History for a bronze statue made by the
5th century B.C. sculptor Polycleitus (cf. Doryphoros). The statue itself does not survive, but the title suggests that it
represented a victorious athlete in the act of binding a wreath or fillet around his head as a symbol of victory Several
marble statues and statuettes made in Roman times have been found which seem to be copies of a Greek original of
the 5th century B.C. which represent an athletic male figure engaged in this activity. This, and their stance (see
Canon, Polycleitan stance), suggest that they are copies of the famous Diadoumenos.
Diastyle. According to Vitruvius, an arrangement in which the space between the columns of a building is three
times the column diameter (cf. -style).
Diaulos. A double pipe (cf. Aulos). Also a track going and returning in a racecourse and, according to Vitruvius, the
peristyle around the courtyard of a palaestra.
Diazoma. A horizontal passage dividing one ‘wedge’ (cuneus) of seats from another in a Greek or Roman theatre.
Didrachm. A coin of two drachmas (cf. tridrachm, tetradrachm).
Digamma. A letter which became obsolete in the Greek alphabet, resembling one gamma on top of another (F), and
thus sresmbling a capital F in the Roman alphabet. Even after it had ceased to be used as a part of the standard
alphabet, it sometimes appears, for example in inscriptions written in local dialects and as a mint mark on coins.
Dikasterion. The Greek word for a law court. There is no specific architectural form which can be associated with a
building of this kind (and in any case trials in ancient Greece were often held in the open air), but when a building
was needed for such a purpose, the principal requirement was for a large number of seats to accommodate the dikasts
or jurymen, since for important cases very large juries with hundreds of members were appointed.
Dinos. ‘Whirlpool’, a word which sometimes in Greek seems to be applied to a vase, perhaps a mixing bowl. Its use
is better avoided, since it is by now conventional to use ‘crater’ (or ‘krater’) for a mixing bowl with a foot, and
‘lebes’ for a bowl with a rounded bottom.
Dionysus/Dionysos. A god worshipped by the Greeks and by the Romans (the latter usually referred to him as
Bacchus, which was his title rather than his name in Greek, or equated him with their own god of wine, Liber). The
name should be distinguished from the derivative form, used as a name by humans, of Dionysius. In addition to
being the god of wine, he was also the patron in whose honour theatrical competitions were held. In archaic Greek
art he is bearded and robed, but in the classical and later periods beardless and often semi-nude. He often bears or
wears a fawn skin, and his principal attributes are a cantharus, an ivy wreath and a thyrsus.
Diploma. ‘Double-folded’ (cf. Diptych). This Greek word appears in literature in the general sense of ‘official
document, passport’, and is the name usually given to the type of certificate which was issued to soldiers who had
served their time in the Roman army, recording their entitlements to citizenship and to other things at the time of
their discharge.
Dipteral. Of a building with a double colonnade (‘pteron’) around it (cf. Peripteral, Pseudoperipteral). A building of
this kind may be referred to as a Dipteros (cf. Monopteros).
Diptych. ‘Double-folded’, a word applied to a number of things such as mirrors or writing tablets. In particular it is
used of ‘consular diptychs’, pairs of rectangular tablets ornamented with appropriate scenes in relief which were
distributed by consuls in the late Roman and early Byzantine periods to other magistrates on the occasion of their
taking office (cf. Diploma, Triptych).
Dipylon. ‘Double gate’, a name particularly applied to a gateway through double walls on the western side of Athens
(also called the Thriasian Gate). In the cemetery area outside it some of the most impressive specimens of Attic
Geometric vase painting were discovered in the 19th century. This led to the term ‘Dipylon’ being applied to all
Geometric vase painting (replacing the equally unsatisfactory term ‘Pelasgian’), or at least to the products of Attic
workshops during this period, but it is not used in this sense in modern books.
Dirce Group. A group of statues, the largest which survives from ancient times, representing the vengeance of
Zethus and Amphion on Dirce Queen of Thebes who had tried to fasten their mother Antiope (the daughter of her
husband’s dead brother) to the horns of a mad bull. They punished Dirce by inflicting the same fate upon her. It is
the work of two Rhodian artists, Apollonius and Tauriscus, with later additions. It was discovered in the Baths of
Caracalla at Rome, and once belonged to the Farnese family (for which reason it is often called the ‘Farnese Bull’).
Discharging arch, see Relieving arch.
Discobolus/-os. A discus thrower. The subject is found in a number of works of ancient Greek art. The most famous
of these matches descriptions of a famous bronze statue made by Myron c. 470 B.C. The original of this is lost, but
copies show a figure poised in the moment before casting the discus, with the weight on its right leg. This dramatic
rendering of a pose would until that time have been attempted only by painters, or by sculptors working in relief.
Displuviate, see Atrium.
Distyle. Of a building with two columns at the front (usually between the antae of a porch).
Dividiculum. An alternative name for the distribution point of a Roman aqueduct, usually called a castellum.
Dodecastyle. Of a building with twelve columns at the front.
E
Ecclesiasterion. A building used for meetings of the ekklesia or assembly of citizens of a Greek city.
Vitruvius explains the term by using the words ‘small theatre’. The building which is tentatively identified
as the Ecclesiasterion of Priene is indeed reminiscent of a small roofed theatre, although square in plan. It
would have held about seven hundred persons. Larger cities might have used their open-air theatres for the
same purpose; at Athens, on the other hand, the ekklesia met on the Pnyx (cf. Bouleuterion).
Eccyclema. ‘Thing rolled out’, a platform which could be rolled on to the stage of a theatre to display a
tableau. The first firm evidence for its use is in the 420s B.C. We do not know whether it was used to
display tableaux before this, since they might have been exhibited by drawing back a curtain to reveal the
interior of a recess (cf. Exostra).
Echinus. ‘Hedgehog, sea-urchin’, a name which is now regularly used to describe the bowl-shaped capital
of a column in the Doric order. It is found in this sense only in the Byzantine lexicographers, which
suggests that it may originally have been used in literary rather than professional writing. Vitruvius, who
may be a better guide to technical terms, calls this part of the column a cymatium. In Greek Doric the
shape of the echinus, like that of other mouldings, varied over the course of time. The earlier capitals have
a more pronounced curve, but by the later Classical period the profile is almost a straight line.
Egg and dart. A decorative moulding used in architecture and sculpture, associated with carvings having
an ovolo profile. The name is most appropriate to the later versions, where the darts between the egg-
shaped units have a distinct arrowhead or spearhead form. In earlier work this is less pronounced, and in
such cases the term ‘egg and tongue’ is often preferred. Both terms are modern. In ancient texts no name
other than the very widely-ranging ‘cymatium’ is known.
Eisodos. ‘Entrance, approach’, a word occasionally used by Greek writers for an entrance to a building. It
is sometimes found in drama when a speaker is referring to the entrances through which the Chorus is
about to come into view, but in this sense the term Parodos is more commonly used.
Ekphora. ‘Carrying out’, a term which is used to describe the scene of a corpse being carried out for
burial accompanied by mourners, found on some Geometric funerary vases (cf. Prothesis).
Ekphrasis. ‘Description’, a word which is employed as the name of a formal literary description of a
work of art or architecture. The earliest example is the description of the Shield of Achilles which appears
in the Iliad, and in this case the object described is clearly imaginary. Other ekphraseis described real
buildings or works of art. An example of this later kind is the description of Justinian's great church of
Hagia Sophia by Paul the Silentiary.
Electrum. An alloy of gold and silver which was used in the earliest coins produced in Lydia and Ionia,
and was employed occasionally thereafter. The Greeks called it ‘white gold’ at first, and it was only later
that the name elektron , which also means ‘amber’, was given to it (it is not known which meaning came
first for this word). The natural alloy was used in the earliest electrum coinage, and the proportions of the
metals varied from coin to coin; later, the alloy was produced artificially and the proportions were fixed, at
least for each separate issue. This made it possible for the minting authority to create a profit from the
issuing of coins.
Elgin, Lord. The British ambassador to the Porte of the Turkish Sultan, who in 1801 obtained permission
to fix scaffolding to buildings on the Acropolis of Athens, to excavate, to make casts and drawings, and to
take away pieces of stone with inscriptions or figures upon them. The sculptures from the Parthenon and
the Erechtheum which he brought back to England at his own expense were later (after some public
controversy over their artistic quality) acquired by the British Government. They are known as the ‘Elgin
Marbles’ and are displayed in the British Museum.
Embattled. Of a border, decorated with a heavy line with squares or dots projecting from it, like the
projections of a battlement (cf. Battlemented).
Emblema. ‘Insertion’, a piece inserted into an object or decorated area as a centrepiece or special feature,
as a coin might be inserted into the centre of a bowl or a panel of particularly fine work might be inserted
into a mosaic. Mosaic emblemata are sometimes worked on the same base as the main mosaic, which
suggests that they were made in situ , and sometimes they are set in pottery trays, and must have been
made separately. In the latter case they may have been imported from workshops specialising in such
things.
Emissarium. A drain or outlet to direct the flow of water.
Emplecton. ‘Interwoven’, a word used by Vitruvius to describe a type of walling used by the Greeks and
(in a less desirable manner) the country folk of Italy. The difference seems to be that the Greeks were
careful to include stones which went through the wall from one side to the other, holding it together more
securely, while the Italians were often content to build a wall with dressed stones on the outside and a
rubble core in the centre. Since so many varieties of wall construction can be observed in different parts of
Italy, the exact meaning of Vitruvius’s words is unclear.
Empolion. A rectangular wooden or metal block placed in the centre of a column drum to receive a
polos , as a means of centring the drum and its neighbour and preventing movement
Encaustic. ‘Burned in’, a technique of painting first used in the 5th century B.C. which is mentioned by
ancient writers, but which is not perfectly understood now, since no examples survive. Such evidence as is
available suggests that coloured wax was applied with a knife, and was then melted into the surface which
was being decorated with a heated rod of metal. A South Italian vase painting seems to show this being
done; it is possible that the technique was first developed as a way of applying colour to marble statues in
a way which would resist exposure to the elements for as long as possible.
Engaged column. A projection from a wall shaped like part of a column (usually about a half, or a little
less (cf. Pilaster).
Entablature. The word has ancestors in French and Italian; In English it is used to describe the parts of an
order in architecture between (but not including) the abacus and the sima, or the upper part of a wall
decorated in the same manner.
Entasis. ‘Stretching, distension’, a word used in medical texts and also, according to Vitruvius, as a
description of the effect produced by columns which do not diminish from bottom to top in a straight line,
but in a gentle curve.
Ephesian base. A more ornamented column base than the Attic one, so named because it was used on the
Ionic columns of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
Epicranitis. A Greek word which seems to be the name of a moulding decorating the top of the outside of
the wall of the cella in a peripteral building.
Epichysis. the name given by modern writers to a small vase most commonly produced by Apulian vase
painters. It had a narrow neck, a single handle, and a body shaped like a cotton reel.
Epidaurus. A city on the north-east coast of the Peloponnese, which was a major centre of the cult of the
healing god Aesculapius. It is now best known as the site of a very well preserved theatre of the 4th
century B.C. which retains its orchestra in the original circular form.
Epigraphy. The study of writing on hard surfaces such as stone or metal. Since an enormous number of
inscriptions, principally on stone, survives from the ancient world, it is a subject which is able to throw
light on a great number of topics.
Episcenium. A word which to Vitruvius appears to mean the upper story of a stage building, but is
defined elsewhere as a resting or lodging place on the stage. The former meaning is more probable, but
further evidence is lacking.
Epistyle. The Greek name for the architrave, the principal beam placed between columns and supporting
the upper part of a building.
Epitrapezios. ‘At the table’, the title of a statue of Heracles banqueting made by the sculptor Lysippus,
some copies of which survive.
Erechtheum/Erechtheion. The name usually given to a temple on the Acropolis of Athens which was
built in the later 5th century B.C. during the Peloponnesian War. It has been claimed that this attribution is
incorrect, and that the name should in fact be applied to a smaller shrine in the vicinity, now known as the
Shrine of Pandrosus. If this is true, the building which we call the Erechtheum may have been known
simply as a temple of Athena, although it also housed other cults.
Erechtheus was an early or legendary king of Athens, the grandson of Erichthonius, an even earlier
figure with whom he is (not surprisingly) often confused. The ‘Erechtheum’ is a building of unusual form.
Instead of the usual rectangle with peristyle or with porch (and perhaps also rear porch) in antis, it has the
form of two cellas with porches projecting on the north and south sides (the latter with the famous
‘Caryatids’ instead of columns). Part of the building had two storeys.
Eros (pl. Erotes). ‘Love’, a personification of the idea, particularly in the sense of sexual love. According
to one myth he was born at the beginning of time, but more commonly he was said to be the child of
Aphrodite/Venus and her lover Ares/Mars. During the Hellenistic period he began to be romanticised in
literature, and to be represented in art as a child with wings and with a bow and quiverful of arrows.
Escape, see Apophyge.
Eustyle. According to Vitruvius, an arrangement in which the space between the columns of a building is
two and a quarter times the width of the columns, while the space between the central intercolumniations
at the front and back of a buildings is three columns wide, to give room for processions (cf. -style).
Euthynteria. The Greek name of the top course of the foundations of a building, used as a levelling
course.
Exedra. ‘Out-seat’, a term used to describe a semicircular seat in an outdoor setting, or a semicircular or
rectangular recess in a building which would be suitable for a group of people sitting away from the main
movement of persons.
Exergue. ‘Outside the work’, a French word used to describe a segment of a coin or other work in relief in
which a subsidiary decoratioon or legend appears.
Exomis. ‘Off the shoulder’, a word used to describe a short sleeveless tunic worn by men, particularly
when doing hard work, although it might also be worn as casual dress.
Exostra. ‘Thing pushed out’, a word which appears in several different senses in ancient texts. It may
refer to a projecting balcony, to a contraption ‘pushed out’ by the defenders in a siege, or to an item of
theatre equipment. In the last instance it may be an alternative name for the eccyclema, although some
scholars have denied this and have argued that it describes an arrangement which revolved and brought
things from behind the stage to view.
Ex-voto, see Votive offering.
F
Farnese. A noble Italian family which produced many notable persons, including one Pope (Paul III),
who gained a well deserved reputation as a rapacious collector of ancient works of art. The Farnese
collections of books and artistic masterpieces were famous. The Farnese Gardens and the Palazzo Farnese
occupied a large part of Rome near the Forum, and some major works of ancient art are located there.
Fasces. ‘Faggot’ (the Latin word is plural, and should be used with a plural verb). This was the name
given to a bundle of twigs, with an axe bound in the middle, which was carried before the highest Roman
magistrates as a sign of their rank. They originally symbolised the power of the holders of these offices to
beat (with twigs) and behead (with an axe) criminals, but in the course of time this symbolism was
weakened, and they came to suggest nothing more than the formal power and legitimacy of office. The
idea of the fasces (without the axe) as a symbol of unity through strength is a more modern one, perhaps
originally inspired by a fable of Aesop.
Fascia. A flat strip forming part of the architectural decoration of a building, particularly one of the three
into which the architrave of the Ionic order is usually divided (cf. Fillet).
Faun. A mythical creature or divinity in Italy, the approximate equivalent of the Greek satyr, represented
originally as a creature having the tail and ears of a goat attached to a male human body, and later, like
Pan, with the legs of a goat as well.
Festivals and Games. In Greek and Roman life, religious festivals and athletic contests played an
important part, and were often the subject of artistic representations in one medium or another. In modern
life we might consider religion and athletics to be two quite separate things, although among Australian
Christians this seems to be changing. In the ancient world, however, competitions of different kinds,
ranging from wrestling, and chariot races to gladiatorial contests, sometimes took place during the course
of ceremonies which had a primarily religious purpose. This may be partly the result of the inclusion in
the earliest times of athletic contests in the funeral rites of kings.
Some festivals were held in honour of gods, for instance the Olympian Games which were held in
honour of Zeus, the Pythian Games in honour of Apollo and the dramatic festivals held at Athens and
elsewhere in honour of Dionysus. The posthumous cult of Alexander the Great inspired festivals and
games, and some festivals were instituted in honour of Roman emperors.
Many of the scenes which are to be found on Greek vases and coins, or in the art of the Roman world,
were inspired by this kind of event, and the works of art which show them were in many cases created to
advertise a festival, or as prizes (see also Secular Games).
Fibula. A brooch or clasp, used to hold a garment together.
Field. In relief sculpture, coinage or painting, the area around the main scene or object represented, which
may contain minor subjects.
Fillet. In architecture, a narrow flat strip raised from the surrounding surface (cf. Taenia); also a strip of
wool or other material which might be bound around an object as a mark of distinction or respect, or worn
around the head of someone performing a ceremony or attending a formal party.
Fleuron. A flower-shaped ornament.
Fulmen. A thunderbolt (Latin; the Greek keraunos is rarely used in English). In Greek and Roman art it
is an attribute of the sky god Zeus/Jupiter, and is represented as a bundle of flames shooting out forwards
and backwards, bound with a tie around the middle.
Fylfot, see Swastika.
G
Galerus. A Roman priest’s cap (cf. Apex).
Games, see Festivals and Games.
Geison, see Cornice.
Genius. ‘Spirit’, a Latin word which usually means a supernatural inhabiting or protecting force
associated with a person or place (the modern sense of ‘intelligence’ is rare in Latin). In Greek and
Roman art an otherwise unidentifiable figure which does not seem to represent a human being is
sometimes described as a ‘genius’. In Roman Imperial art figures are sometimes found which represent
the Genius (or personification) of the Senate (bearded), the Genius of the Roman People (beardless), and
the Genius of the Emperor. The last named was probably created as an expedient so that honours could be
paid to an emperor in almost the same way as to a god, without deifying him in his lifetime (this was
unacceptable in the western part of the Roman Empire).
Geometric. The name given to a period of Greek art (approximately 1000-700 B.C.) and to the works of
art produced during that time. Geometric art is distinguished by its use of patterns of a geometric kind,
triangles, circles and curves, often repeated in bands on the objects which they decorate. When human
and other natural forms are represented in painting and sculpture (principally at the end of the period),
they are reduced as far as possible to Geometric elements. At the end of this period, ‘orientalising’
elements creep into Geometric art. Many of the decorative patterns developed during this time were
retained in later Greek art as minor or framing elenents.
Gladiator. ‘Swordsman’ (from gladius, a sword), a trained warrior, usually a slave, condemned criminal
or captive (although occasionally free men volunteered in the hope of making money), who fought in
public contests. This was a feature of Roman rather than Greek civilisation, and seems to have had its
origin in the Etruscan custom of arranging such contests at the funerals of dead warriors. In the course of
time four standard types of gladiator evolved. The Samnite was armed with a short sword, and equipped
with an oblong slightly curved shield, greaves and a large helmet with a visor covering the face. The
Mirmillo was similarly accoutred, and distinguished by a crest on his helmet in the form of a fish. The
Retiarius, or Net Man, wore no armour, and was equipped with a large net, in which he hoped to entangle
his opponent, and a trident. The Thracian was lightly armed, with a round shield or pelta, and a curved
sword of scimitar-like shape.
Gorgon. In Greek mythology the Gorgons are usually three in number, and are female in gender and
fearful in their aspect (although in the Hellenistic and Roman periods there was a tendency for gorgons to
become more beautiful). In early Greek art they are shown with wings, tusk-like canine teeth, and snakes
in their hair. The sight of a gorgon’s face could turn a man to stone. The most famous gorgon was called
Medusa, and it was her head that the hero Perseus was ordered to obtain. A gorgoneion, or gorgon’s
mask, is a regular decoration of an aegis, and also sometimes appears alone. In early Greek art and
architecture (where it might be used to decorate an antefix or a metope) a gorgoneion may have had an
apotropaic purpose. In other cases it may, because of its use on the aegis, be a symbol of the goddess
Athena/Minerva, or of Zeus/Jupiter.
Graffito (pl. graffiti). ‘Scratch’ (Italian), a word used to indicate a piece of writing or drawing made on
buildings, pottery, coins etc. at a time after they were first made. A graffito should be distinguished from
an inscription or coin legend made at the time of production of the object.
Greave. A piece of armour protecting a soldier’s lower leg.
Guilloche. An ornamental band, painted or carved, in the form of a braid or continuous figure of eight. It
first appears in Greek art at the end of the Geometric period.
Gutta. ‘Drip’, the name given to a small cylindrical peg-like projection which is a feature of the Doric
order. In canonical Doric, six guttae are placed under each regula, and three rows of six under each
mutule. They have the appearance of timber dowels, and it is possible that this is what they are intended
to represent.
Guttus or Gutturnium. In Latin texts these words occasionally appear as the names of a container from
which liquids might be poured at a party or a religious ceremony. It is possible that one of these was the
name of the narrow-necked jug which is represented sometimes in works of Roman relief sculpture or on
coins together with other religious implements.
H
Halo, see Nimbus.
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, see Tyrannicides.
Harpa. From the Greek harpe, ‘sickle’, the word generally used to describe a curved sword which Perseus
used when he beheaded the Gorgon.
Harpy. ‘Snatcher’, the name given in ancient Greek mythology to a being which snatches persons away to the
underworld, or snatches away their food. The Harpies were three in number, and are represented in art either
as winged females, or as birds with the heads of women.
Hasta. A spear or lance; in the Roman army, the first line of troops was called the hastati.
Haruspex. Literally ‘inspector of entrails’, the title of a Roman priest who followed the practice, inherited
from the Etruscans, of examining the entrails of animals which had been sacrificed, and drawing conclusions
concerning the progress of future events from their appearance and condition.
Hawksbeak. A moulding found in the Doric order, which when seen in profile has a shape which resembles
the curving beak of a bird of prey. The ancient name for it is not known; it might have been referred to as a
cymatium/kymation, but this word is one which could also be applied to other curving mouldings..
Helladic. A name given by modern archaeologists to the Bronze Age civilisation of mainland Greece. In the
early period (c. 2500-1900 B.C.) Greece seems to have been inhabited by people who did not speak Greek. In
the Middle Helladic period (c. 1900-1600 B.C.) speakers of Greek arrived. The Late Helladic period (c. 1600-
1100 B.C.) is more commonly known as the Mycenaean period.
Hellenistic. An alternative form of ‘Hellenic’ (found in ancient texts, but there only as a variant form with no
differing meaning), which is used by modern scholars as a label for the period of Greek history from the death
of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) to the final absorption of Greece into the Roman Empire (usually dated for
this purpose to 31 B.C., the date of the battle of Actium).
Helmet. Many forms of helmet are represented in Greek and Roman art. For the most common Greek types,
see Attic, Corinthian and Phrygian. These all appear in Roman art also. The most common form of purely
Roman helmet is the military type, covering the head and back of the neck and open at the front, often
decorated with a crest (a ‘panache’).
Hephaesteum/Hephaisteion. A place or building dedicated to Hephaestus. At Athens a temple in the Agora,
formerly attributed to the Attic hero Theseus, has been shown to have housed a joint cult of Athena and
Hephaestus, and is now known as the Hephaesteum. It is one of a group of temples built in the middle of the
5th century B.C. in the Doric order by Athenian architects which include some interesting Ionic features.
Heraeum. A place or building dedicated to Hera. The two most notable sanctuaries of this kind in the Greek
world were on the island of Samos, and near Argos in the Peloponnese. In the Samian Heraeum a temple was
built in the archaic period which was for many years the largest of its kind in the Greek world.
Heraldic composition. An placing of elements in an artistic composition which resembles the arrangement
common in heraldry, where balanced pairs of figures face each other
Herm. A figure consisting of a pillar surmounted by a head, usually with male genitals represented on its
front. In the earliest examples the head is bearded, and the figure represented the god Hermes in semi-
aniconic form. In later times the practice arose of placing portrait heads upon herms, this being an alternative
to making full length statues.
Herodes Atticus. A wealthy Greek (not related to the Herods of Judaea), with estates in the neighbourhood
of Marathon. He combined a career as a senator and consul at Rome in the 2nd century A.D. with prose
writing, principally rhetoric and letters. He paid for building works at Athens, Delphi and Olympia that bear
his name.
Hetoimasia. ‘Preparation', the name given to a motif which appears in Byzantine art and symbolises the
preparation of the world for the return of Christ as its perpetual ruler. The idea is presented by the
representation of a vacant throne with symbols of imperial rule (e.g. diadem and chlamys).
Hexastyle. ‘With six columns’ (see -style).
Hierarchical or hieratic composition. A composition in which human figures are arranged in such a way as
to demonstrate their relative status or importance.
Hieron. ‘Sacred (place)’, a word sometimes used to describe a Greek shrine or sacred area. The Latin
equivalent, fanum, or its English equivalent ‘fane’, is not normally used in modern English.
Himation. The Greek word for a heavy cloak (the Latin equivalent is pallium ).
Hippocamp. A mythical creature, perhaps inspired by the sea horse. It has a horse’s head and body,
sometimes equipped with wings, which ends in a serpentine tail, and may also have fins.
Hippodrome, see Circus.
Hoplite. From hoplon, ‘weapon’, the name given to the regular fully armed soldiers, as opposed to those with
less substantial equipment, in a Greek city. Since hoplites had to buy their own weapons and armour, and this
was beyond the capacities of most of the population, the hoplites represented a social class, only outranked by
those who could afford to maintain horses, in addition to having a purely military function. The full outfit (or
panoply) of a hoplite consisted of a helmet, breastplate and backplate, and greaves, with a sword and spear.
Hybrid. In art, a creature which is represented with the features of more than one kind of being, such as a
centaur or a chimaera, or an object which combines parts in an incorrect way, such as a coin with
inappropriately matches obverse and reverse types.
Hydra. A monster with nine snake-like heads, one of them immortal, which was conquered by Hercules as
his second Labour.
Hydria. ‘Water jar’ (cf. words in English that begin tith ‘hydro-), a jar with broad shoulders and a narrow
foot and mouth, equipped with two horizontal handles on opposite sides, and a vertical handle between them
on one side. It was traditionally used for carrying water. The name ‘calpis’ is sometimes also given to this
shape of vase.
Hypocaust. ‘Under-burner’, an arrangement for heating a room built with a concrete or tiled floor. At one
side of the building a furnace was placed, with the smoke and heat from it directed under the floor and up
through the walls, to be vented in the air above. This was normal in the hot rooms of public baths, unless they
got their heat from the burning of wood or charcoal in braziers. In Roman times hypocausts also began to be
used in the bathrooms or living areas of the more luxurious private houses, particularly in the more inclement
parts of the Roman Empire.
Hypotrachelium. The top of the neck of a column in architecture, usually marked by the cessation of the
flutes and by an ornament of some kind.
I
Icon. From the Greek eikon, ‘likeness’, a word which came to be used in a specific as well as a general
sense, meaning an image or statue of a person. In Christian art this of course meant a sacred or divine
person. In the 8th and 9th centuries A.D. a great controversy erupted in the Byzantine world between the
so-called Iconoclasts (‘image smashers’) and the Iconodules or Iconophiles (‘image slaves’ or ‘image
lovers’), names given to those who held that it was wrong to represent sacred persons in art, because this
would lead to idol worship, and those who considered icons to be holy. The Iconodules were eventually
victorious, but at a cost, because during the period of the struggle the lay imperial administration increased
its power at the expense of the church, and the Cross (the religious symbol which the Iconoclasts were
prepared to accept without question) often replaced other artistic forms.
Iliupersis. The sack of Troy (Ilium), a theme which frequently provides subjects in Greek art.
Illyrian helmet. A helmet with protective sections hanging down beside the jaws, but no frontal bar to
protect the nose.
Imago clipeata, see Clipeus.
Imbrex. The Latin word for a cover-tile (Greek kalypter), a tile of semi-circular profile covering the gap
between neighbouring tiles in a roof.
Impluvium. A square basin in the atrium of a Roman house, designed to catch water from an opening in
the roof, the compluvium. From the impluvium the water would be led off to an underground cistern, and
this was a major source of water supply for houses which were fortunate enough to have this facility.
Impost. A block at the top of a column or built into a wall which supports an arch or vault above.
In antis, see Anta.
Incision. This technique is found in many different kinds of artistic work. The term is used particularly to
refer to a technique which was developed by Corinthian vase painters, was taken up in Athens, and
became regular in Attic black figure vase painting, although it dies out in red figure. The artist uses a
sharp point to create lines in a dark figure which produce anatomical or decorative details in the lighter
colour of the clay of the vase. Incision was also used to produce preliminary outlines of figures. In red
figure it was sometimes retained for the latter reason, or to distinguish two black areas from each other,
but the red figure technique had a superior ability to show internal details of figures with lines of varying
strengths, from the heavy ‘relief line’ to the lighter lines produced with a thin slip in a brown colour.
Incrustation. The covering of a surface with another layer; the word is sometimes used of the practice of
covering masonry walls with slabs of decorative stone, or of the so-called First Style of wall painting at
Pompeii, in which, following Greek models, the wall was painted so that it appeared to be veneered with
slabs of marble or other stones.
Incuse. ‘Struck in’, a term used to describe certain Greek coins on which the types on one or both sides
(see Type) are impressed into the coin rather than standing out in relief.
Inhumation. The burying of a body in the ground, rather than cremating it before burial. In both the
Greek and Roman worlds both methods were used in different places at different times, until under the
influence of Christian doctrine inhumation became the regular practice.
Insula. ‘Island’, used either of an area in a town surrounded by streets and containing several buildings, or
of a multi-storied building in a Roman city containing a large number of dwelling units.
Intaglio. ‘Cut in’, a word used to describe decorative patterns or shapes engraved into an object, rather
than standing out in relief.
Intercolumniation. The space between columns in a building. In ancient buildings these spaces were not
always the same, because architects who were seeking to achieve architectural refinements sometimes
shortened an intercolumniation, or two intercolumniations, at the corners of a building. This was probably
done because it compensated for the tendency of the human eye to suggest to itself that these columns
were slightly remote from the rest.
 We have from Vitruvius several terms which he claims that Greek architects used to describe the
degree to which columns were separated from their neighbours. In a pycnostyle building (see -style), the
intercolumniation is one and an half times the lower diameter of a column, in a systyle building two times,
in a diastyle building three times. Any building with wider intercolumniations than this was called
araeostyle. Finally, there was the eustyle building, which had intercolumniations of two and a quarter
lower column diameters, but provided an enlarged central intercolumniation of three column diameters, to
make it easier for processions to enter a building. Arrangements of this kind are not unknown, but the
existing remains of buildings show that the practice of Greek architects was not as arbitrary as the ‘rules’
which he preserves would suggest.
Ionic. An order of architecture which takes its name from Ionia, the area settled by Greeks in the middle
of the western coast of Asia Minor. As might be expected, it was the most popular architectural style there
for a long period, although Doric was also used, particularly for secular buildings; the choice of the latter
may sometimes have been dictated by its slightly lesser cost. Ionic is a more ornate order than Doric,
distinguished by a moulded foot to each column and capitals with volutes. The capitals have been
compared to the horns of a ram, but the origin of the form is more likely to be in the traditional ‘tree of
life’ of eastern architecture. The Ionic order also has twenty-four flutes with flat arrises as opposed to the
sixteen of canonical Doric, and an architrave arranged in three steps in a way which suggests a prototype
in timber planking. Many Ionic buildings also have a row of dentils below the cornice. The frieze is
sometimes flat, or may be decorated with sculpture.
Some Doric buildings of the 5th century B.C. incorporate a small number of Ionic elements. It is
possible that this is simply because architects wanted to create a greater variety of forms. It is also
possible that some architects were thinking in terms of merging the orders, rather than maintaining them
as entirely separate styles of building.
Ithyphallic. ‘With straight (i.e. erect) phallus’, of a human or animal figure with the male sexual organ in
erection. When works of art show ithyphallic figures, the intention is sometimes pornographic. On the
other hand, the phallus may be regarded as a fertility symbol; for example, a model of an erect phallus was
carried in public processions in honour of Dionysus in the Greek world.

J
Janiform. Having two heads facing in opposite directions, like the Roman god JanusThis may be only the
result of a desire for symmetry, as when one finds joined herms bearing portrait heads of pairs of famous
persons. Coins of the island of Tenedos also show a pair of janiform heads, one male and the other female;
this is probably to be explained as a reference to some local cult of a pair of deities, of whom we have no
further knowledge.
Janus. The Roman god who supervised the beginnings and endings of great enterprises, such as the
beginning of the year (which is why the first month is named after him). The name is probably derived
from ianua, ‘entrance’. He was represented in art as a male figure with two bearded heads joined back to
back. At Rome a walled building with gateways at each end stood in the Forum. Because it had two
gateways it was called ianus or ianus geminus, (‘the twin Janus’). It was never called ‘the temple of Janus’
as some have written incorrectly, because it was not a temple. When the Romans went to war, the gates
were opened, and when the war had been concluded the gates were shut.
Jugate. ‘Joined’, a term used of heads (or other objects) placed side by side.
K

Note: many words appear in this glossary with a Latinised spelling. They will
therefore be found under C rather than K
Kalos name. Some Athenian vases of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. have the word kalos (‘handsome’) or
much less frequently its feminine form kale (‘beautiful’) written on them, usually in association with a
name. The same kind of inscription or graffito is also sometimes found on other objects, even coins. It
seems clear that the intention of the message was to express admiration for the person concerned. The
survival of these inscriptions in quite large numbers is perhaps evidence for the general acceptability of at
least a certain degree of male homosexuality at Athens. Kalos names may also be of archaeological
importance in cases where it may be possible to identify the person admired. If he is a historical character,
and if it can be assumed that he would have been most admired when he was in his teens, it may be
possible to date the vase or other object on which the inscription is found to within a few years.
Kernos or kerchnos. A dish or base to which cup-shaped receptacles are fixed, perhaps to receive
offerings. It is particularly associated with the cult of Demeter.
Kidaris, see Tiara.
Kithara, see Lyre.
Kore. ‘Girl, maiden’ (plural korai ), a word in general use in ancient Greek. It was also a title of
Persephone the daughter of the goddess Demeter. Modern writers use it like its masculine equivalent
kouros to describe a type of statue which was made, principally at Athens, during the archaic period. The
kore type of statue shows a draped female figure, usually with hands held at the side of the body, standing
stiffly with one leg slightly advanced. The korai provide an interesting body of material for the study of
the treatment of drapery in archaic Greek sculpture.
Kouros. ‘Lad, young man’ (plural kouroi ), the masculine equivalent of kore. Modern writers use it to
describe a type of statue which was made in Greece during the archaic period, perhaps copying Egyptian
models. The kouros figure represents a nude young man standing with one leg slightly to the fore, usually
with both hands held by the sides. Some are life size or a little larger, others are smaller, and the range
goes down to small statuettes. Some kouroi may have been intended to represent the god Apollo, others
may have been intended as funerary monuments representing a dead man. Their general resemblance to
one another allows detailed comparisons of stylistic features to be made, and it seems clear that over the
century and a half that figures of this kind were made, there was a steady evolution of the treatment of
anatomical forms by Greek sculptors.
Kriophoros. ‘Ram bearer’, a title sometimes applied to Hermes, and used to describe statues which show
him or some other figure bearing a ram upon his shoulders. The Greek Kriophoros type reappears in early
Christian art when it is used to represent Christ as the Good Shepherd.
Kritios Boy. A late kouros statue found on the Acropolis of Athens in the 19th century. It is unfortunate
that the circumstances of its discovery are not fully documented, because if we knew whether it was
associated with debris of the Persian sack of 480 B.C., we would be able to date it a little before 480 B.C.
This would be very helpful in dating the later stages of the kouros series of statues. As it is, we can only
say that we believe that it was made in the 480s or the 470s B.C. Its modern name was given to it because
it was supposed that it possessed some features in common with the statue group of Harmodius and
Aristogeiton the Tyrannicides, made by Kritios and Nesiotes in 479 B.C. and known to use from copies of
the Roman period.
Kyrbasia, see Tiara.
L
Labarum. A word of unknown meaning, used to describe a banner ornamented with the Christogram, the
latter being the sign under which Constantine the Great fought when he defeated his rival Maxentius in A.D.
312. The labarum appears first on a coin of A.D. 327, and takes the form of a vexillum or banner on top of
which a Christogram is set. Later versions show the Christogram on the vexillum instead of on top of it.
Labyrinth. A word which first gained currency with reference to Minos the legendary king of Crete. It may
be derived from labrys, a double axe. Finds at the palace at Cnossus and at other Cretan sites show that the
double axe was in fact prominent as a decorative device, and this may have given rise to the story (see also
Daedalus).
Laconian. The word used to describe the artistic production of Sparta, which in the archaic period was often
the home of artists who showed a considerable degree of individuality (distinguish from ‘laconic’, which in
English is used to describe speech which, like the speech of the ancient Spartans, uses few words..
Laconicum. The word used by both Greeks and Romans for a room in public baths where bathers sweated in
dry heat. It was so called because it was the only kind of warm bathing that the Spartans, who were renowned
for their strength and fortitude, allowed (or so, at any rate, was the traditional tale).
Lacunar. A ceiling coffer.
Lararium. In Roman mythology a Lar (more usually found in the plural form Lares) was originally a spirit
which protected farm land. But the Lares were also worshipped in houses, and so in the course of time they,
like the Penates, became the deities to which a Roman household looked for protection. The shrine which was
dedicated to them in a Roman house consisted of a small bench, perhaps with a picture or statue of a Lar or
Lares, on which offerings might be placed to them. Sometimes a house might have more than one lararium.
This is probably a sign that it was created by joining together more than one house
Larnax. In ancient Greek this word has the general meaning of chest or coffer, but in modern writing it is
used specifically to refer to a container for the ashes or the body of a dead person. By convention it is usually
employed with reference to coffins or cinerary vessels of the archaic period or earlier in Greece, while the
word ‘sarcophagus’ is more often used to refer to later coffins, particularly those in stone and with carved or
modelled decoration, of the kind found in the Etruscan and Roman worlds.
Late Antique. The term most commonly used (in preference to Late Roman or Late Classical) to describe the
artistic conventions which developed in the later Roman Empire, and form a bridge between the realistic and
classicising styles of earlier times and Mediaeval and Byzantine art. Proportions are no longer classical, forms
are less modelled, figures are more often represented frontally and the established conventions governing the
representation of drapery are disregarded. Some of these features may be observed in the art of the Roman
Republic and early Empire, but they do not begin to develop fully until the later part of the 3rd century A.D.
Laureate. Of a figure or object wearing or decorated with a laurel wreath. The laurel is associated with Apollo
and was also a symbol of victory to the Romans, since the fasces of a victoorious general were decorated with
laurel by his soldiers. For this reason Roman emperors were frequently represented in works of art as wearing
a laurel wreath.
Leaf and dart. A decorative pattern which appears regularly, either painted or carved, in the Ionic order of
Greek architecture or to frame Greek vase paintings (see Cyma).
Lebes. A rounded bowl, lacking handles in most versions, which might be made in clay or in metaal, and was
normally associated with a tripod. The combination of lebes and tripod is often called a tripod-lebes. One
unusually ornate type is associated with weddings, and is therefore called a wedding lebes, or lebes gamikos.
Legend. Literally ‘what is to be read’, the writing or inscription which appears on a coin or other object.
Lekane and Lekanis. Names given by modern writers to several shapes of shallow bowl which usually were
fitted with lids.
Lekythos. A container, traditionally used to hold oil which was employed for cosmetic rather than for other
purposes. It was tall and slim, usually with a foot rather than a cylindrical base, and had a single handle at the
side of its narrow neck. Because of its shape it was popular with artists. A lekythos was a traditional tomb
offering at Athens and occasionally at other Greek sites in the archaic and classical periods, and this is why
many decorated ones survive. The funerary lekythos is particularly associated with the white ground
technique, which because of its fugitive nature was more suited to grave furniture than to objects of daily use.
Lesche. ‘Relaxation, idleness’, a word which was also used as the name of a building at Delphi built by the
citizens of Cnidus. This was a large room in which it was possible to sit and converse, and the Lesche of the
Cnidians was decorated with wall paintings by the famous 5th century painter Polygnotus.
Liberalitas. ‘Liberality’, a theme which is often the subject of propaganda in the art of the Roman Empire.
Many works of art survive which advertise the liberality of an emperor. They show the emperor distributing
money or its equivalent to the people or to the army (see Congiarium, Donative).
Libertas. The personification of liberty, represented in Roman art as a female figure, who sometimes wears a
pileus as a symbol of freedom, or carries a vindicta.
Lictor. A Roman official who accompanied certain higher magistrates when they appeared in public on
formal occasions. His title was probably derived from ligo, ‘bind’, and referred to the bundle of twigs bound
together which the lictors carried (see Fasces).
Lip cup. The name given to a kind of kylix made at Athens and decorated in the black figure technique in the
middle of the 6th century B.C. (see Little Master cups). It takes its name from the fact that the band on which
the decoration is placed is on the lip of the cup.
Lipari ware. A kind of pottery with rather gaudy polychrome decoration which was produced on the island of
Lipari off the coast of Sicily, and some other centres, in the late 4th century B.C. It is a predecessor of
Centuripae ware.
Lithostroton. ‘stone-strewn’, a Greek word which is occasionally used in ancient texts to describe a mosaic
floor.
Little Master cups. A name given to a number of different kinds of black figure kylix (lip cups, band cups
and Droop cups) made at Athens in the middle of the 6th century B.C. and decorated by a number of artists
(some of whom are known to us also from larger works) in a miniaturist style.
Lost wax, see Cire perdue.
Lotus. A stylised version of the lotus bud became a regular decorative element in Greek vase painting during
the Orientalising period. It was then regularly used in sculpture and architecture as a decorative element,
usually alternating with palmettes (see also Cymatium).
Loutrophoros. ‘Water carrier’, the name used by modern writers to describe a rare and ornamental form of
Greek vase with a slim body and a long handle on each side.
Love name, see Kalos name.
Ludovisi collection. In the earlier part of the 17th century, Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, a nephew of Pope
Gregory XV, formed a collection of ancient sculpture which is now mainly in the National Archaeological
Museum (Museo delle Terme) at Rome. Three of the best known works which it contained are the so-called
‘Ludovisi Throne’, a three-sided arrangement of panels decorated with relief sculpture, of uncertain purpose, a
group of a Gaul slaying himself and his wife (copy of part of a victory group from Pergamum) and the
Ludovisi sarcophagus (3rd century A.D.).
Lyre. This is a generic term for several string instruments. The lyre in the strictest sense has a rounded sound
box which was originally, according to tradition, the shell of a tortoise, and thin arms. These characteristics
distinguish the lyra from the cithara/kithara, which has a wooden sound box, usually straight at the bottom,
and thick arms on each side of the strings, prolonging ythe sound box upwards. The latter is often described as
a lyre, and this is not totally incorrect since ‘lyre’ is, as has already been said, a generic term; but more
precision is desirable in technical writing. The less common word phorminx is also imprecise in its meaning,
but seems to have described the cithara rather than the lyre, while chelys and barbiton are more likely to refer
to a lyre. The latter word is sometimes used by modern writers to describe a lyre with extremely long arms.
M
Macellum. The Roman word for a meat market.
Machina, see Mechane.
Macmillan aryballos. Named after its former owner, this Protocorinthian aryballos which is displayed in
the British Museum, is an excellent and well known example of the best work which this refined and
delicate style can offer. It shows a battle with hoplites.
Maenad. ‘Mad woman’, a female follower of Dionysus or Bacchus (also known as a Bacchant or -ante),
who accompanied him in his journeys and celebrated his rites in a state of ecstatic frenzy (cf. Satyr).
Maenianum. The Latin word for a balcony projecting from a building. It was said to have been derived
from the name of a certain Maenius, who at an uncertain date had a balcony built looking out from the
Basilica Aemilia on to the Forum. It was later also used for another kind of viewing place, being applied
to a tier of seats in an amphitheatre (maenianum primum for the first level, maenianum secundum for the
second, etc.).
Maeander (also meander). A decorative pattern (also sometimes known as a Greek key pattern) which is
first found in Greek art in the geometric period. It takes its name from the river Maeander in Asia Minor,
which follows a winding course through flat terrain. Ancient writers used the word to describe a
decorative pattern of some kind, and since the pattern to which we give the name ‘meander’ is so well
established in Greek art of all periods, it seems likely that this is indeed the one to which they are
referring.
Marble. A fine-grained stone used in building, for sculpture and for the carving of inscriptions. Some
marbles are plain, others are coloured with variegated patterns. The kind which was most prized for
sculpture came from quarries on the island of Paros. This Parian marble was also know as lychnites, from
lychnos, ‘lamp’, a term which one ancient author tells us comes from its being quarried by the light of
lamps, but more probably was inspired by its luminous appearance or its translucent quality when cut in
thin sheets. A famous source of marble for the major buildins of the 5th century and later at Athens was
Mount Pentelicus, Pentelic marble being distinguished by a creamy tone resulting from a slight iron
content in the stone. Another notable source was the island of Proconnesus, now called Marmara (i.e. the
marble place) in the sea of Marmara between Europe and Asia. Many other sources of marble were
exploited by the Greeks, and to an even greater extent by the Romans, whose major buildings were often
decorated with a splendid array of coloured marbles.
Mask. In Greek and Roman art, masks are found in two principal contexts. The first is that of actors’
masks, since in the Greek and Roman theatre performers wore masks. The origin of this practice lies in
religious rituals in which someone takes on the quality of another person or being. In the end, a large
number of stock types of mask evolved – slave, hapless maiden, retired courtesan, grandfather etc. The
masks themselves do not survive, because they were made of perishable materials. They are, however,
represented in many works of art, and models of them were used for decorative purposes.
Funerary masks were not used by the Greeks or Romans (the gold masks found at Mycenae and in
northern Greece are an exception, suggesting the importation of a foreign practice). Among the Romans,
however, it was the practice in some families in the later Republic to take impressions from the faces of
dead persons, and to use them not only for commemorative purposes but in something which went some
way towards ancestor worship. This must have been at least partly responsible for the great interest shown
by the Romans in realistic, as opposed to idealising, portraiture.
Mausoleum. The name given to the tomb built in the 4th century B.C. for King Mausolus of Caria by his
widow Artemisia. Fragments of the building and its sculpture survive (most of them displayed in the
British Museum), and since the elder Pliny preserves some information about the dimensions of the
building, an approximate reconstruction of its arrangements is possible. In modern English the word is
used for a major tomb, or jocularly for a large and lifeless building.
Meander, see Maeander.
Mechane. We are told that in the ancient Greek theatre actors representing gods were able to ascend or
descend to or from the heavens by means of a ‘machine’ or mechane, which must have been either a crane
or a hoist. Since in some Greek tragedies the otherwise insoluble problems of mortals are solved at the end
of the play by a divine figure who announces the future course of events, the Latin expression deus ex
machina, ‘a god from the machine’, has come to be used to describe a god (or a person acting in a similar
way) who takes charge of events and resolves them in some way.
Medallion. In numismatics, the word has come to be used of a coin-like object which seems to have been
issued to mark some special occasion, and can be distinguished from a coin because of its larger size, the
extra care with which it has been prepared, the unusual type and legend which it bears, or the fact that its
weight does not allow it to be classified as being of a denomination which would allow it to circulate as a
coin. We reserve the word ‘medal’ for something issued to an individual to commemorate service of some
kind. The Greeks did not produce medallions (although some of their more splendid coins may be
described as being medallic in character), and neither the Greek nor the Romans issued medals to
individuals as happens in the modern world, although some Roman medallions were certainly designed as
presentation pieces.
We also use the word medallion to describe a decorative object, or a piece of unusually fine decorative
work of circular form, which is set into some other work of sculpture, architecture or mosaic (cf. Roundel,
Tondo).
Megarian bowls. A Greek predecessor of the Italian terra sigillata , made during the Hellenistic period.
In spite of the name which is conventionally given to them, they were made in many Greek cities, not only
at Megara. It is very likely that the moulds from which they were made were exported from one place to
another. They are more or less hemispherical in form, about 140-150 mm in diameter, and have relief
decoration on the outside. Some of the more complex figure scenes seem to show consecutive scenes from
literature, and this has been claimed as a forerunner of the ‘continuous style which is found in some
Roman art.
Megaron. When this word first appears in Homer, it seems to have no very specific sense other than that
of a large room or hall. Modern writers have, however, chosen to use it to describe an architectural
arrangement which occurs regularly in Mycenaean palaces, of a large public room, approached by way of
an ante-room with a colonnaded entrance, usually with another room at the rear of it. This plan seems to
have survived in the interior arrangements of later Greek temples. The word is also used to describe
private houses, which in the earliest times in Greek often had a similar plan, and are therefore said to be
‘of megaron type’.
Meniscus. ‘Little moon’, a term used to describe any crescent-shaped object, particularly the crescent
which appears in art as the atribute of a lunar deity, or a crescent (without any lunar significance) which
was sometimes attached to the heads of statues in the hope that it would deter birds from perching there.
Metope. The panel, square or approximately so, which appears between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze.
Some have thought that the metopes in a building represent the ends of beams in timber architecture. This
is unlikely, because it seems more probable that this is the origin of the triglyphs. Metopes might be left
plain, or might be decorated with paintings or sculpture in relief.
Minoan. The modern name for the civilisation which dominated Crete from approximately 3,000-1000
B.C. It takes its name from the legendary King Minos who was said to have ruled at Cnossus, with its
labyrinth in which the hybrid Minotaur, half man and half bull, dwelt until it was slain by Theseus of
Athens.
Mirmillo, see Gladiator.
Mithraeum. A building devoted to the cult of the Indo-Iranian god Mithra or Mithras, which was popular
with Roman soldiers, and therefore spread widely throughout the Roman world. A Mithraeum consisted of
a long hall with seating on each side and a space for an altar. It might also contain a pit in which initiates
were sprinkled with the blood of a bull. Mithraea were built in caves or underground to ensure the secrecy
of the rites which were practiced there. A Mithraeum might also contain works of art showing Mithra; the
most common one represents him in the act of slaying the bull which represents the powers of darkness,
while a dog and a snake drink its blood; other scenes show his birth from a rock, and his association with
the sun (Mithra is also a god of light).
Mitra, see Tiara.
Modelling line. A term used by some modern writers to describe a line or fold of drapery which is
represented in such a way in a piece of sculpture or a painting that it suggests or emphasises the shape of a
limb or an object beneath it. Greek sculptors and painters began to develop this feature of style in the 5th
century B.C., and it continued to be part of the repertoire of artists until the arrival of Late Antique
conventions of art.
Modillion. A small bracket supporting the projection of a cornice. A mutule is a kind of modillion.
Module. A unit of measurement which is used in planning the arrangements and proportions of a building
or of a work of art. The word is first used in this sense by Vitruvius.
Monolithic. Made from a single stone (the modern use of the word as a synonym for ‘large’ should be
avoided). Since it is easier to find and transport small pieces of stone than large ones, the use of large
monolithic elements in architecture is often worthy of comment.
Monopteral. Vitruvius uses this word to describe a circular building with a colonnade around it (cf.
Peristyle, Pteron) and no cella.
Morellian analysis. Giuseppe Morelli was a connoisseur of European Old Master paintings who in the
19th century caused distress to some owners of what were considered to be major paintings by showing
that it was unlikely that they were in fact painted by the great artists whose names had been attached to
them. His method of investigation was based on a very close study of what might be considered minor and
trivial details, and is akin to that of a graphologist. Morelli’s approach is now accepted as correct, and it is
agreed that it is often in these details, when he is working unconsciously rather than consciously, that an
artist’s ‘signature’ can be most clearly recognised. Morelli’s method has been adopted with great success
in other areas, most notably in the task of assigning the thousands of surviving black figure and red figure
vases to individual artists (cf. Painter‘s signature).
Mosaic. The word is derived, after some changes, from the late Latin musivus meaning ‘connected with
the muses’, i.e. artistic. It was sometimes applied to ‘artistic’ as opposed to plain floors, and so came to be
used in the special sense of a floor (or a wall or panel of some kind) decorated with stones arranged in an
artistic pattern. The earliest mosaics, from c. 400 B.C., were made with pebbles (pebble mosaics) of the
same colour, and then with simple arrangements of stones of different colours. The practice then began of
cutting stones into rough cubes, which gradually began to be produced in more and more regular sizes.
Black and white mosaics are the norm at first, then stones of a greater variety of colour were employed,
and in the later Roman Empire when wall as well as floor mosaics became increasingly more common,
glass tesserae, as they were called, became more common.
Once mosaic decoration had become established, it was used to reproduce figure scenes as well as
geometric and vegetable patterns. The mosaics which survive, principally from Roman rather than Greek
times, are an important form of evidence helping to reconstruct the appearance of lost wall and easel
paintings. It is assumed, because mosaics often repeat motifs found elsewhere, that artists used pattern
books which contained reproductions not only of standard decorative patterns, but also of major works of
art from which the patron could make a selection.
Moschophoros. ‘Calf bearer’, a name which has been given to an archaic statue found on the Acropolis of
Athens which shows a bearded man carrying a calf on his shoulders. If the animal were a ram, we might
identify the figure as a representation of Hermes Kriophoros, but we do not know of any Greek god who is
represented as a calf bearer. The statue is therefore probably intended to represent a worshipper who is
bringing a calf to be sacrificed.
Motion line. A line used with a double curve which is used in the representation of drapery to suggest
movement. It is first found in archaic Greek sculpture and painting, and continued to be used even after
the arrival of Late Antique conventions in Roman art. It is used by cartoonists today in the same way.
Moulding. A general term used to describe a variety of different profile shapes used to enhance minor
elements of architecture such as cornices, column capitals and bases, and transitions between one part of a
building and another. The most common are the astragalos, the cyma recta and reversa, the hawksbeak,
the ovolo and the cavetto. Each moulding is traditionally associated with its own kind of painted or carved
decoration.
Multiple brush. The concentric circles and half circles which decorate Protogeometric and geometric
vases may in some cases have been drawn with an arrangement of multiple brushes, attached to a central
leg; occasionally the mark of this central leg may be seen on a vase.
Museum/Mouseion. Originally a place connected with the Muses or the arts which they inspired. The
name was given to many places in the ancient world, the most famous one being the Mouseion at
Alexandria, founded c. 300 B.C. by the first of the Ptolemies.
Musivum, see Mosaic, Opus.
Mutule. A thin flat rectangular slab projecting under the cornice in the Doric order. It has the same angle
as the roof, and therefore probably represents a petrification in stone of a constructional feature in timber
building. It is decorated with three rows of six guttae on its underside, a feature which suggests rows of
dowels in timber building.
Mycenaean. A name given by modern writers to the civilisation of mainland Greece c. 1600-1100 B.C. It
presupposes the supremacy of Mycenae, which is certainly the most impressive site yet excavated.
Professional archaeologists often prefer the term Late Helladic. The Mycenaean civilisation was strongly
influenced by the Minoan civilisation of Crete; it is not yet clear what the political relationship between
the two may have been, although it is likely that the Mycenaeans invaded Crete after the middle of the
second millennium B.C.
It has sometimes been thought that the upheavals for which there is some evidence at the end of the
Mycenaean period may have caused a break in culture, and for this reason Protogeometric art has been
treated as if it were the beginning of Greek art. It is still convenient to do so, but in fact a great deal of
evidence has been accumulated to show that there was a considerable degree of continuity in Greek art
and other aspects of life at the end of the second millenium B.C.
N
Naiad, see Nymph.
Narthex. A large variety of the fennel plant with a long straight stalk which was carried in Dionysiac
processions. It was later developed into the Dionysiac thyrsus. It was also used for scourging Christian
penitents, so in Christian architecture the word came to be used as the name of a lobbyor railed-off area at
the west end of a church, not considered part of the church itself, and therefore sometimes reserved for
persons who were not thought suitable to be allowed into the church itself, and used for baptisms.
Naumachia. ‘Sea battle’. This name was given to a naval battle presented as a public spectacle for
entertainment by the Romans, either on an existing stretch of water or on an artificial lake constructed for
this purpose. Amphitheatres could be flooded (it is known that this happened in the Colosseum and in the
amphitheatre at Nïmes in Gaul), and the naumachia provided a splendid variation on the normal
gladiatorial combats. when emperors were willing to spend the extra sums required to entertain the
populace in this way. Augustus excavated a site at Rome for a naumachia approximately 50m by 350 m,
with an island in the centre, fed by its own aqueduct.
Naval crown, see Corona.
Necking. The top of a column just below the capital, when it is differentiated from the shaft by the
cessation of fluting or by horizontal grooves (necking rings) or by a convex moulding. It may be decorated
with ornaments, carved or painted.
Necropolis. City of the dead’, a word sometimes used for a cemetery.
Neo-Attic. This term is used by modern writers as a label to describe a class of sculpture produced in
large quantities between the later 2nd century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D. Some of it may have been
produced in Athens, but there will have been many workshops, some of them even in Italy, since the
principal aim of its producers was to satisfy the taste of Roman patrons. Neo-Attic work is first and
foremost decorative, usually in the style of the Hellenistic period (but cf. Archaising, Classicising).
Mythological or religious subjects are favoured, but not because the works of art were intended to be
placed in a religious setting or to form part of the furniture of a cult. The most popular subjects are
Dionysiac.
Nereid, see Nymph.
Nike. ‘Victory’, the Greek personification of Victory (cf. Victoria). In Greek art Nike is winged, wears a
long robe, and sometimes bears a wreath which she offers to the victor. Two well known representations
of Nike in Greek art are the Nike made by Paeonius which was set up at Olympia, probably to
commemorate a victory which was won in 424 B.C., and the Nike of Samothrace, a work of the
Hellenistic period which cannot be closely dated, but probably belongs to the 2nd century B.C. In each
case the figures are notable for the exceptionally fine treatment of the drapery that they display.
Nikosthenic, see Amphora.
Nimbus. ‘Cloud’, a circle (sometimes called a halo or a glory) encircling the head of a figure. It was
intended to suggest an aura of power. The sun god (Sol) is sometimes represented in Roman art with a
nimbus instead of a radiate crown. Roman emperors from Antoninus Pius (2nd century A.D.) to Phocas
and angels.
Nymph and Nymphaeum. In Greek and Roman mythology nymphs were junior divinities, often born of
the union between a god and a mortal. They were usually associated with one aspect or another of nature:
Dryads were tree nymphs, Naiads were fresh water nymphs and Nereids were sea nymphs. In the Roman
period many fanciful architectural works were built as nymphaea, or shrines to the nymphs. They follow
no standard pattern, but frequently incorporated fountains. They had no serious religious purpose, and
simply combined architectural extravagance with the provision of water on a modest scale.
O
Obelisk. ‘Little spit’, a diminutive form of the Greek obelos (cf. Obol). The word has been used since
Roman times to describe the kind of tall tapering granite shaft with a pyramidal tip which was erected in
honour of the Sun God at a number of temple sites in Egypt. Many were brought to Rome at different
times between the 1st century B.C. and the time of Constantine the great, and Theodosius I had one
brought to Constantinople. Some were set up on the spina or euripus of the Circus Maximus at Rome, and
others at various other sites around the city.
Obol. A variant form (obolos) of obelos, which came to be used as the name of a Greek coin, one-sixth of
a drachma.
Octastyle. With eight columns at the front (see -style).
Odeum/Odeion. ‘Singing place’ (cf. Theatre). A roofed building used for musical competitions and other
kinds of public assembly. The earliest Odeum of which we have knowledge was the Odeum of Pericles at
Athens, a square building with a pyramidal roof supported on a large number of columns. The nearby
Odeum of Herodes Atticus, built six centuries later, has a quite different plan, following the pattern of a
Roman theatre with steeply raked seating and a high stage background. Another Odeum was built in the
Agora of Athens by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. This was remarkable for its
uninterrupted roof span of 27 metres; it is not surprising that when the building collapsed late in the 2nd
century A.D. it was rebuilt on a smaller scale.
Oecumene/Oikoumene. ‘Inhabited (world)’, a personification occasionally found in Greek and Roman
art. She is represented as a draped female figure, and may be identified because she is so described in an
inscription on a relief in the British Museum representing the apotheosis of Homer.
Oecus. The Latin spelling of the Greek oikos, which has a number of meanings, house, temple, household
or room. Vitruvius uses it in the last sense, to signify an important room in a private house which has no
obvious purpose, and cannot be identified as, for example, a cubiculum or a triclinium
Oenochoe. ‘Wine pourer’, the name used by modern writers to describe a number of different types of
Greek vase. The features which most of them have in common are that they are of small to medium size,
and have a single handle, a body which is widest at a point slightly above the middle, and at least one
pouring lip (cf. Olpe).
Officina. A workshop; in particular, the word is used by numismatists to describe a separate workshop
operating within a mint, producing coins which can be distinguished in some way from other products of
the same mint.
Olpe. A name given by modern writers to various kinds of jug, which have a body which is widest at a
point below the middle. Some have a handle which is higher than the top of the jug.
Olympia. The sanctuary of Olympian Zeus (the Zeus of Mount Olympus), located in an area of Elis in the
western Peloponnese. A major festival was held there every four years, of which athletic contests and
chariot racing formed a major part. The first official ‘Olympiad’ for dating purposes began in 776 B.C.,
although archaeological evidence shows that the site was a major venue earlier than this. The games
continued to be held until they were discontinued by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in A.D. 393.
The site has been the subject of extensive excavations since 1881. The stadium has been uncovered
(most of the hippodrome was washed away after a change in course of the river Alpheius), together with
the gymnasium and palaestra, and a great range of monuments in the walled enclosure known as the Altis
(‘grove’). The most important of these are the great temple of Zeus, which contained the famous statue of
Zeus by Pheidias and was decorated with a striking array of metopes at the front and rear, and with two
pediments showing the battle of the Lapiths and the centaurs and the start of the chariot race between
Pelops and Oenomaus, the temple of Hera, an important early landmark in the history of Greek
architecture, originally built with wooden columns, in which the statue of Hermes and the infant Dionysus
attributed to Praxiteles was discovered, the Philippeum, a circular building erected in honour of Philip II
of Macedon and eleven Treasuries built by different Greek states.
Omphalus/omphalos. ‘Navel’, the name given to various navel-shaped objects which were associated
with various cults. The most famous was the omphalus or navel-stone of Delphi, which was supposed to
mark the centre of the world. The original one has not been found (although a Roman copy exists), but it
is represented in ancient works of art as a tall stone with a rounded top, decorated with fillets, and Apollo
when he is represented as the god of prophecy is sometimes shown seated upon it.
Onkos. ‘Bulk, mass’, a name given to the upward projection of the top of a tragic actor’s mask, in the
form in which it was developed after the classical period.
Opaion. ‘Lantern’, the name given in Greek architecture to a tile which had been pierced to allow the
entry of a certain amount of light; also to a partial clerestory arrangement, in which a section of a roof was
raised with a gap left at the sides to provide lighting.
Opisthodomus/opistodomos. ‘Back room’, a word generally applied to a false porch at the rear of a
building, offering no access to other rooms, although some have used it in the same sense as ‘adytum’.
Optical correction, see Refinement.
Opus. ‘Work’, a word which appears in a number of expressions used by modern writers to describe
various kinds of Roman building or decorative work. Some are found in ancient texts, and others have
been developed as a modern jargon, usually useful.The most common are opus reticulatum and opus
incertum, which describe the kind of ‘net-like’ arrangement of facing stones used in the building of
concrete walls in central Italy in the late 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., and its ‘uncertain’, less
regular predecessor. Some other terms may be defined as follows:
(Opus) Africanum: Walls built in stone with a framework of long stones arranged vertically and
horizontally, leaving rectangular gaps to be filled with smaller stones. albarium: a smooth white lime
plaster for walls and ceilings. Alexandrinum : a floor paved with slabs of red and green porphyry (said to
have been named after the Roman emperor Severus Alexander, although it is more likely that Alexandria,
a major source of all kinds of decorative work, was the place of its origin). caementicium : an expression
used rather imprecisely to denote concrete walling of all kinds (the Latin caementa , ‘chippings’) is the
origin of our word ‘cement’, although the sense of it has changed). concretum : a modern expression, used
in the same sense as the foregoing. craticium : ‘wicker work’, which describes walls made of interwoven
flexible branches plastered over with clay or some kind of mortar (the old English ‘wattle and daub’).
latericium : from later , an oven-baked brick, used to describe concrete walls with brick facings. mixtum: a
combination of the foregoing with reticulate work in alternating bands. musivum: mosaic work (cf.
Tesellatum, Vermiculatum). quadratum: work in squared stone, or wall facings of squared stone. Sectile:
decorative panels with designs made from slices of coloured stones cut to the required shapes. signinum: a
lining for cisterns and water reservoirs consisting of a lime mortar containing quantities of pounded brick
or tile (named after the town of Signia, but found everywhere). spicatum: a wall or floor treatment
consisting of bricks laid in a herring-bone or ear-of-grain pattern. tesellatum: mosaic work (cf. Musivum,
Vermiculatum). testaceum: concrete walling faced with brickwork. vermiculatum: mosaic work with
especially small tesserae (either because the thin lines which were produced in this way looked like vermi,
worms, or because in some cases thin glass tesserae of rod-like form were used).
Orchestra. ‘Dancing place’, the circular area in which choral and dancing performances took place before
the development of drama as we know it. In the Greek theatre of the classical period the circular form of
the orchestra was retained in front of the stage as the latter developed, but in later times, because of the
reduced importance of the chorus, the orchestra was reduced to a D-shape.
Order. This word has been used by writers since Renaissance times to describe a formal arrangement of
the parts of a building between floor and cornice, and in Renaissance terminology five Orders of
Architecture were defined, the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite and Tuscan. The Doric and Ionic are
completely different, with different origins. The Corinthian and the Composite are not fully separate, but
differ from the Ionic in the form of their capitals. The Tuscan is a Renaissance development from the
Etruscan type of column, with a torus at the base.
Orichalcum. A variety of bronze, which after the addition of zinc develops a golden or brassy colour
when fresh. The original Greek word was oreichalkon, meaning ‘mountain bronze’, but in Latin this
usually became aurichalcum, meaning ‘gold-bronze’. It was used for a very few Greek coins, and then
adopted for the larger bronze coins issued at the end of the Republic and in the early Roman empire.
Orientalising. The name given to a stage in Greek art from c.700 B.C. onwards in which the artistic styles
and decorative motifs of the end of the Geometric period are clearly being influenced by the artistic
conventions of the Levant and Egypt. The Geometric conventions of artistic representation are relaxed,
and new vegetable and animal forms and subjects appear, such as the lotus, the palmette and the lion,
together with such hybrid creatures as the sphinx, griffin and centaur.
Orthostat. A large stone slab set at the base of a wall or on its outside face. The use of a row of orthostats
seems to be an anachronism in stone architecture, although it suits building in sun-dried brick where it
would have been important to keep the lowest row of bricks from contact with moisture in the soil.
Ossuary. A receptacle for the bones of the dead, whether in the sense of a whole room (a charnel house)
or a small container in which ashes and the remains of bones could be placed after cremation.
Ostrakon. A potsherd. The use of the word is usually restricted to sherds on which writing or drawing
appears. It was a common practice to use sherds for this purpose in the ancient world, because writing
materials were expensive. From this we have the term ‘ostracism’ as the name of a practice which was
used for a while at Athens and in some other Greek states. When competition between political leaders
seemed to be reaching dangerous levels, it was the custom to invite the citizens to vote, by writing names
on ostraka, in order to decide which of the competitors should be banished from the city for a limited
period. The person thus banished did not lose his property, and was not considered to have suffered
disgrace, but was simply prevented from being active in politics for a stated period. Deposits of ostraka
have been found at Athens bearing the names of persons known to history. Many ostraka also survive
from Egypt, where they were used for such purposes as tax receipts and keeping notes of all kinds.
Ovation, see Triumph.
Ovolo. An architectural moulding occupying a quarter of a circle, but with an egg-shaped profile,
normally decorated with an egg-and-dart-pattern.
Oxygenating fire. A fire which is stoked with dry fuel and allowed ample air, so that a good supply of
oxygen is maintained, as opposed to a reducing fire. In the production of Attic black and red figure
pottery, the oxygenating fire was used in the first and third stages of firing the vase. In the final stage,
those areas of the pot which had not sintered during the second or reducing phase turned back to red.
P
Padded dancers. The name given by modern writers to certain male figures represented on early
Corinthian and Attic vases. They are also sometimes called ‘fat men'. They wear a costume which is
designed to give them the appearance of having a fat belly and buttocks, and they are regularly shown
engaging in revels. It is likely that these scenes represent rituals connected with a fertility cult, and that
this may be one of the activities which preceded the emergence of the earliest forms of comic drama in
ancient Greece.
Painter’s signature. Most works of ancient Greek art were not signed by their makers (although some
works of sculpture were signed in the Roman period, these being usually copies which were signed by the
copyist with his own name, as an advertisement, rather than with the name of the original artist). No
surviving wall paintings are signed, and only a few mosaics have signatures. But many Attic black and
red figure vases bear a name accompanied by egraphe or egrapse, which mean ‘painted (me)’. Because of
this we are able to identify the artists who decorated some of these vases, although only a very small
proportion of surviving vases bear such signatures, and modern scholars have to think of a variety of other
ways of giving them names. It should be emphasised that not only were the artists signed vases with their
own names a very small proportion of the whole, but that those who did so signed only a few of the vases
which they painted. It is not clear why some vases were signed, and the majority not (see Morellian
analysis, Potter’s signature).
Palaestra/palaistra. ‘Wrestling ground', the name given to a place where wrestling and other sports
which did not demand a great deal of space were practised. This distinguishes the palaestra from the
gymnasium, which covered a larger area. The word does not imply the existence of any kind of major
building, but any Greek city which had any claim to self-respect would give its palaestra a monumental
form. It normally consisted of an open area of ground, square or rectangular, surrounded on all sides by a
colonnade which gave protection from sun and rain to those who were not engaged in athletic activities.
Prytaneum. A building in a Greek city in which the prytanies, a small group of administrative officials,
could conduct their business, take their meals and entertain official guests. At Athens a circular building,
or tholos, in the Agora was used for this purpose, and for this reason it has sometimes been said that the
tholos form was normal for a prytaneum. It seems, however, that this building was not the true Prytaneum
but an extra structure or ‘Prytanikon’ built in the centre of public business. The original Prytaneum is
mentioned by Pausanias but its location has not yet been established. It lay between the Acropolis and the
Roman Agora.
The basic architectural requirements of a Prytaneum are a room in which a hearth to Hestia the
goddess of the hearth is located, and a room large enough to hold a number of dining couches (standard
length 1.85m). Sometimes the latter kind of room can be identified from its measurements, or by the
presence of cuttings or projections in the stonework suitable for receiving dining couches.
Pseudo-. ‘False', a prefix used to describe arrangements of buildings which are not what they appear to be
from a distance. In architecture a pseudo-dipteral building is one may have two rows of columns at front
and rear, but is not completely dipteral. A pseudo-peripteral building is one which has a wall decorated
with engaged columns around a part of it, rather than a complete peristyle.
Psykter. ‘Cooler', a type of vase occasionally made at Athens. The most common shape has a globular
body with a thick cylindrical foot attached to it. It was designed to be floated in a krater, the foot acting as
a kind of keel. It may have been filled with ice or cold water to cool the wine and water that the krater
contained, or it may have been the psykter itself which held the wine.
Pteron. ‘Wing’, a word used by some writers to describe a peristyle.
Pudenda. ‘Shameful things', a Latin word used in older books to describe the human genitals when they
are represented in a work of art (if it is necessary to distinguish, use p. virilia for male pudenda and p.
muliebria for female pudenda).
Pulpitum. ‘Scaffolding', a word which is sometimes used for the stage of a Roman theatre in addition to
the more common proscenium and scaena.
Pulvinar. From pulvinus, ‘cushion', a seat covered with cushions and reserved as a place of honour; in
particular, a couch placed before statues of the gods in the Roman religious rite called a lectisternium or
'strewing of couches' which was practised on occasions of great disasters.
Puteal. A well-head, usually taking the form of a hollow stone cylinder open at top and bottom, which
stood at the top of a well or above an underground cistern. Water could be drawn up through this and it
also gave access for cleaning. A puteal might be decorated with sculpture. The word is also used of a low
stone rim built around a sacred spot to mark it off. The most famous surviving puteal in the first sense is
in the Madrid Archaeological Museum. It is decorated with sculpture which seems to reproduce the
western pediment of the Parthenon. An example of the second type is the Puteal Scribonianum which was
built in the Roman Forum by a certain Scribonius Libo to mark a sacred spot which had been struck by
lightning.
Puteus (and the diminutive form puticulus). A well or pit, dug to dispose of rubbish or as a grave.
Putto. From the Latin put(t)us, a diminutive form of puer, ‘boy’. It is used to describe a male child figure
in art, usually nude or lightly clad, the kind of figure that may also be intended to represent Cupid.
Pycnostyle. A word used by Vitruvius to describe the arrangement of a building in which the columns are
placed one and a half lower diameters apart (for a list of other such terms, see -style).
Pythia. An early name for Delphi was Pytho (the traditional meaning of which is ‘rotting', from the
corpse of the serpent which Apollo slew there. The great religious and athletic festival which was
celebrated there every four years, second only to the great games at Olympia, was called the Pythian
Games. The priestess through whom the oracles of the god were communicated to inquirers as she sat,
wreathed in vapours ascending from the earth, on the sacred tripod of prophecy, was called the Pythia
(sometimes interestingly rendered in English as ‘Pythoness').
Pyxis. ‘Box', the origin of the English word, through Latin buxus or buxum. The Greek word meant a
wooden box, but modern writers use it to describe a lidded clay container, usually circular in form.
Palladium. A statue of Athena, so called from the title Pallas which was sometimes applied to her (this is
a word of uncertain meaning; it may mean ‘brandisher' and be inspired by Athena's warlike nature). The
most famous Palladium in Greek literature was the Trojan one which was seized by Ajax and Diomedes
when Troy was captured, and this seizing of it, the so-called `rape of the Palladium', was often chosen as
a subject by Greek and Roman artists.
Palmette. The name given in modern times to an ornament popular in Greek art from the Archaic period
onwards. It is of more or less vegetable form, and faintly resembles the arrangement of leaves of a palm
tree (which itself was so named by the Romans because it was supposed to bear a likeness to the human
palm). We do not know of any specific name given to it by the Greeks; it might sometimes have been
called an anthemion, although this word seems also to have been used to describe the alternating lotus-
palmette combination which was so popular in Greek and later art, and could in fact refer to a variety of
floral decorative patterns
Panathenaea (-aia). ‘All-Athenian', a festival celebrated each year at Athens with the combination, so
usual in the ancient world, of athletic contests and religious ceremonies (see Festivals). The word is plural
in Greek; English usage varies. Every fourth year Great Panathenaea were held. A special feature of the
Great Panathenaea was the presenting of a new robe to the old statue of Athena which was kept on the
Acropolis. This scene is represented as a part of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. At the
Panathenaic games, victorious competitors were presented with an amphora filled with oil, which bore on
one side a representation of Athena, armed and wearing the aegis, together with the legend ton
Athenethen athlon, ‘from the games at Athens'. The other side showed the appropriate athletic event. The
festival was instituted in 566 BC, and the earliest of these surviving Panathenaic amphoras cannot be
much later than this date. They were decorated in the black figure technique, which continued to be used
on these vases even when the red figure technique had replaced it elsewhere; in fact, since the latest
Panathenaic amphoras are of the first century BC, it may be said that black figure in the end outlived by a
considerable margin the technique which had ousted it. The typical Panathenaic amphora is of a
distinctive shape, narrowing rather sharply towards the base with a relatively straight rather than curved
profile. Other amphoras of this shape which are not decorated with scenes related to the Panathenaea
should properly be described as ‘amphoras of Panathenaic shape'.
Paniscus (-iskos). A small figure of the god Pan.
Panoply. ‘All-equipment', a term used to describe the complete armour and weapons of a fully-armed
soldier or hoplite.
Panthea (-eia) or pantheistic deity. A deity combining features of three or more gods.
Pantheon. A group ‘of all the gods'.(cf. Panthea). The name of Pantheon was also given to a temple at
Rome built during the reign of Augustus by Marcus Agrippa, and to its successor which was built and
perhaps designed by Hadrian. Agrippa's Pantheon was of the usual form. Hadrian's Pantheon consisted of
a porch made from materials re-used from Agrippa's building, a bridging section and a circular drum or
rotunda surmounted by a dome. In the interior there are seven large niches in the brick walls of the
rotunda. It is possible that these were intended to receive statues of the seven planetary deities, the
‘Pantheon' which the building was intended to honour.
Parazonium. A short sword (so called because it could be worn at the zone or belt).
Parodos. ‘Way on', the entrance by which in a Greek theatre the Chorus reached the orchestra (pl.
parodoi).
Parthenon. ‘Room of the Maidens', a word used to describe a room in a building, just as andron
describes a room assigned to the use of men and gynaecon or gynaeconitis, the women’s quarters in a
house. It is occasionally found in a domestic context, and inscriptions show that it was also used as the
name of a room in several Asian Greek temples. In these cases we must suppose that the rooms were so
called because they contained equipment used by young priestesses in the performance of their duties, or
because they met or practised certain rites there.The most famous room of this kind is without doubt the
west chamber of the great Periclean temple of Athena on the acropolis of Athens, which served a double
purpose. Not only was it the ‘room of the maidens', but it was also used to store the treasures of the
goddess. Within a century after the completion of the building the name of the room had come to be
unofficially applied to the whole of it, and it is by this name that it is universally known today. This
change of name was without doubt aided by the fact that Athena herself was sometimes given the title of
the Maiden, or Parthenos, although this had nothing to do with the original reason for giving the
Parthenon within her temple that name.
Pastiche. A French word, derived from the Italian pasticcio, a diminutive form of pasta, 'paste'. When
speaking of art or music, it is used in the sense of ‘medley’ to describe a work containing a variety of
elements in different styles (cf. Eclectic).
Patera. A circular dish, very flat in form, sometimes with a raised boss in the centre, used for pouring
libations upon the ground or making offerings at the beginning of a sacrifice. When a figure is
represented in art as holding a patera, it suggests that the context is a religious one, and when a patera
appears alone, it may symbolise the idea of a sacrifice or offering. The Greek phiale is less commonly
used by modern writers.
Patina. ‘Coating'. This Italian word describes a natural coating which covers the surface of an object, or
an artificial one, such as a varnish. When referring to works of art it normally implies a natural and
pleasing alteration to the surface (as opposed to rust, corrosion, verdigris etc.), produced over a long
period of time. Such a patina would be considered a desirable feature, and unless it seemed that it was
causing a lack of stability in the composition of the surface of the object, it would not be removed by a
modern collector or museum.
Pediment. The triangular space formed by the gable of a building. The Greek aietos, ‘eagle' (inspired by
the image of an eagle sitting with drooping wings) is not used in English, and the Latin tympanum is
restricted to describing the back wall of the pediment. The pediments of many Greek and Roman temples
were decorated with free-standing sculpture.
Pegasus. A winged horse, associated in Greek mythology with the hero Bellerophon. Since some coins of
Corinth and her colonies bore a Pegasus as a type, modern scholars sometimes use this word to describe
them. This is a modern, not an ancient usage (although one fragment of an ancient play survives in which
they were poetically described as ‘colts').
Pelike. A vase for the storage or transport of liquids, with two vertical handles and a moderately narrow
mouth, like an amphora, but with a sagging profile, the widest point being half way down its height, or
even lower.
Pendentive. A three-dimensional form shaped like a segment of a circle, developed in early Byzantine
architecture to solve the problem of transmitting the load generated by a circular dome when set on a
square base. In Roman architecture it was never fully developed, although the squinch, which technically
speaking may be regarded as its predecessor, is sometimes found, and an octagonal nymphaeum in the
Horti Sallustiani at Rome (popularly known as the ‘temple of Minerva Medica') shows what may be a
rudimentary pendentive in the transition from the angles of the octagon to the dome above.
Pentaglyph, see Triglyph.
Pentelic, see Marble.
Peplos. A long robe reaching to the ankles, worn particularly by women in the Dorian parts of Greece and
so sometimes called the Doric peplos. It seems to have been made of a heavier material than the Ionic
chiton, and was worn with the top part folded over and hanging down to a point just above the waist (see
also Chiton).
Pergamum. The city of Pergamum in Mysia became the capital of an independent kingdom in the early
3rd century B.C.under the leadership of Philetaerus who detached it from the control of Lysimachus of
Thrace. Under the rule of the Attalid dynasty (Attalus I-III and Eumenes I-II) it prospered and was able to
resist a series of invasions by Gauls from Europe. Two major monuments commemorated these victories.
The first was a group of statues of Gauls, Amazons and Persians on a large base (a copy of this was set up
later at Athens, and further copies, inspired by one or other of these groups, survive today). The second,
constructed about 175 B.C., was the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamum, the remains of which are now in
the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. This altar stood on the acropolis of Pergamum and was surrounded by a
colonnade which was decorated with sculpture outside and inside. The internal frieze, which told the
story of the legendary king of Pergamum Telephus, is not well preserved but is of considerable interest
because it uses a narrative method which is rare in Greek art (a forerunner of the ‘continuous method' of
Roman Imperial art). The external frieze has as its subject a Gigantomachy which symbolises the victory
over the Gauls. The stylistic features of very high relief, strong modelling and violent effects of light and
shade, which are found in this latter relief, are often called ‘Pergamene' (although there is no evidence to
show that the artists themselves came from Pergamum, and the nearest parallels are to be found in works
such as the Laocoon group and the Sperlonga sculptures which may be attibuted to Rhodians). The term
‘Pergamene' isalso used by some modern writers to describe a type of column capital used in the 2nd
century B.C. in one building at Pergamum and two stoas built at Athens by Pergamene kings. This is
decorated at the top with a motif resembling the leaves of a palm, turned over at the top, and so may more
usefully be called a palm leaf capital. It may have been inspired by much earlier Egyptian column
capitals, and in that case it may well be a conscious piece of archaism.
Periaktos. 'Turned round', the name of a piece of equipment used in the Hellenistic Greek theatre. It
seems to have been of pyramidal form, with representations of scenery painted on each of its three sides.
One was placed at each side of the stage, and when it was necessary to suggest a change of scene the
periaktoi could be turned to show a different picture. No Latin equivalent term.is known.
Peribole. ‘Thrown around', the Greek word for an enclosure around a building, used particularly to
describe the enclosed area around a temple.
Peripteral. Of a building, having a colonnade (a pteron or peristyle) running all the way round it, as
opposed to being prostyle, dipteral etc. In older books this colonnade is sometimes called a periptery (cf.
Dipteral, Monopteral).
Peristyle. ‘Columns around', the name given most frequently to the colonnade encircling a building, in
the arrangement so regularly found in Greek temples. The word is also used to describe a colonnade
running around an internal courtyard, of the kind found in many Greek public and private buildings, and
best known from the many examples which may be seen at Herculaneum and Pompeii, where Greek
influence is so often obvious.
Personification. In art, the representing of an abstract idea in human or near-human form. The line
between a personification and a mythical or divine figure is sometimes difficult to draw; for example,
Nemesis literally means ‘apportionment’, the abstract force which ensures that men get their just deserts
in the end, but by the 5th century BC she had become a goddess with a cult of her own, and temples and
statues. Personifications are less common in Greek art than in Roman and later times, but the principles
by which they were represented were developed by the Greeks. A personification is represented as a
human figure (occasionally with some animal characteristics). It is male or female according to the
grammatical gender of its name (for instance Nike/Victoria, the personification of Victory, would
automatically be represented as a female figure, whereas the angel of Christian art is male, since the
Greek word is masculine in gender). Its nature is indicated by the attributes or adjuncts which are
associated with it (and sometimes, as on coins, by an identifying legend).
The number of personifications, and of the attributes and adjuncts which are associated with them in
Greek and Roman art, is a very long one. The following short list will serve to illustrate the general
principles according to which they are represented. When they have more than one name, the first is
Greek, the second Roman.
Elpis/Spes (Hope): female figure with flower. Eirene/Pax (Peace): female figure with wreath, olive
branch or caduceus. Honos (Honour): male figure with sceptre and cornucopiae. Aequitas (Equity, often
in the commercial sense): a female figure with a set of scales. Concordia (Harmony in public life): a
female figure with a wide range of possible attributes, among them a cornucopiae, an olive branch or ears
of wheat; the same idea may also be expressed without the figure of a personification by a representation
of clasped hands.
Petasus (-os). A round soft hat, with or without a brim, often worn by travellers and therefore frequently
found in representations of their patron deity Hermes. It was also worn by riders, and the horsemen who
are shown taking part in the Panathenaic procession on the internal Parthenon frieze wear good examples
of the brimmed kind (cf. Pileus).
Phallus (-os). The male genitals, occasionally represented separately from a human body in Greek art.
When the context is not pornographic, it should be assumed that the intention is either religious, perhaps
in connection with a fertility cult, protective, since the phallus as a symbol was believed to have this
power, or generally hopeful, since the phallus was thought of as a lucky charm. It was worn by actors in
comedy and satyr play, a practice which seems to have its origin in pre-dramatic religious festivals (see
also Ithyphallic).
Phiale, see Patera.
Phlyax. The Greek word for a kind of actor who performed at Alexandria and in the Greek cities of the
south of Italy in plays which we call phlyax plays. No texts of these have survived, but they are often
represented on South Italian Greek vases (which we therefore call phlyax vases), and it is clear that they
were comic in nature, and that burlesque parodies of serious Greek myths were a common subject. The
phlyax actor, like the comic actor of Greece, wore the phallus and a padded costume.
Phrygian. The word is used to describe a type of helmet, or a cap of soft material. In each case the upper
part or peak is turned over in a forward direction. In ancient art the appearance of Phrygian headgear has
no special or symbolic meaning other than that of suggesting an Asian connection. In modern times the
Phrygian cap has sometimes been confused with a pileus, and it thus became the ‘cap of liberty’ of the
French Revolution.
Pilaster. A projection from the wall of a building, decorated like a column but rectangular rather than
circular in plan. When the end of a projecting wall is decorated in this way, as in the case of the walls
framing the pronaos of a temple, it is called an anta (cf. Engaged column).
Pileus (pilos). A felt cap of approximately conical form, brimless or with a very narrow brim, as opposed
to a petasus. In Greek art it is worn by Odysseus, by Hephaestus, and by the Dioscuri. In the Roman world
it was also worn by slaves who had been set free and had acquired the status of freedmen; in Roman art,
therefore, it may be a symbol of freedom. It is sometimes confused with a Phrygian cap.
Pinacotheca (pinakotheke). From the Greek pinax meaning ‘plank, board, picture', meaning a picture
gallery. The best known example of this in the ancient world is the room on the north side of the
Propylaea on the acropolis of Athens, where famous paintings of the fifth century BC were displayed.
Piriform. ‘Pear-shaped', a word used to describe certain kinds of vase.
Pithos. A large storage jar, sometimes as tall as as a man. Because of its size it was not made on a wheel,
but by winding ropes of clay round and round to make the desired shape. Containers of this kind were
used in the larger private establishments for the storage of liquids or grain, and they would also have been
used on farms and in commercial enterprises. Sometimes they stood above ground level, but they might
also be buried in the ground, to make breakage less likely and to reduce variations in temperature. The
Latin equivalent is dolium.
Plastic. From the Greek word which means ‘mould, model’. When we speak of the treatment of anatomy
or drapery as being plastic, we mean that it gives the effect of being modelled and shaped in fully three-
dimensional forms, rather than being flat or glyptic in appearance.
Plated coins. Most ancient forgeries of coins were produced by plating a core of base metal with an outer
layer of a precious metal. Many such forgeries survive today, and most of these may be easily recognised
because the outer coating has disappeared at points of wear. Some plated coins may have been produced
by official mints at times of financial difficulty, but there is only one occasion when it is possible to prove
from the ancient literary evidence that this was done, when copper coins plated with silver were issued at
Athens during the Peloponnesian War.
Plemochoe. A lidded vase shaped like a top, with a high foot and a body which spreads out broadly above
it.
Plouton, Ploutos, see Pluto, Plutus.
Plinth. The Greek word plinthos has a wide range of uses, based on its underlying meaning of a
rectangular object. Modern writers on architectural subjects use it in the sense of a rectangular base on
which something rests, e.g. a statue or a column.
Polycleitan stance. The term used by modern writers to describe the pose in which many ancient statues
stand, with the weight borne almost completely on one leg (usually the right; if the figure stands on the
left leg it may be suspected that it was one of a pair with reversed poses), while the other trails backward
a little, hardly touching the ground. This name has been given to the pose because it is first found in
copies made in the Roman period of statues attributed to the 5th century BC sculptor Polycleitus of
Argos. German writers sometimes use the terms Standbein and Spielbein to describe the ‘standing' and
the ‘playing' leg.
Pluto (Plouton). In Greek mythology Hades the brother of Zeus and Poseidon was the ruler of Hades, the
underworld kingdom of the dead. The word seems to mean ‘wealthy', and may perhaps be explained not
so much by the idea that Hades is rich in the dead, but that the earth is the source of wealth. Pluto may be
represented in art as a bearded regal figure, perhaps accompanied by the three-headed dog watchdog
Cerberus.
Plutus (Ploutos). Wealth personified; the word is probably connected with the name of the ruler of
Hades, Pluto, and the two are sometimes confused. The most famous representation of Plutus in art was
by Cephisodotus who was probably the father of Praxiteles, which showed Wealth in the form of a child
resting in the arms of his mother Peace (Irene); in the comedy Plutus by Aristophanes, on the other hand,
Wealth seems to have been portrayed as an old man, and blind.
Polias and Polieus. Titles of Athena and Zeus respectively at Athens (and occasionally elsewhere) in
cults where they were worshipped as the special protectors of the city or polis. In some older books it is
assumed that the temple of Athena Polias which is mentioned in some ancient sources is the one which
was located in the centre of the Acropolis. It is, however, now generally agreed that this expression refers
to the eastern part of the Erechtheum, and the building in the centre of the Acropolis, of which only the
foundations are now visible, is now called the Old Temple (Archaios Naos) of Athena.
Polos. A cylindrical pin of wood or metal used to centre column drums (see Empolion); also a cylindrical
headdress worn by Greek goddesses (Hera, Tyche) in artistic representations (in the latter case it should
be distinguished from a modius).
Pothos. ‘Yearning',the subject of at least one statue by the sculptor Scopas. It is said that he made a group
of three male figures for a temple of Aphrodite at Megara, one of which represented Pothos, the others
being Eros (Love, particularly sexual love) and Himeros (Longing). Several examples survive of a leaning
figure in an attitude suggesting hope unfulfilled which have been claimed as copies of this Pothos.
Potter's signature. Some names which appear on Attic vases decorated in the black figure and red figure
techniques are accompanied by the word epoiesen, ‘made (me)'. This suggests something different from
the painter's signature egrapsen, and modern writers use the term ‘potter's signature' to describe it. It is,
however, not clear what part the person who signed a vase in this way might have played in the
manufacture of it. Various suggestions have been made: he may have thrown the pot upon the wheel,
supervised the firing of it, owned the workshop, or performed any or all of these functions at different
times. It is also possible that he ‘made' the picture in the sense of controlling the firing process, which in
the production of black and red figure decoration was a process requiring skill, care and good luck. The
proportion of surviving vases signed in this way is very small, and the occurrence of signatures appears to
be completely at random, so it is not even clear why the ‘makers' chose to sign the occasional vase. It has
been suggested that when pottery was exported, one vase in each consignment might be signed, but if
there is any chance that this might be true, it is not the sort of theory for which any convincing proof is
ever likely to be found. Since we do not know the names of the majority of Attic vase painters (see
Morellian analysis), many artists have been named by modern scholars after ‘potters' for whom they
worked, e.g. the Amasis painter or the Cleophrades painter.
Praetorium. The dwelling of a military commander or provincial governor; also, in later Latin, any large
or sumptuous building, particularly in the country, or a royal palace. The plural is praetoria.
Praxitelean curve. Towards the middle of the fourth century BC standing figures, both male and female,
began to be represented in a pose which was a variation upon and a development from the so-called
‘Polycleitan stance' which had been popular for a couple of generations. The body was now represented
as leaning (it therefore needed a support, such as a tree or a pillar), and the torso was given a gentle
double curve. The effect is one of gentle relaxation. It is generally assumed, no doubt correctly, that this
development was an initiative of the most famous sculptor of the time, Praxiteles,.since it may be
observed in copies of his works which survive.
Prehellenic. A term which is still occasionally used to describe the civilisation of Greece in the second
millenium B.C., which included the ‘Minoan' civilisation of Crete and other islands, and the ‘Mycenean'
civilisation of Mycenae and other mainland centres. Earlier writers used to refer to the `Heroic Age', and
the name ‘Aegean' is also often applied to this period. At the time when the word `Prehellenic' was
coined, it was assumed that these civilisations were pre-Greek, and that Greek speakers entered Greece
only at the end of the second millenium. It is now believed, on the evidence of the so-called ‘Linear B'
tablets found at Cnossus and elsewhere, that this happened much earlier, soon after 2000 BC, and for this
reason the term should now be considered inappropriate; it is still, however, sometimes used.
Principia. In Roman military language, the first rank of soldiers in battle formation; also, the
headquarters of a military commander. Like the English ‘headquarters', the word is plural in form, and if
reference is being made to more than one, it does not change.
Prochous. ‘Pourer-out', a longer form of chous. ‘Pitcher' would be the best general translation of this
word. It is not normally used by archaeologists, who have olpe and oenochoe to choose from as the names
of small jugs.
Pronaos. ‘Fore-temple', the front porch of a Greek temple. It was formed by a prolongation of the side
walls of the cella, each of which terminated in an anta, with one or more columns supporting the ceiling
between the antae. Cuttings which are sometimes visible in the stones of these walls and columns show
that the pronaos might be closed off by metal grilles, so that it could be used for the storage of treasures
and offerings, or of equipment used in religious ceremonies.
Propylaea (-aia). An adjectival and plural form of propylon, which means ‘foregate'; both words are used
to describe a monumental gateway leading to a sanctuary, palace or precinct. In ancient Greek texts when
the longer and more grandiloquent form propylaea is found it refers to major gateways such as were to be
found in Egypt and at Eleusis; In particular, it was the name given to the imposing double gateway
erected at the main entrance to the acropolis of Athens to replace an earlier smaller entrance as part of the
building programme undertaken in the 5th century B.C. during the ascendancy of Pericles. Writers in
English sometimes treat the word as singular, sometimes as plural.
Proscenium (-skenion). ‘Fore-skene', the name given to the stage in the Greek theatre, when it was
introduced as a platform in front of the skene in the fifth century BC. In the modern theatre the word has a
different meaning, and describes the rectangular vertical frame which defines the front of the stage in an
indoor theatre. This is a shortening of the phrase ‘proscenium arch' which is also sometimes found.
Prostyle. Of a building, with columns which are not in antis standing at the front but not at the sides or
rear
(cf. Amphiprostyle, -Style).
Prothesis. ‘Laying out', the name used to describe a scene found on some funerary vases of the
Geometric period which show the laying out of a corpse in the presence of mourners (cf. Ekphora).
Prothyrum. ‘Fore-door', a word which seems, according to the context in which it appears, to mean the
front porch of a building or the area immediately outside the front door. The plural forms prothyra or
prothyraia also sometimes occur, apparently in a singular sense (cf. Propylaea).
Proto-. ‘First', a prefix used to denote the earliest stages of an artistic style. It is particularly applied to
the Geometric, Corinthian and Attic styles of art.
Protome. ‘Forepart cut off, the word used to describe the head or the bust of an animal, bird or human
being when used to decorate some work of art.
Q
Quadrans. A Roman bronze coin, 1/4 of an as, which at first weighed a quarter of a pound, but during the
Republic was successively reduced in weight until it weighed no more than half an ounce and sometimes
less. It continued to be struck as the smallest unit of coinage until the 3rd century AD. In the New
Testament it is one of the words used for a small coin, and is translated as ‘farthing' in the King James
version of the Bible.
Quadratum, see Opus.
Quadrifrons. An archway set at the intersection of two streets (a quadrivium), with four arched façades.
Quadriga. A four-horse chariot (cf. Biga, Triga).
Quadrigatus. A Roman silver coin of the 2nd century B.C., so called because the reverse type was a
quadriga (cf. Bigatus).
Quadriporticus. An enclosed four-sided courtyard with porticoes or colonnades on all four sides.
Quadrivium. A place where four roads meet, or cross-roads.
Quasi-reticulatum, see Opus.
Quincunx. ‘Five-ounce', the name of a rare Republican bronze coin worth five-twelfths of an as. The
same word is also used in English to describe an arrangement of five objects with one at the centre and the
remaining four forming the corners of a square.
Quinquennalia. The five-year anniversary of a Roman emperor's accession, which might be celebrated by
the issuing of coins or other celebratory gestures (cf. Decennalia, Vicennalia, Vota).
Quinquereme. ‘Five-oar', a type of vessel with the oars arranged in five banks (cf. Trireme).
Quoin, coin or coigne. A brick or stone placed at the corner of a building or at an opening in a wall.
R
Radiate. ‘With rays', a word used to describe the head of a god or emperor when it is shown with a crown
imitating the rays of the sun. In Roman Imperial art radiate heads are first found on posthumous portraits,
and then become the sign of a double denomination (dupondius, antoninianus, double aureus etc.) on
Roman coins. In the later Roman Empire there are also signs that the emperor is being equated with Sol
the sun god, but this ends after Constantine I with the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of
the Roman state (cf. Laureate).
Raking. The word used to describe the cornice/geison and sima on the slope of a gable or pediment, as
opposed to the horizontal one.
Rampin. A 19th century French consul who acquired the head of the so-called ‘Rampin rider' in Athens
and sent it to Paris (the connection between the head and the torso of the rider was not established until
shortly before the Second World War). A cast of the body has now been joined to the head in the Louvre
Museum, and a cast of the head has been joined to the body in the Acropolis Museum, Athens.
Red figure. A technique of vase painting developed from black figure at Athens c. 530 B.C. (cf.
Bilingual). In this technique the figures are of an orange/red colour, and the background is black. Incision
is rare and details are rendered either by ‘relief lines' or by lines drawn in a diluted glaze or slip (see Slip)
which are slightly lighter in colour. In addition to Athens, several centres in Etruria and the south of Italy
(Magna Graecia) produced a great deal of red figure pottery in the later fifth and fourth centuries B.C. (see
Oxygenating fire, Reducing fire).
Reducing fire. The second stage in firing pottery in a kiln to produce the black figure and red figure styles
of decoration. After a first stage of firing when fresh air was allowed to enter the kiln, all entrances for air
were blocked to exclude oxygen. This induced a change from ferric oxide to ferrous oxide in the iron-
bearing clay used in this process, and at this stage all parts of the vase (except those covered with other
pigments) turned black. The reducing stage was continued until sintering had occurred on all areas that
were to remain black (cf. Oxygenating fire).
Refinement. In architecture, a variation from the horizontal or vertical, or from strict regularity of plan,
which is designed to improve the appearance of a building by creating an optical illusion. This is
sometimes necessary because the human eye does not always absorb information correctly. For instance,
the horizontal lines of a gabled building may appear to sag, and this can be corrected by creating a very
slight upward curvature of stylobate and architrave. An appearance of greater height can be achieved by
making columns and walls lean inward slightly (see Batter), and the uppermost parts of a building may be
made to seem more imposing by giving them a slight outward tilt. It is also not uncommon to find that the
intercolumniations at the ends of a row of columns are smaller than the others (see Contraction).
Regia. ‘Royal (house)’, the house which King Numa built at Rome, according to Roman tradition.
Wherever its original site was, in the later Republic the name of Regia was applied to a building in the
Forum in which the Vestal Virgins lived under the supervision of the Pontifex Maximus and of the Rex
Sacrorum or ‘King of Sacred Matters'.
Regio (pl. regiones). A district of a city (which might be further subdivided into vici). During the
Republic Rome was divided into four regiones. This system was changed by Augustus, in whose reign the
city was divided into fourteen regiones. In the 7th century A.D. this was replaced by an ecclesiastical
division into seven regiones.
Regula. A narrow strip set beneath the taenia of a Doric architrave, having six guttae carved upon its
lower side.
Relief. The projection of the representational or decorative part of a carving from its background. By
convention, if less than half of a figure projects, it is said to be in low relief (basso rilievo in Italian); if
half projects, it is medium relief (mezzo rilievo); and if more than half projects it is in high relief (alto
rilievo).
Relief line. In red figure vase painting internal details are rendered either with a strong black line which
stands up from the surface of the vase and can be felt by the finger, or with a less prominent line in diluted
slip. The former is called a relief line because it stands out from the surface of the vase. Lines of this kind
are occasionally found in black figure where one light area needs to be distinguished from another.
Relieving arch (or discharging or safety arch or triangle). Sometimes an arch or triangle, filled in with
stone or brickwork or with concrete, may be noticed above an opening in a wall such as a doorway or
window. This is a true relieving (or discharging) arch or triangle, formed with the intention of lightening
the load at that point. Sometimes, however, arches of this kind are found in Roman concrete work in
unbroken stretches of the wall. In such cases they cannot be relieving arches, but must have been
incorporated for a different purpose, perhaps to avoid excessive settling of the mass of concrete during the
drying-out stage.
Reserved area. When a figure or a detail of a figure is left unpainted within an area of dark decoration,
that part of the design is said to be ‘reserved'. In red figure vase painting, of course, the figures are all
reserved. Lines can also be produced in this technique, and gradually it replaced incision as a means of
separating one dark area from another.
Respond. In architecture, a pilaster on a wall which is aligned with (i.e. ‘responds to') a column in front of
it; also a pilaster or pier supporting one end of a ceiling beam or an architrave, or the springing of an arch,
‘responding' to a similar pilaster or pier at the other end.
Retiarius. A gladiator whose weapons consisted of a trident and net, and who had otherwise only a
covering for his left arm as a protection. He was set to fight against a more conventionally armed
gladiator, a murmillo, who wore a Gallic helmet decorated at the crest with a fish.
Reticulatum, see Opus.
Reverse. The less important side of a coin, as opposed to the obverse. Since in minting the lower die was
the one which was less likely to suffer damage, the reverse side is likely to be the one which was struck by
the upper or punch die, and in doubtful cases this is sometimes used as a criterion to decide which side of
a coin should be called the reverse.
Revetment. ‘Clothing', a facing, plain or decorative, applied to a wall built of some other material; or a
wall of firm material supporting a mass of earth or water, as in the case of a dam.
Rhyton. ‘Pourer’, the name given to a funnel or other vessel in the shape of an animal’s horn, which
might be used as a drinking cup, or for collecting and pouring liquids at religious ceremonies.
Rhodian. The island of Rhodes has given its name to a number of things. During the archaic period
Rhodes was the home of some distinctive styles of vase painting (see Fikellura, Wild Goat). In the
classical period a weight standard used for coinage at many mints came to be called Rhodian (it may have
begun as a reduction of the Attic weight standard but gained a life of its own). Rhodian sculptors became
famous in the Hellenistic period, and the sculptural style called ‘Pergamene', if it can be attributed to
artists from any particular area, was probably the creation of Rhodian artists to a greater extent than those
of any other city. In architecture an internal peristyle which had one end with a higher entablature and roof
than the other three, giving it greater prominence, was called Rhodian.
Robbing trenches. In the course of archaeological excavations it is common to find evidence, from
changes in the consistency or colour of the soil, that the stones of an ancient wall or building have been
removed for reuse. It is often possible, once this has been recognised, to reconstruct the plan of an ancient
building from the signs of the trenches or pits that were left after the stones had been taken away.
Rogus. A Roman funeral pyre (cf. Ustrinum).
Rosette. A decorative pattern which first appears on Greek pottery in the archaic period, often roughly
executed as an approximate circle with indentations suggesting leaves, and radial divisions marked by
incision. Rosettes appear at a later date as architectural decorations, either carved or made in metal and
affixed to buildings.
Rosso antico. A marble of Egyptian origin, of a red colour with white veining.
Rostrum. ‘Beak', the beak or bill of a bird, and hence the ‘beak' of a warship, namely its prow with its
ram. At Rome the speakers' platform in the Forum was decoratted with ships' beaks after a naval victory in
338 B.C., and was therefore called the ‘beaks' or Rostra; this use of the word was extended to other
speaking platforms or stages afterwards. In English it is used in the same sense, but in the singular form
‘rostrum'.
Rotunda. A circular building. The word is always used of Roman buildings (e.g. the circular part of
Hadrian's Pantheon), but when speaking of Greek architecture before the Roman period the Greek tholos
is used instead.
Roundel. An architectural moulding semicircular in section; also a painting or a piece of relief sculpture
set in a circular frame (cf. Medallion, Tondo).
S
Sacrifice. In ancient times it was normal to reward the gods, or seek their favour, by offering them things
which were thought to be made holy (sacer) by being used for this purpose. There were many kinds of
offering, and the most important, most often represented, was the offering of an animal which was ritually
slaughtered (human sacrifice was almost completely unknown among the Greeks and Romans). After the
animal was killed, its body was examined, and its condition was thought to be a significant omen of the
future. It was then cooked, and certain parts were reserved for the gods, others for the priests, and the rest
for those attending the sacrificial ceremony. In Greek art the person conducting the sacrifice is shown
bareheaded, but the Roman custom was for the celebrant to have his head covered. In Roman Imperial art
the emperor as celebrant is shown holding a patera from which he sprinkles grains of barley on the flames
of an altar as a preliminary to the ceremony (see Suoveraurilia).
Saecular, see Secular
Sail-vault, see Pendentive.
Salomonic, see Solomonic.
Saltire. A pattern consisting of a cross placed at a diagonal to the vertical instead of upright, often
decorated with dots in the angles. The derivation of the word is said to be from the Latin/French saltare
and the French sauter , each of which means ‘jump’, because the pattern is reminiscent of a stile or other
arrangement of timbers through which one can jump.
Salus. The Roman personification of good health or welfare, equated with the Greek Hygieia, who was in
Greek mythology attendant upon Aesculapius. She was treated as a goddess, and a temple was dedicated
to her on the Quirinal hill at Rome as early as 302 B.C. The Roman emperors made her an imperial virtue
or blessing, and coins advertise Salus Augusti, the welfare brought by the emperor. She is represented in
art as a female figure bearing a sceptre and feeding the sacred snake of Aesculapius in the same manner as
the Greek Hygieia. Occasionally she bears ears of grain, an attribute which is appropriate to her earliest
cult at Rome before the connection with Aesculapius began to develop.
Salutatorium. When this words makes an occasional appearance in late Latin this word occasionally
appears, it seems to have the meaning of an audience hall in which persons came to make their salutations
to the emperor (or, in an ecclesiastical context, a bishop).
Samian ware. This expression may be used of any pottery produced on the island of Samos, which in the
Geometric and Orientalising periods produced some distinctively decorated pottery. Some terra sigillata
of a much later date has been identified as being of Samian origin, and the term has therefore in the past
been applied to all moulded relief ware, but this usage is obsolete.
Samnite. The Samnites were an Italian people inhabiting the southern Apennines who in the early days of
Rome became powerful and were defeated only after a long period of warfare. In gladiatorial shows
thereafter it was customary to present some gladiators in the guise of Samnites, wearing helmets and
greaves and carrying shields of Samnite style.
Sandal binder. A panel, perhaps the best known one, from the frieze of decorative sculpture placed along
a parapet at the side of the temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis of Athens (c. 415 B.C.). The panels
show a number of figures representing Nike engaged in various activities. The ‘Sandal binder’ is bending
to attend to her sandal, a pose which creates an interesting arrangement of drapery.
Sarcophagus. A coffin, usually one made in stone, terra cotta or metal (cf. Larnax). The Greek word
means ‘flesh-eating’. The elder Pliny reports that in one part of the Greek world a certain kind of stone
had the property of entirely consuming any bodies which were placed in it; the story may explain the
name, but seems fanciful. Sarcophagi were not commonly used in the Greek world or by the Romans of
the Republic and early Empire (although there are many Etruscan examples and a few exceptions from the
Levant). From the 2nd century A.D., however, they were more commonly chosen by wealthy Romans,
perhaps because of a growing belief in the resurrection of the body, and also
because ostentation was an increasing feature of Roman life. Greek and Roman artists developed a range
of suitable subjects for the decoration of these sarcophagi; sometimes it is hard to see their relevance at
first sight, but the scenes which appear on them must often be interpreted in an allegorical manner.
Sarissa. A very long thrusting spear, over seven metres long when first introduced by Philip II of
Macedon, although later it was slightly reduced in size. Because of its length it could be used by men who
were not fighting in the front rank It is sometimes shown in scenes in which representations of
Macedonian soldiers appear.
Satrap. A governor of a province in the Persian Empire, who in his own area of command had all the
powers and status of a king. Several portraits of Persian satraps appear on coins a little before and after
400 B.C. It is clear that these are not portraits of the Great King of Persia himself, because in each case the
headdress (kidaris, kyrbasia or tiara) is lowered, not raised.
Satyr. A half human, half animal figure in Greek mythology and art, regularly represented as a companion
of Dionysus (cf. Silenus).
Scaena. The Latin equivalent of the Greek skene, used to describe the stage building of a Roman theatre.
The Latin phrase scaenae frons, or ‘front of the scaena’ is used to describe the façade of it or as we might
say the backdrop (cf. Proscenium).
Scaenographia (the Greek skenographia). ‘Stage painting’, a word which occurs occasionally in ancient
writers, perhaps in more senses than the most literal one. On some occasions it seems to mean a
representation of a perspective view or a projection of a building, as opposed to a drawing of it in plan
(ichnographia) or an elevation (orthographia).
Scotia. In architecture, a moulding consisting of a recessed or concave half-circle.
Scroll. A spiralling curve used as a repeated decorative device; or the curve of the volute of an Ionic
column capital.
Scotia. A moulding with a concave semicircular form when seen in profile.
Scylla. A sea monster who lived on a rock on the Italian side of the Straits of Messina which divide Sicily
from Italy. From her waist projected the heads of six dogs which reached out to seize passing sailors; on
the other side of the straits the dreadful whirlpool of Charybdis awaited them.
Scyphus/skyphos. A drinking cup without a foot. It may be handleless, but more often has two handles,
usually horizontal. Other versions have a single handle, or one horizontal and one upright handle.
Second style. A name given to a style of wall decoration at Pompeii which was in vogue in the 1st century
B.C. (and sometimes occurs later). It is also called the Architectural or Vista Style. It attempts to create an
illusion of space beyond the wall, with representations of architectural or landscape scenes.
Secular Games. From saeculum, ‘century, age, a period of approximately a hundred years. The Romans
had the custom of celebrating the conclusion of a saeculum with religious ceremonies and athletic
contests, or Ludi Saeculari (see Festivals and Games). From the time of Augustus onwards the celebration
of this festival was an important part of Roman imperial propaganda. The Secular Games which were
most advertised, principally on coins, were those of Domitian in A.D. 88, Septimius Severus in A.D. 204
(a date which can be explained only by using a very flexible definition of a saeculum) and Philip Senior
and Junior in A.D. 248. The last festival also marked the millenium of the City of Rome (traditional date
of foundation 753 B.C.).
Segmental. A word used to describe an arch with a curve which is flatter than a semicircle, or a pediment
which has a curving rather than an angled top.
Sella. A seat. The word is used in several Latin phrases to describe seats of a formal kind. The sella
curulis was a seat in the form of an upright U placed above an inverted U, and was the kind which was
occupied by the highest Roman magistrates. Its name is derived from currus , a chariot, and goes back to
the time when the Etruscan kings used to dispense justice from a seat which was placed in a chariot. The
sella castrensis (from castra, a military encampment) was used by military commanders. It was made in
the form of an X, and could be folded.
Semi-column. An alternative name for an engaged column.
Serapeum. A shrine of the Egyptian god Serapis (Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli contained one in the area
named Canopus, a fanciful recreation of one of the mouths of the Nile).
Serratus. The name of a kind of silver coin which was occasionally issued during the Roman Republic. It
had small notches cut around the edge. Many theories have been advanced for the use of this technique,
but no entirely satisfactory explanation has so far been found. The theory that this treatment was used as a
solar symbol is less likely, and it is more probable that it was designed to make forgery of coins by silver-
plating a base metal core more difficult. However, plated serrati have been found, so in that case, as so
often, the procedure only stimulated criminals to improve their perfomance.
Sestertius. From semis and tertius, ‘half’ and ‘third’, meaning a coin worth two and a half asses. The
sestertius was originally a small silver coin of this value, then because the relative values of silver and
copper changed it was retariffed at four asses although its name remained unchanged. In the time of
Augustus its metal was altered,and it became a much larger coin, struck in brass (usually called
‘orichalcum’ by numismatists). Some of these large sestertii or sesterces struck during the earliest part of
the Roman Empire are among the most impressive of all ancient coins. From the 2nd century B.C. until
the 3rd century A.D. the sestertius was also the standard unit of reckoning among the Romans, although it
was never the most common coin.
Severe Style or Strong Style. A term used to describe the work of artists in the first stage of the Classical
period, in the generation following the Persian Wars (i.e. c. 480-450 B.C.). At this time although a great
degree of naturalism had been achieved, poses were still relatively stiff and formal. Examples of this style
are the Charioteer of Delphi and the Apollo of the Olympia pediments. The same phrase is also used of the
mature phase of Geometric vase painting at the end of the 9th century B.C. ‘Strong’, being an inaccurate
translation of the German streng, is the less desirable of the two terms.
Sgraffiatura, see Graffito.
Sgraffito. This form of the word ‘graffito’ is sometimes used specifically to describe a technique of
decorating plaster with incised lines which are filled in in colour.
Shaft. In architecture, the part of a column between the base and the capital. The term ‘shaft grave’ is also
used to describe graves inthe form of a rectangular pit lined with stones.
The Second (sometimes called the Architectural or Vista) Style is first found after the establishment of
the Sullan colony at Pompeii in 80 B.C. Artists now attempted to create illusions of architectural
compositions, and included vistas of landscape, trying as it were to deny the existence of the real wall and
suggest further extension into more distant space. Imitations of panel paintings with mythologicalsubjects
are also popular.
In the closing stages of the Second Style, which we would place during the reign of Augustus, there is a
tendency for unreal or fanciful elements to be incorporated in the decoration, and by the end of the reign
of Augustus (A.D. 14) the Third (sometimes called the Egyptianising or Tapestry) Style had been
developed. In this there are still architectural elements, but many of them are fantastic, and such panel
paintings as are represented do not suggest a vista. Someof the minor decorative elements seem to be of
Egyptian origin. This was the fashionable style at Pompeii until the time of the earthquakewhich damaged
the city in A.D. 62.
Between A.D. 62 and the final destruction of the cities around Vesuvius in A.D. 79 much rebuilding
and redecoration took place. As a result the Fourth (the Ornamental or Intricate) Style is better represented
there than any other. Here the wall is opened up again and often more distant vistas are suggested, but
with no logical connection between them. A very common arrangement is for the wall tobe divided into
nine rectangles on three levels, each of these receiving its own decoration; in such cases it is common to
find that the three rectangles at the lowest level are at least partly decorated with imitations of marble
slabs in the manner of the First Style.
It should be emphasised that when one is attempting to distinguish between these styles, and to classify
the decoration of a room under one heading or another, it is the arrangement of the whole wall that needs
to be considered. Individual panels cannot in themselves be dated to any period, and in cases where a
painting which forms part of the decoration of a wall has been removed and is displayed elsewhere, it is
not particularly helpful to label it as ‘Fourth’ (or any other) Style.
-style. Many words end in these letters, which join the Greek word stylos meaning ‘column, pillar’ to
other words which describe the number of columns across the fron of a building, or the way in which they
are spaced relative to their neighbours.
Stylobate. The outer part of the floor (see Crepis) of a Greek temple, on which the columns (see -Style)
were placed.
Sub-. Many archaeological terms begin with this prefix which indicates the last or closing stages of an
archaeological period or style, when it is about to be overtaken by its successor (e.g. Subgeometric or
Submycenaean). It should be remember that in history or archaeology a ‘lower’ date is a later one, just as
a ‘higher’ date is an earlier one.
Sudatorium. A sweating-room in a bathing establishment.
Suggestus or -um. A stage or platform on which a person of importance might appear, or a speaker
address his audience.
Suovetaurilia. From sus, a pig, ovis, a sheep and taurus, a bull, a triple sacrifice performed by the
Romans on occasions of great importance (see Sacrifice).
Swallow-tail, see Clamp.
Swastika. A cross with arms of equal length, all bent or curved at right angles in the same direction
(sometimes also called a gammate cross because the arms resemble the Greek letter gamma, or a fylfot).
There is no evidence that in Greek art swastikas were thought of as anything but decorative patterns,
although in eastern art they may originally have been solar symbols.
Suspensura. A name (also used in the plural, -ae) for a suspended floor, particularly that of a hypocaust.
Syrinx. An Arcadian nymph who was changed into a bed of reeds by her fellow nymphs to protect her
from the amorous Pan. After losing her in this way he made a set of musical pipes from these reeds; the
name of syrinx is therefore sometimes given to these ‘Pan pipes’.
Systyle. The name given by Vitruvius to the arrangement of a building with the columns spaced two lower
diameters apart (cf. -style).
Settling tank. In the Roman aqueduct system a settling tank was used after water had been brought into a
city so that suspended matter would fall to the bottom before the water was piped to outlets from which it
could be drawn.
Sigillum. A diminutive form of signum, a sign or seal, sometimes used to describe a decorated or
embossed object (for example a decorative plaque). For stamped pottery, see Terra sigillata.
Signinum see Opus.
Signum. A sign or seal; in particular, a military standard.
Silenus. In Greek mythology the father of the satyrs. Often, however, satyrs and silens are confused.
Sima. The crowning moulding of the cornice of a building (raking or horizontal), serving the function of a
gutter.
Sinter. The word is used by scientists to describe a hard deposit formed on rocks by the deposition of
minerals from water; also as a name for the formation of a hard coating by other means, such as firing of
vases in a kiln after they have been covered with a wash of some substance for this purpose.
Siphon. In the Roman aqueduct system, pipes forming an inverted syphon were occasionally used to
transfer water from one side of a valley to another.
Siren. A creature with the body and wings of a bird and the head of a woman, distinguished by an
enchanting voice. The Sirens, according to tradition, lived on the west coast of Italy between the
Sorrentine peninsula and the straits of Messina. They sang so sweetly that no sailor could resist being
lured to his doom.
Skene. ‘Tent, booth’, a word which may in the early stages of development of the Greek theatre have
referred to some temporary structure used as a waiting or dressing room by actors at the edge of the
orchestra (see Theatre). It later became the name of the background, which in due course came to be
painted in a great variety of ways (hence our ‘scene,scenery’).
Slip. A mixture of clay and water used to give a smooth finish to a completed vase or as as the basis for a
pigment or glaze. Ancient Greek kilns could not reach a high enough temperature to produce a true glaze,
and ‘slip’ is therefore the most correct technical term to use for the finishes used in the red figure and
black figure techniques.
Socle. The lower part of a wall, often built more strongly than the upper parts, and sometimes emphasised
as a decorative feature.
Soffit. The lower exposed surface of a part of a building, particularly the lower surface of an arch,
architrave or cornice.
Solomonic. A term used to describe a column of twisted form, with deep spiralling grooves.
Soros. ‘Mound’; in particular a burial mound, the most famous example being the mound erected on the
battlefield of Marathon over the graves of the Athenians who died there.
Spandrel or spandril. A triangular space with two straight and one curved side formed by the curving
shoulder of an arch and the horizontal and vertical lines of the architecture or its decorative mouldings
above and to the side of it.
Specus. The channel of an aqueduct.
Sphinx. A hybrid creature consisting of a lion’s body with a woman’s head (there is also a male version
called an androsphinx). Borrowed from Egypt, it occasionally appears in Greek and Roman art.
Spicatum, see Opus.
Sphyrelaton. ‘Worked with the hammer’, a term used in a general way in Greek to describe work in
hammered rather than in cast metal. It is also particularly associated with Greek statues made during the
archaic period by fixing plates of hammered metal on to wooden cores. Fragments of some pieces of such
work survive. A major work of this kind which is mentioned by Pausanias was the statue of Apollo made
in the 6th century B.C. at Amyclae near Sparta which could be seen at the‘Throne’ of Apollo built there
by the architect Bathycles.
Spielbein, see Polycleitan stance.
Spina. ‘Spine’, the word favoured by modern writers as the name of the dividing wall or basin which ran
along the centre of an ancient circus (see also Euripus).
Spintria. From the Greek sphinkter, ‘anal muscle’, a word for a male or female prostitute engaging in
sodomy. The Roman historian Suetonius retails gossip concerning the emperor Tiberius to the effect that
he was accompanied by spintriae at his secluded villa on Capri. As a result, although there is certainly no
possible connection with Tiberius, the word has come to be used rather illogically to describe a class of
coin-like objects depicting couples engaged in sexual encounters of all kinds. They may in fact have been
tokens for use in brothels.
Squinch. A small flat arch set diagonally across the internal angle of a square building, turning it into an
octagon. This reduced the stresses which were caused by setting a dome on a square base (cf.Pendentive).
The squinch is occasionally found in the architecture of the eastern part of the Roman Empire.
Stadium. Originally a measure of length, two hundred paces or six hundred feet, the stadion became the
standard length of a Greek racetrack for athletes (as opposed to a hippodrome which of course was
longer). Well preserved stadia exist at Delphi and Olympia. When archaeologists are attempting to
estimate the exact length of the foot which was used in different Greek communities, the length of the
local stadium is often a relevant fact.
Stamnos. In ancient Greek the word has an imprecise meaning, signifying no more than a jar for storage
purposes. Modern writers use it to describe a jar of similar shape to the hydria, with a moderately wide
neck and broad shoulders tapering to a narrower base, with twohorizontal handles (as opposed to the two
horizontal handles and one vertical handle of the hydria).
Standard. According to Roman tradition, in the earliest times Roman soldiers used a bunch of straw on
top of a pole as a rallying point, and this was later developed into a standard (signum). By the time of the
Roman Empire each legion had a number of standards. One was called the aquila or eagle and was
surmounted by the representation of an eagle. Another might bear upon it the figure of the legion’s own
animal or bird. Smaller divisions of the legion also had their own standards. All of these were decorated
with a variety of objects connected with the history of the legion or its successes: phalerae, torcs, crowns,
imagine clipeatae etc. In later times the vexillum replaced the standard in some cases.
Stater. ‘Weighing, weight’, a word which was used in some parts of the Greek world for a standard unit
of weight or for a coin which was the major or standard unit in a series. The early electrum coinage of
Asia Minor was issued in the form of staters and sixths (hektai ), withsome other denominations. Some of
the silver and gold coinage of
Greece itself was also denominated in staters (for example, the silver coins of Aegina which were
didrachms but were usually listed in accounts as staters, the tridrachms of Corinth and the gold coins of
Philip of Macedon and his successors).
Statue. A statue is strictly speaking a standing figure, as opposed to a bust, herm or imago clipeata, or a
figure represented in relief.
Stele. A pillar or slab of stone or metal with or without inscriptions or other painted or carved decoration
which may be set up as a boundary or grave marker, or serve some commemorative purpose (cf.Cippus).
At Athens many funerary stelae of the late archaic and classical periods were decorated with sculpture (a
sumptuary law of 317 B.C. forbade the practice because too many people were competing with each other
and spending too much money).
Stereobate. This word is often used by modern writers as a name for the two lowest steps of a Greek
temple below the stylobate. It isdoubtful whether this is the sense in which it would have been understood
by a Greek builder. Vitruvius defines the stereobatae (using the plural form) as the walls under the
columns, but it is not clear what he means. It might be better to avoid using this word.
Stilus, see -Style.
Stoa. The Greek word for a colonnade or portico (Latin porticus). As an architectural form the stoa varied
from a simple arrangement consisting of a row of columns supporting a sloping roof attached to a back
wall, to a building of more than one story with rooms behind the colonnade instead of a simple wall. A
stoa might also be built with two wings joining at an angle, or around three or four sides of a rectangular
open space. In its simplest form the stoa provided shelter from the elements. In its more developed form it
provided accommodation for a great variety of civic and commercial (as opposed to religious)activities.
The best known ancient Greek stoa is that of Attalus II atAthens which has been rebuilt by the American
School of Classical Studies at Athens in conjunction with the Greek Archaeological Service and is now
used as a museum and offices.
Stretcher. A stone or brick placed in a wall so that its longer side is visible (as opposed to a header).
Stucco. The Italian word which is used to describe a very hard plaster which is applied to walls, columns
or ceilings of buildings to enhance their appearance. It may contain powdered stone or marble, and
colouring pigments. Stucco may be applied as a flat coat, or modelled.
Strigil. A scraper, curved in shape and also in section, which was used to remove oil and grime from the
skin. In art it is sometimes found as an attribute or a symbol of athletes. The term‘strigillated’ is
sometimes used to describe objects which are decorated with parallel grooves which have the same profile
as that of a strigil.
Strong style, see Severe Style.
-Style. The Greek stulos , meaning a rod or shaft, forms part of a number of words which indicate the
number or arrangement of the columns in a building (e.g. distyle, hexastyle, peristyle, prostyle, stylobate).
For the terms used by Vitruvius to describe the spacings between the columns of a building, see
Intercolumniation.
Style. This word is often used, but less often defined. When one speaks of an artistic style, one thinks in
the first place of the technical features which distinguish work of different kinds. These may be a result
of the materials or tools which are used; for instance, work in a very coarse or hard material will have a
different appearance from work in a fine or easily worked material. Work produced with a chisel or an
engraving tool is likely to have a different appearance from work produced by modelling or casting,
although one may try to imitate the other. Work produced by painting in a variety of colours will have a
different appearance from work which consists of painting in one colour only, or drawing with an
instrument which can only produce lines of an unvarying thickness. Building in timber will have a
different form from building in brick, concrete or stone, although sometimes the decorative elements are
the same. The style of a work may be influenced by its purpose; on the other hand the characteristicss of
a style may be the result of decisions taken by artists, exercising their creative power or ‘artistic will’.
 Further than this, the elements of style are line, colour (if applicable), shape (which is perhaps a
better word to use than ‘form’, which has too many alternative meanings), the treatment of anatomy and
the proportions of figures, the rendering of drapery and other forms, surface texture (real or suggested),
composition and perspective, and the choice or range of subjects. Under the general heading of shape or
form we may include the degree of modelling or relief which is suggested in two-dimensional work, or
made a feature of work which is not completely in the round. We may talk of the style of an individual
artist, or of a group or school, or of an area or a period.
Some differences between one style and another are the result of technical devel-opments.
Architects may discover new materials or learn new uses of materials which they have already been
using. Over a generation or a century artists may learn better ways of representing the human body or
folds of drapery in a realistic manner. More sophisticated conventions of perspective may be adopted, or
ways of including greater numbers of figures in a scene without creating confusion may be devised.
There may on the other hand be a reaction against technical virtuosity, or a loss of the ability to create it,
resulting in a move towards simple forms and compositions.
Differences or changes in style may also be the result of external influences, caused by the
movement of artists or of works of art from one place to another. Again, they may be caused by historical
events or social developments, or they may have their origin in philosophical or religious trends. In
modern times there is also the influence of commercial motives, which lead to the creation of new styles
as a means of persuading consumers to buy things which they would otherwise not buy.
Styles, Pompeian. In the l9th century when the painted wall decorations of houses at Pompeii and
Herculaneum were first scientifically studied, a classification into four styles was developed. This is
sometimes useful for dating, although it is clear that older styles did not necessarily disappear when newer
fashions were adopted.
The so-called First Style does not use figures or decorative patterns. It consists simply of attempts to
represent on the plaster of the walls the appearance of slabs of much more expensive materials. It is found
in Hellenistic Greek buildings. It is sometimes called the Incrustation (from crusta , the Latin word for a
decorative facing slab of stone) or Masonry Style. It came into vogue at Pompeii in the middle of the 2nd
century B.C. After the arrival of the Second Style it frequently forms a subsidiary part of other decorative
schemes.
T
Taberna. A shop, from which a variety of goods might be sold. Since some tabernae sold wine in addition
to food, they sometimes served as taverns in the modern sense.
Tablinum. A room in a Roman house in which the tabulae, the business records or the family archives,
would be kept, perhaps with such important heirlooms as ancestral portraits. Because of the need to
protect all these things it might also serve as the bedroom of the master of the house. In Pompeian houses
the room which is identified as the tablinum is normally situated at the back of the atrium, opposite the
entrance of the house.
Tabula. ‘Tablet’, a word with several meanings. It may refer to a painting, to the slab of stone or sheet of
metal on which an inscription is engraved, or to a document (cf. Tablinum).
Tabularium. A building in which records (tabulae) were kept. The Republican Tabularium at Rome,
much of which survives, was built on the slopes of the Capitol at the western end of the Forum above the
temple of Saturn (the original treasury or aerarium of the city.
Taenia. A decorative band or fillet; in particular, the flat strip separating the architrave from the frieze in
the Doric order.
Talent. A Greek weight of approximately twenty-six kilograms. In the Attic weight system a talent
contained 6,000 drachmas of 4.3g and in the Aeginetan 4200 drachmas or 2100 staters of 6.1g, these being
the weights in which coin denominations were also calculated. In addition to being used for weighing
objects, the talent (from the Greek talanton, ‘scale’) was therefore also a unit in the computation of large
sums of money.
Tanagra. A town in Boeotia, particularly noted as a centre of production of terracotta figurines in the
Hellenistic period.
Telamon. A male figure used in architecture as a support instead of a column (cf. Atlas, Caryatid).
Telephus. A mythical early king of Mysia, who was used by the Attalid kings of Pergamum as a
substitute for the founder or hero which their dynasty lacked. It was said that during the Trojan War
Telephus was wounded by Achilles, and could be healed only by the application of rust from the spear
which had made the wound; the story of his dressing himself as a beggar and entering the Greek camp in
this disguise to seek a cure is found as a subject in Greek art and literature. The internal frieze of the great
Altar of Zeus at Pergamum showed the story of his birth in Arcadia and subsequent episodes in his life.
Temenos. A piece of ground reserved for some purpose, particularly a religious one. The word is used to
indicate the area of ground within which a temple, altar or shrine stands, or the whole area of a sanctuary.
Tepidarium. In Roman baths, an intermediate room between the frigidarium and the caldarium.
Terme, see Thermae.
Terminal figure. An expression used by some modern writers to describe a herm (cf. Terminus).
Terminus. A Roman god or personification, the supernatural guardian of boundaries. It is doubtful
whether he was ever represented in anything but aniconic form, i.e. as a stone or pillar, even when equated
with Jupiter under the title Iuppiter Terminalis (cf. Herm).
Terra sigillata. ‘Marked/stamped earth/clay’, a term used to describe pottery decorated with designs in
relief, produced by pressing the clay into moulds. Some Greek pottery was decorated in this way (see
Samian ware) and Arretium in Italy (the modern Arezzo) was also a centre of production, so the term
‘Arretine ware’ has been used as a name for it, but the general term ‘terra sigillata’ is preferable, since this
technique was used in so many places, principally in Gaul, in Roman times.
Tessera. A four-sided object (from the Greek word for four). It is now used to describe a four-sided stone
used to make a mosaic, or one of a variety of objects used as tickets, counters in board games, plaques,
tickets and tokens.
Testaceum, see Opus.
Testudo. A tortoise shell, or a lyre with its sounding-box made from such a shell. The word might be used
to describe a vault or a hip roof in architecture; in military terminology it was the name of a roof of shields
which soldiers raised above their heads when attacking a wall, or of a movable shed constructed over a
battering ram.
Tetradoros. ‘Four-handed’, a term used by Vitruvius to describe a brick four palms long and four palms
wide which he says was used in private rather than public buildings.
Tetradrachm. A Greek silver coin of four drachmas.
Tetrarch. A ruler of one of four sections of a country or province (the word was also sometimes used
loosely of any subordinate ruler in Syria and Palestine in the Hellenistic period). At the end of the 3rd
century A.D. the Roman Empire was divided for administrative purpose into a western and an eastern part,
each ruled by a senior emperor or Augustus, and a junior emperor or Caesar. This tetrarchic system lasted
for about twenty years before it broke up. During this time the tetrarchs were often represented in works of
art as a group of four rulers, or in pairs, or as a group of three rulers if one position happened to be vacant.
Tetrastyle. With four columns at the front (cf. -style).
Theatre. The Greek word theatron means ‘viewing place’ (cf. Odeum). The theatre as an architectural
building form was first developed at Athens, the city where drama subsequently rose to its highest level.
Here the earliest performances of which we have record took place in the Agora, where a circular area
called the Orchestra (‘dancing place’) was the scene of contests between choruses. At a later date single
actors were introduced, who engaged in interchanges with a chorus, and in due course the number of
actors was increased to two and then to three. If there were more than three parts to be played, some
would be shared by an actor. All performers in drama wore masks, so it was easier for this duplication to
take place than it would be in the modern theatre. We assume that temporary wooden seating for the
audience was provided on the flat ground of the Agora around the orchestra when dramatic contests took
place. At some time during the first half of the 5th century B.C., however, a new site was chosen, on the
south side of the Acropolis near a shrine of Dionysus the god who was the patron of drama. Permanent
seating was built on the slope of the hill above the new orchestra, and the ‘Greek theatre’ as we know it
came into being. Its auditorium took the form of an approximate semicircle with the orchestra at its centre.
This theatre was modified and extended on a number of occasions. We do not know exactly when a raised
stage or proscenium and a formal or monumental background were introduced.
The Romans developed the theatre as an architectural form by reducing the orchestra to a half circle
(the Chorus had disappeared from plays by this time, and the area was now used either for seating or for
spectacles such as gladiatorial displays, wild beast hunts or mock sea battles). Roman building technology,
with its use of concrete walling, made it unnecessary to seek for a hillside on which to place a theatre. The
cavea could be located in any place where the soil would provide a stable foundation. It became
customary also for the stage buildings to rise to a height equal to that of the back of the cavea, which
improved the already good acoustics of such structures.
Thermae. From the Greek thermos, ‘hot’, a word used instead of the more common balaneion or balneum
as the name of a very large bathing establishment for public use. The Thermae which some of the Roman
emperors built were used not only for washing, but as luxurious centres for public recreation.
Considerable remains survive at Rome of two of the largest, the Thermae of Caracalla and the Thermae of
Diocletian, the latter now housing the collections of the National Archaeological Museum (Museo
Nazionale Archeologico delle Terme). Such Thermae contained not only the usual rooms for bathing (see
Baths), but exercise areas, libraries, shops and large covered spaces in which the patrons could meet one
another. They were served by aqueduct systems which gave them a permanent reliable supply of water.
The price of entry was kept low, so that as many persons as possible could make use of them.
Thermopolium. A refreshment room or shop in which warm drinks or food were sold.
Theseum. A name formerly given to a temple in the Agora at Athens which was once believed to have
been dedicated to the Attic hero Theseus. It was later established that it was a temple in which Hephaestus
and Athena were worshipped, and it is now more usually called the Hephaesteum.
Third Style, see Styles, Pompeian.
Tholos. In Greek architectural terminology, a round building (cf. Rotunda). The word is used of the
Mycenaean ‘beehive’ tombs, and is also applied to a small number of completely round (as opposed to
apsidal) buildings of later periods. Of those that were built during the Classical period, some seem to have
been for administrative purposes (the Tholos in the Athenian Agora (cf. Prytaneum) and perhaps the
Tholos in the lower precinct (Marmaria or the sanctury of Athena Pronaia) at Delphi. A building of tholos
form at Epidaurus had a basement of maze-like form; it is suspected that this might have housed a snake
or snakes sacred to Aesculapius the god of healing.
Thymele. A word which seems to mean’hearth’, particularly in the sense of a fire over which sacrifices
were prepared. It was sometimes used of the altar in the centre of a Greek theatre.
Thyrsus. A staff (originally a wand of a variety of fennel), surmounted by a pine cone or a bunch of ivy,
which was carried by Dionysus or his followers.
Tiara. The word most commonly used by modern writers to describe the head covering worn by the king
of Persia, his satraps and some other rulers in Asia (the terms mitra, kyrbasia, kidaris and kitaris are also
found). The ‘tiara’ took the form of a hood covering the head, the back of the neck and the sides of the
face; it might also be wrapped around the jaw. In the Persian world only the Great King might wear his
kyrbasia or tiara with its upper part raised, and his subjects kept theirs lowered.
Tiles. Ancient roof tiles were not unlike modern ones. They were of two principal forms. Sometimes they
were semicircular in form, laid in rows facing alternately upwards and downwards. This form is more
common in early work and in private buildings; it is found only in clay and not in marble. In the other
form there are flat ‘rain tiles’ with a variety of different kinds of ridge at the edge to prevent water from
seeping over the sides, and ‘cover tiles’ which fitted over the joints between them and along the edge of
the roof. Some tiles were pierced to admit light to the attic below.
Toga. A woollen garment worn by the Romans on certain formal occasions. It was inherited from the
Etruscans and was semicircular in shape, with a diameter of between five and six metres. It was draped
over the left shoulder and down the back, then brought round to the front (leaving the right shoulder bare)
and passed over the left shoulder again. The trailing end was then draped over the left forearm. In Roman
art a ‘togate’ figure may be assumed to be carrying out some formal function; for example, when an
emperor is represented as wearing a toga it is likely that emphasis is intended to be placed on his holding
of the consulship.
Tondo. A contracted form of the Italian rotondo, used as a name for a circular painting or piece of relief
sculpture, whether standing on its own or placed on some other object or building (cf. Medallion,
Roundel).
Torc or torque. From the Latin torques (a word which has the same form in the singular and the plural),
meaning a necklace or arm band of twisted metal. These were sometimes awarded to Roman soldiers as
marks of valour. They were also favoured by the Gauls as items of personal adornment.
Torus. In architecture, a convex moulding of semi-circular profile, most often encountered as part of the
base of an Ionic column.
Tragoedia. The dramatic form which we know as Tragedy (literally ‘goat song’ in Greek, a word which
has been explained in a variety of ways). In art Tragoedia may be represented in personified form by a
female figure, like the matching personification of Comoedia; the most usual attribute which identifies her
is a tragic mask.
Travertine. A stone used for building in Rome and its neighbourhood. It is a form of tufa, but harder, and
although it does not present such a good appearance as marble, having a yellowish-white tint without
interesting veinings, it has always been favoured for its hard wearing qualities.
Treasury. This word may describe any kind of building used to store treasure, including an official store
of public money (cf. Aerarium). It translates the Greek thesauros, a word which was sometimes applied in
ancient times as a variant on the simple word oikos (‘house, building’) when referring to a number of
elegant small buildings which were constructed at the great national centres of Delphi and Olympia by a
number of Greek states. The protection of ‘treasures’ was only a part of their purpose. They were erected
in the first place as advertisements for the cities which paid for their construction. They also served as
useful meeting places for representatives of their owners who, particularly at Delphi, might be engaged in
business of a diplomatic nature. The best known of these treasuries is the Treasury of the Athenians at
Delphi which was reconstructed at the beginning of the 20th century. It was probably built between 515
and 510 BC, although many scholars have attempted to defend the opinion of Pausanias, that it and a base
for commemorative statues which was placed at the side of it (the latter being certainly a memorial of the
victory at Marathon) were both built to commemorate the defeat of the Persians in 490 B.C. Another
treasury at Delphi is of considerable importance in the history of ancient Greek art because it can be dated
with some confidence from literary evidence to 525 B.C. or very shortly before. This is the treasury of the
Siphnians, and when attempting to date archaic sculpture or vase painting scholars regularly use the
sculpture which decorated its front pediment and Ionic frieze as a basis for comparison with other work.
Trefoil. A shape like a three-leaved clover which occurs as an ornament in some late Roman and
Byzantine work. The word is also used to describe the shape of the lip of a class of oinochoe which began
to be made at Corinth in the archaic period.
Tribunal. In Latin tribunus (tribune), which originally meant the representative of a tribe (tribus) became
the title of certain kinds of magistrate or military officer. The word tribunal, derived from it, originally the
dais or raised platform from which such a magistrate might exercise his functions, has now become a
general word for a court of judgement.
Triclinium. ‘Three-couch’, the name of a formal Roman dining room. It is not clear whether this was
because in the standard arrangement each couch held three diners, because at a small dinner party three
couches might be a standard arrangement, or because the couches were arranged around three sides of a
serving table (cf. Cenatio and Cenaculum).
Trident. A three-pronged fork used by fishermen. In art it may be a symbol of Poseidon or of Neptune. It
was also used in gladiatorial contests by a retiarius.
Triens. ‘Third’, a Roman coin one-third of an as in value.
Triga. A chariot drawn by three horses, an arrangement which was much less common than a biga or
quadriga.
Triglyph. ‘Three-groove’, a part of the characteristic frieze of the Doric order, alternating with the
metopes. The name is hard to understand, because its appearance is in fact that of three half-hexagons
standing out from the building, separated by two grooves for most of their height. The origin of the
triglyph must be sought in timber building forms, but there is now no evidence to show exactly what it
was derived from. Some have thought that triglyphs represent the ends of beams, others that the metopes
represent the ends of beams and the triglyphs imitate barred grilles between them, and there have been
other suggestions which it would not be useful to mention. The placing of the corner triglyph at the angle
of a building was often difficult. Since triglyphs were placed over columns (and over the centres of
intercolumniations), when the width of the triglyph and the thickness of the architrave (which also had to
be centred over the columns) were not the same, it was necessary either to leave a gap of less than the
width of a metope at the corner, or to move the triglyph out to the corner, in which case it was no longer
over the angle column. The former solution was preferred by the Greeks, and the latter by the Romans.
Occasionally pentaglyphs or ‘five-grooves’ are found, but this variant is rare.
Triobol. A coin of three obols, which might also be called a hemidrachm or half drachma.
Tripod. A three-legged stand, often with handles, which might serve as a seat or as a support for a bowl or
basin. In Greek art the tripod may be a symbol of prophetic power. It is particularly associated with the
cult of Apollo at Delphi where his priestess, the Pythia, prophesied sitting on or by a tripod. Tripods may
have been used as standard units of value during the archaic period, and were given as prizes in certain
contests, but there is no evidence that they were regularly used as an early form of money, as has
sometimes been suggested.
Triptych. ‘Three-fold’, a word used to describe a work of art which consists of three panels joined
together side by side (cf. Diptych).
Trireme. A Greek or Roman warship propelled by three banks of oars, with the oarsmen sitting at
different levels in a diagonally staggered arrangement. It was invented in the 6th century B.C. and used
until the time of the Roman empire. By arranging the oars in this way it was possible to make use of the
force of up to l70 oarsmen in a vessel no more than 35m in length. The trireme was equipped with a
bronze ram at the bows, which was used to damage the planking of an enemy vessel, thus causing it to
sink. It could also be sailed. In battle only a small mast and sail was carried, because the vessel would be
rowed, not sailed, when fighting, and a mast of full size would have been a disadvantage and even
dangerous in some circumstances.
Triton. A male sea god, son of Poseidon and his consort Amphitrite. Originally a single figure in
mythology, he is often multiplied in art and literature (cf. Silenus). Tritons are represented as male figures
with marine attributes such as fins and the tails of fish. They may carry tridents or conch shells, blowing
the latter to calm the seas or terrify their enemies.
Triumph. The Latin triumphus is derived from the Greek thriambos, the name of a procession in honour
of Dionysus. By the time the word had reached the Romans through the Etruscans it had lost this meaning
and had become the name of a procession granted to a victorious general. For a victory to be deemed
worthy of a triumph it was necessary for it to have been won over a foreign enemy and for a sufficient
number of the enemy to have been killed or captured, and booty taken. A general whose victory fell short
of these requirements might be granted a lesser celebration, an ovation. During the Roman empire it was,
of course, the emperor who was regarded as the ultimate victor, whoever had been responsible for the
conduct of the actual warfare, and panels of relief sculpture in which the emperor takes part in a triumphal
procession became part of the standard repertoire of Roman Imperial art. In architecture also monumental
free-standing arches decorated with sculpture advertising imperial victories (an architectural form which is
first found in the late Republic) were erected on many occasions, the most famous being the Arch of
Constantine at Rome. Most of them were triple in form, with a large central passage and a smaller one on
each side. Even when they do not commemorate victories over the enemies of Rome, such arches are often
called triumphal arches.
Trophy. The Latin tropaeum and Greek tropaion (from trope, ‘turning’) were the names given to the kind
of monument set up to celebrate the defeat or ‘turning’ of an enemy in battle (they were never used in the
modern sense of the word, that of a prize awarded to a victorious athlete). A trophy in its simplest form
consisted of an upright with a horizontal cross piece on which were suspended a suit of enemy armour. In
art the message may be reinforced by the presence of Victory who crowns the trophy with a wreath of
victory, or by the representation of booty or captives at its foot. A naval victory might be commemorated
in art by a ‘naval trophy’, with parts of warships (see Acrostolium, Aplustre) at its foot.
Turreted. A word which is occasionally used to describe a figure which is wearing a mural crown.
Tuscan. A variant form of ‘Etruscan’. In architecture the Tuscan order has a column with a torus base
moulding, an unfluted column and a necking-roll rather than a necking-ring below the echinus. It is
obviously related to the Greek Doric order. The Tuscan or Etruscan temple had side walls which were
extended to the full width of the building, so that the cella was larger than the cella of an equivalent
Greek-style temple. One kind of Etruscan temple had a triple cella, with three rooms set side by side.
Another feature of the Tuscan temple was its wide eaves, which stretched down from the bottom of the
gable at the front until they came to the level of the tops of the columns of the front porch. In domestic
architecture, as Vitruvius tells us, one arrangement of the atrium of a Roman house was called Tuscan.
Here the roof was supported on beams alone without columns (see Atrium) around the central
compluvium. This must have been possible only in houses of modest size, unless exceptionally large and
strong roof beams were available.
Tutulus. The hat of a Roman priest or flamen. It was almost conical in shape, with a rod projecting from
its top (see Apex).
Tyche. ‘Fortune’, the Latin Fortuna. The personification of Fortune was treated as divine by both Greeks
and Romans, and was often the object of cult and had temples built in her honour. A natural expansion of
her name is Agathe Tyche, ‘Good Fortune’. A common subject in art is the Tyche of an individual city,
who is represented as a clothed female figure wearing a mural crown; the best known example of this is
the Tyche of Antioch.
U
Umbilicus (‘navel’). A monument erected in Rome in the Forum Romanum in the 3rd century A.D.,
imitating the Omphalus of Delphi. It took the form of a truncated cone 5m in diameter at the base
diminishing to 3m at the top.
Ustrinum. A place for cremating the bodies of the dead. The word implies a more formal and
monumental structure than rogus, the general name for a funeral pyre, and was used to refer to the
imperial crematoria which were built in the Campus Martius at Rome.

V
Vallum. From vallus, ‘stake’, the name for a palisade of branches or stakes placed on top of the
embankment (agger) surrounding a Roman military camp.
Vanishing point. In formal perspective, the point to which all lines which represent horizontal lines in the
subject are directed. Unless they have some reason for creating a distortion, most European artists since
the late Middle Ages have designed their work with a single vanishing point. It is clear from Vitruvius that
the concept had at least been theoretically formulated in antiquity, but it is applied in only a very few
surviving works of painting and relief sculpture.
Vaulting tubes. In the later Roman Empire, instead of erecting a timber framework or centring to support
a concrete vault while it was being constructed, before the concrete had set, it was sometimes the practice
to build a framework of small clay tubes, wider at one end than the other, which could be joined to each
other at a slight angle and so make a curved support on which the vault could be built. These arches of
vaulting tubes, which could be covered with a mortar rendering when the vault was finished, are
particularly likely to be found in places where building timber was in short supply.
Velarium. From velum, ‘sail, awning’, an awning stretched over a theatre or amphitheatre.
Venatio. ‘Hunting’, the name given to a kind of display which was popular in the Roman world, when
wild beasts were hunted in the amphitheatres (cf. Bestiarius).
Venus. ‘Charm’, the name of a personification or goddess of Italian origin who was treated as an
equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite. Since in Greek mythology Aphrodite was the mother of Aeneas, who
came to Italy and was the founder of the Roman nation, Venus was an important goddess to the Romans,
and the gens Iulia or Julian family to which Julius Caesar and the first Roman emperors belonged
claimed to be descended from her. A temple to this goddess, Venus Genetrix, was built by Caesar in the
new forum which he began building at Rome before his death. Later Hadrian built a very large temple
between the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum which was dedicated to Venus and to Roma. It had twin
cellas, back to back, with a statue of one of the goddesses in each; this arrangement has inspired the jest
that it is an architectural palindrome, i.e. that the arrangement expresses the idea ROMA-AMOR.
Elsewhere in the Roman world there were other temples to Venus, some of them circular in form. In
Roman art Venus is sometimes represented nude and sometimes tastefully clothed. Her attributes are a
dove, a Cupid or putto, a dolphin or a mirror. Many copies of Greek Aphrodite types survive, several of
which were discovered in Rome, and it is customary to use the name of ‘Venus’ to describe them, together
with some indication of the place of discovery, the pose or the original owner, in order to distinguish one
from another. So we have the Capitoline and Esquiline and Medici Venuses, or the Venus Anadyomene
(‘Rising’, a title which alludes to the Greek myth that Aphrodite was born from the waves).
Verde antico. A marble, mottled with green serpentine patterns, found near Sparta in Greece.
Veristic. Although this word means no more than ‘realistic’, it is popular among art historians as a
description of the very lifelike manner in which many Roman portraits of the late Republic and early
Empire are rendered.
Vermiculatum, see Opus.
Vesta. A daughter of Saturn, and goddess of the home and in particular of the hearth. She was considered
by the Romans to be equivalent to the Greek Hestia. She was worshipped as a goddess of the state as well
as by individual families, and her shrine in the Forum Romanum consisted of a circular structure which
was perhaps inspired by the primitive hut-with-hearth in which her cult would have been of such
importance in early times. The maintenance of her sacred fire there, and other ceremonies connected with
her worship, were carried out by six Vestal Virgins, women chosen from leading families who performed
their duties under the direction of the Pontifex Maximus. Vesta is represented in art as a draped and veiled
female figure with a variety of attributes (simpulum, patera, sceptre, trophy and torch). Augustus built a
second temple in her honour on the Palatine Hill near his own house, and a Palladium was kept there.
When Vesta is shown bearing a Palladium, it is this Vesta of the Palatine who is represented.
Vestibulum. An entrance hall or passage, or porch.
Vexillum. A diminutive form of velum (cf. Velarium), used to describe a flag in the form of a rectangular
piece of material suspended from a horizontal bar which might form part of a military standard, or be a
standard in its own right (for the combination of a vexillum with a christogram, see Labarum). At different
times a vexillum was used as the standard of cavalry attached to a legion, of a detachment of troops (a
vexillatio), of a corps of veterans whose period of service had been completed or in the later Roman
Empire as a substitute for the earlier form of signum or standard, the staff with ornaments attached to it.
Military or naval commanders also had their own vexilla.
Via. ‘Way’, a Latin word which may be part of the name of a street in a town or a road in the countryside;
also the path between the mutules on the soffit under the cornice in the Doric order.
Vicennalia, see Votum.
Victoria. The Roman equivalent of the Greek Nike, represented in art in the same way. She is winged and
clothed in a long robe, is sometimes armed, and may bear a wreath of victory, a round shield a palm
branch, a trophy or a palladium. In Christian art the figure of Nike or Victory, which survived in official
Imperial art longer than any other pagan deity or personification, was used to represent the winged
messenger (in Greek angelos) or angel, of God.
Victoriate. A name given by the Romans to a coin which began to be struck late in the 2nd century B.C.
at the time of the Second Punic War, and continued to be issued for a number of years. Its reverse type
consisted of a figure of Victory crowning a trophy.
Villa. The Latin word commonly used to describe a house standing alone in the countryside, as opposed to
a domus, a house in a town. A villa might be a simple farm house, a more luxurious establishment used as
an out-of-town residence, or a much larger establishment with many buildings such as might be owned by
an emperor or other person of great wealth or exalted position. Examples of the second type are the Villa
of the Mysteries and the Villa of the Papyri outside Pompeii and Herculaneum, and of the third type the
villa at Casale outside Piazza Armerina in Sicily and Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli outside Rome. There is no
specific architectural form which is associated exclusively with the villa, but it often contains some of the
same features as the domus.
Vindicta. A rod with which, according to the Roman custom, a slave was touched during the ceremony of
liberation.(cf. Libertas).
Virtus. Derived from vir, ‘man’, this word has a basic meaning of ‘valour, bravery’ in Latin, although the
more general senses of excellence or virtue are often present. In Roman thought the personifications of
Honos and Virtus were often combined, and they shared a temple at Rome. Virtus appears frequently on
coins, but is rare elsewhere in Roman art. The word is feminine in Latin grammar, and the personification
therefore, in spite of its supposed masculine qualities, takes the form of a draped female figure,
reminiscent of an Amazon, wearing a helmet and holding a spear and a parazonium. She may also bear a
figure of Victory, or a palm branch as a symbol of victory.
Vitruvius. The author of a Roman treatise on architecture, written about 30 B.C. It is a mixture of his own
experience, gained while he was a military engineer, and a great deal of theoretical information gained
from earlier writings on Greek architecture which he had studied, perhaps with the assistance of Greek
teachers. Because of its early date, it has nothing to say about the great architectural achievements of the
Roman Empire. It is not likely that he ever visited Greece, and what he has to say about Greek
architecture is clearly taken from the work of others.Vitruvius does not seem to have won any important
commissions as an architect; his largest undertaking was a basilica at the town of Fano.
Volumen. A book or document in the form of a scroll, instead of separate pages bound together like a
modern book. This latter form (which is called a codex) did not begin to replace the volumen until quite
late in the Roman period.
Volute. A spiralling flat curve, two of which are used to decorate each face of the capital of the Ionic
column. It became customary to make the volutes project at an angle of forty–five degrees at the corners
of a building, and this feature was combined with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian capital in Roman
architecture to make the Composite capital (see also Ionic).
Vomitorium. An exit from a large Roman public building, from which crowds would stream at the end of
a performance. Because of the stories of Roman gluttony which survive in some ancient authors, the word
has been misinterpreted in modern times as the name of a room next to a dining room in which vomiting
could be induced by greedy persons who wished to be able to eat more. This is a figment of the
imagination.
Votive offering. A votive offering is one which is made ex voto, ‘from a vow’, i.e. one which is given to a
deity to whom one has prayed for help, and promised a sacrifice, a statue or some other gift, if some
condition is fulfilled. Often an inscription on the base on which a statue stands will indicate that it is a
votive offering. It is clear from ancient literature that the practice was so widespread that a large number
of the works of art found in religious sanctuaries must have been placed there for this reason.
Votum. ‘Vow’, a term which was increasingly used during the Roman Empire as the practice of taking
formal and ceremonial vows for the welfare of an emperor became more and more common. In the later
Roman Empire decennial vows were taken at the accession of an emperor, and paid off with the
appropriate ceremonies, including renewal, at the expiry of the ten-year period, the decennalia. Vicennalia
and tricennalia, vows for a second and third ten-year period, were occasionally made, and there are
occasional instances of quinquennalia, vows for five years. All of these are likely to be commemorated on
coins, and sometimes on other works of art.
Voussoir. A wedge-shaped block forming part of an arch. The block at the centre of a voussoir arch is
called a key-stone.

W
White ground. In black and red figure vase painting on some occasions the background to the picture is
rendered in white rather than in red or black. Also in the 5th century B.C. Attic vases were sometimes
decorated with polychrome paintings, or in a mixture of polychrome and red figure techniques, with a
white background. This kind of decoration, which was less able to withstand wear than the basic black and
red produced by three-stage firing in a kiln, was most popular on the kind of lekythos which was used as a
traditional tomb offering.
Wappenmünzen. ‘Blazon coins’, a name which is applied to the earliest coins of Athens, which unlike
the coins of other Greek mints present a wide variety of different coin types. The term implies acceptance
of the theory that these different coin types are the blazons of the noble families of Attica, but although
some of them can be shown to have been used for this purpose, it is inherently improbable that any
individual family or clan would have been allowed to place its blazon upon the coinage of the city. It is
therefore more likely that the types which appear on the coins (gorgoneion, wheel, horse, triskeles etc.) are
of religious significance, but the term Wappenmünzen continues to be used.

X
Xoanon. A term used by ancient Greek writers to describe an image, particularly of a god, carved in
wood. Such figures, of which hardly any remains survive, are characteristic of the earlier stages of Greek
art before stone and metal began to be commonly used for such purposes, and before the most lavishly
constructed works began to be made in the chryselephantine technique. In later times they were revered
because of their antiquity. They may sometimes be recognised in representations in other media,
particularly coins, because of their cylindrical appearance, revealing their origin in tree trunks. A notable
example is the statue of Athena on the Acropolis of Athens for which a garment was made every four
years and presented at the Great Panathenaea.
Xystus. ‘Shaved, trimmed’, a word used to describe a garden walk in a private residence, perhaps adorned
with ornamental trees and statuary; also a covered colonnade in a gymnasium, suitable for taking exercise
in inclement weather.

Z
Zodiac. A Greek word meaning ‘with animals’, the word ‘circle’ being implied. It was thought of as a
ring or belt covering the part of the heavens which contains all the positions of the stars and the planets
that were known to ancient astronomers. It was divided into twelve parts, each having its own sign. These
zodiacal signs occasionally occur in Greek and Roman art.
Zophoros. ‘Bearing animals’, a Greek word which occasionally appears in ancient texts in the sense of a
carved frieze, of the kind used in architectural decoration.