- Abyssinia architecture: This ancient kingdom has not been explored by those who could make architecture their study. No continued civilization has flourished there. Evidences of Greek and, perhaps, of Egyptian culture have been found, but these seem to be the only remains of monuments erected by conquering chiefs…
- achech: A fabulous animal of Egyptian antiquity, half lion and half bird.
- amadah: A small temple of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, near Derri in Nubia, converted by the Coptic Christians into a church. It is one of the few peripteral temples of Egypt, surrounded by square piers with a pronaos of four polygonal columns. It measures 71 feet 6 inches by 32 feet 2 inches. Inscriptions of great historical value remain.
- Amenopheium: A group of important buildings dedicated to or erected by the Egyptian king Emenotop III, at Thebes, on the west bank of the Nile.
- androsphinx: Sculptured lion with human head, used in Egyptian art; the Sphinx at Ghizeh is an example of great size.
- Anubis: An Egyptian deity, represented with the head of a dog or jackal, and identified by the later Greeks and Romans with their Hermes or Mercury.
- arura: An ancient Egyptian measure of area; equivalent to 2,740 square meters.
- Barca architecture: That of Northern Africa, west of and near Egypt, including the Pantapolis of Cyrene…
- Cairene architecture: The architecture of Cairo in Egypt, especially the architecture of Saracenic or, more properly speaking, Moslem style. The mosques of Cairo contain the richest ornamentation of the unaltered style invented for the Arabian conquerors by the Byzantine Greeks who worked under their direction, which style was much corrupted in North Africa and in Spain. This Cirene architecture has, then, the peculiar value of having preserved for us the best examples of this curious school of design, and the richest and most tasteful pieces of its ornamentation.
- Canopus: Alexandrian town in Ancient Egypt, celebrated for its canals and beauty. 2. Canopic bulbous ovoid Ancient Egyptian jar, usually of stone, to contain the internal organs of the dead after disemboweling during the mummification process, with the lid shaped like a head…
- causeway: A paved road or passage raised above surrounding low ground. 2. Such a passage ceremonially connecting the valley temple with the pyramid in Egyptian architecture.
- cavetto cornice: The characteristic cornice of most Egyptian buildings, consisting of a large cavetto decorated with vertical leaves, and a roll molding below.
- coilanaglyphic: An Egyptian form of relief is counter sunk, i.e. it does not project above the general surface upon which it is wrought. This is known as cavo relievo or intaglio relevato; also hollow relief or coelanaglyphic sculpture. The outlines are incised and the relief is thus contained in a sunk panel no bigger than itself.
- container: From at least Ancient Egyptian times, plants were transported in containers, and the practice continued under the Greeks and Romans…
- Coptic: Of the Copts, an ancient Egyptian race.
- Coptic architecture: Of the Copts, an ancient Egyptian race.
- cult temple: A temple devoted to the worship of a divinity, as distinguished from a mortuary temple.
- cynocephalus: Beast with the body of an ape, and a dog-like head, probably derived from baboons, found in Ancient Egyptian and Roman work.
- dromos: The long, deep entrance to an ancient Egyptian tomb or a Mycenaean beehive tomb.
- Egyptian: Of or relating to Egypt from approximately 3000 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C.
- Egyptian architecture: The architecture of Egypt from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the Roman period. Its most outstanding achievements are its massive funerary monuments and temples built of stone for permanence, featuring only post-and-lintel construction, corbel vaults without arches and vaulting, and pyramids.
- Egyptian Breccia: Also see Egyptian Breccia Marble.
- Egyptian Breccia Marble: Also see Egyptian Breccia Marble.
- Egyptian cornice: The characteristic cornice of most Egyptian buildings, consisting of a large cavetto molding decorated with vertical leaves, and a torus molding below.
- Egyptian garden: Ancient Egypt was the source of some of the oldest illustrations of gardens, going back to the third millennium BC…
- Egyptian gorge: A characteristic cornice of Egyptian buildings, consisting of a large cavetto decorated with vertical leaves and a roll molding below.
- Egyptian hall: Type of grand rectangular public room, neither its style or form having any connection with Egypt…
- Egyptian Revival style: A minor 19th-century style with battered walls and massive “papyrus” columns. Rarely seen in housing, it was occasionally used for dark public buildings and cemeteries. There was a brief Neo-Egyptian revival in the 1930s.
- Egyptian style: A style characterized by pyramids, lotus columns, and pylons originated by the ancient Egyptians.
- Egyptology: The science and art of Egyptian monuments, artifacts, inscriptions, and the like.
- gorge and roll cornice: A projection along the top of a wall consisting of a concave upper part and a thick molding or rounded section below, much employed in Egyptian architecture.
- gorge cornice: Also see Egyptian gorge.
- Great Sphinx: The most celebrated example of a sphinx, near the Great Pyramid of El Gizeh, hewn from a single sandstone knoll, with the recumbent body of a lion and man’s head; 244 ft (74.4 m) long, 66 ft (20.1 m) high, and 13 ft 8 in. (4.2 m) broad at its widest point; the head is 28 1/2 ft (8.7 m) high from chin to crown. At one time a small temple stood between the forepaws.
- Hathor: The Egyptian goddess of love and happiness, often represented with the head or horns of a cow.
- Hathor-headed: Noting an ancient Egyptian column having as its capital the head of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love and happiness, often represented with the head or horns of a cow. Also, Hathoric.
- Hathoric: Noting an ancient Egyptian column having as its capital the head of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love and happiness, often represented with the head or horns of a cow. Also, Hathoric.
- Hathoric column: In Egyptian architecture, a column the capital of which bears a sculptural representation of Hathor, goddess of love.
- hieroglyph: A figure representing (a) an idea, and intended to convey a meaning, (b) a word or root of a word, or (c) a sound which is part of a word; especially applied to the engraved marks and symbols found on the monuments of ancient Egypt.
- hollow gorge: Same as Egyptian gorge.
- hypogaeum: A subterranean structure hewn out of the rock, such as abound along the Nile. 2. The portion of a building below grade.
- hypogeum: A subterranean structure hewn out of the rock, such as abound along the Nile. 2. The portion of a building below grade.
- hypostyle: Shelter supported by columns; in Egyptian architecture the two middle rows of columns were often carried higher to effect a clerestory.
- hypostyle hall: A large space with a flat roof supported by rows of columns. Prevalent in ancient Egyptian and Achaemenid architecture. 2. A structure whose roofing was supported, within the perimeter, by groups of columns or piers of more than one height; clerestory lights sometimes were introduced.
- kheker: Ancient-Egyptian decorative frieze consisting of repetitive upright motifs resembling papyrus-stalks bundled together with the floral parts at the top, or the fringes of a carpet. 2. Cavetto gorge-cornice carved or painted with vertical leaf-shapes over a torus molding.
- khekher: Ancient-Egyptian decorative frieze consisting of repetitive upright motifs resembling papyrus-stalks bundled together with the floral parts at the top, or the fringes of a carpet. 2. Cavetto gorge-cornice carved or painted with vertical leaf-shapes over a torus molding.
- lion motif: An ancient Egyptian decorating style used on furniture.
- lotiform: Having the shape of a lotus bud or flower, as used in some Egyptian column capitals.
- lotus: A flower of the Nile valley, conventionalized in Egyptian architecture and sculpture.
- lotus capital: In ancient Egyptian architecture, a capital having the shape of a lotus bud.
- lotus-flower capital: In ancient Egyptian architecture, a capital having the shape of a lotus bud.
- madrasah: A theological school, generally arranged around a courtyard, from the 11th century A.D. on, in Anatolia, Persia, and Egypt.
- mastaba: The battered (sloping-walled) tomb buildings of early Egyptian nobles subordinate to the pyramids that they surrounded.
- mastabah: From Arabic mastabah, “bench.” Term used to identify ancient Egyptian tombs with flat tops and battered sides, built over subterranean burial chambers.
- Middle Kingdom: An era of architectural design in Upper/Lower Egypt. See: Egyptian Middle Kingdom Architecture (BC 2055-1650).
- mortuary temple: A temple for offerings and worship of a deceased person, usually a deified king, as distinguished from a cult temple.
- mud building: Building done with natural materials mixed with water, as distinguished from that monolithic work which is made with cement or other prepared material. Pise work and adobe are strictly mud building. This kind of work was done largely in ancient Egypt, and it is evident that many of the forms of the massive stone building of later times were derived directly from the older use of the skeleton frame of light reeds, and the like, covered with mud probably applied in many successive coats.
- New Kingdom: Prolific period of temple building in Ancient Egypt. See: Egyptian New Kingdom Architecture (1550-1069).
- obelisk: From Old French, obelisque; from Greek, obeliskos, “spit or pointed pillar.” A tall narrow square shaft, tapering and ending in a pyramidal point.
- Old Kingdom: Main era of pyramid architecture in Ancient Egypt. See: Early Egyptian Architecture (3100-2181).
- Osirian column: An ancient Egyptian column incorporating the sculptured figure of Osiris, the Egyptian god of death and resurrection.
- Osiride: In ancient Egypt, a type of column in which a standing figure of Osiris is placed before a square pier; it differs from the classical caryatid in that the pier, and not the figure, supports the entablature.
- palm capital: A type of Egyptian capital resembling the spreading crown of a palm tree.
- papyriform: Descriptive of a capital of an Egyptian column having the form of a cluster of papyrus flowers.
- pastophoria: The apartments occupied by a class of Egyptian priest called pastophori; they carried the statues of gods in processions.
- pharaoh: Any of the rulers of ancient Egypt who were believed to be divine and had absolute power.
- propyla: In ancient Egyptian architecture, a monumental gateway, usually between two towers in outline like truncated pyramids, of which one or a series stood before the actual entrance or pylon of most temples or other important buildings.
- propylon: In ancient Egyptian architecture, a monumental gateway, usually between two towers in outline like truncated pyramids, of which one or a series stood before the actual entrance or pylon of most temples or other important buildings.
- pylon: A truncated pyramidal form characteristic of Egyptian monumental architecture, where it was used largely in gateways.
- pylon tower: A truncated pyramidal form characteristic of Egyptian monumental architecture, when applied to a tower.
- pyramid: In ancient Egypt, a quadrilateral masonry mass with steeply sloping sides meeting at an apex, used as a tomb. 2. A polyhedron having a polygonal base and triangular faces meeting at a common point or vertex.
- ramesseum: A group of buildings in Egypt, among the ruins of Thebes, believed to serve as a memorial to Ramses II, and including an enormous gateway with pylons, two great courts surrounded by colonnades, and one large hypostyle hall, with many smaller though still important rooms.
- raven: A bird-like shape with long outstretched wings common in Egyptian and Egyptian Revival architecture.
- rock temple: A temple formed by hewing out the space in a practically vertical rock cliff, as at Abu-Simbel, Egypt; Ellora, India; and Petra, northern Arabia.
- rock tomb: A tomb excavated from the solid rock, as found in Egypt and elsewhere.
- serdab: In ancient Egyptian architecture, a closed statue chamber. 2. In Mesopotamian town houses, a cellar under the courtyard, ventilated and lighted by skylights, serving as a living room during the summer months.
- speos: In ancient Egypt, a temple or part of a temple, or a tomb of some architectural importance, excavated in solid rock; a grotto temple or tomb.
- Sphinx: A fabulous creature, common in Egyptian sculpture. The androsphinx represented the body of a lion with the head of a man; the criosphinx, the body of a lion and the head of a ram; the hieracosphinx, the body of a lion and the head of a hawk.
- sun disk: A disk (representing the sun) with wings; especially used in Egyptian antiquity as emblematic of the sun god.
- sun disk and vulture symbol: A disk (representing the sun) with wings; especially used in Egyptian antiquity as emblematic of the sun god.
- sun-disc: Ancient-Egyptian disc or globe flanked by rearing uraei (snakes) and outstretched wings commonly found on the gorge cornice.
- syene granite: Egyptian syenite; granito rosso. A coarse, red granite occurring at Syene, in Egypt and much used by the ancient Egyptians in the monoliths and temples. The various obelisks, like those in Paris and New York, are of this material.
- syrinx: In ancient Egypt, a narrow and deep rock-cut channel or tunnel forming a characteristic feature of Egyptian tombs of the New Empire.
- tebi: In Egyptian building, brick made of the mud of the Nile, mixed with fragments of pottery, chopped straw, or the like.
- tel: A mound; the modern Arabic term, which enters into many compound names of sites, as in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Also written tell.
- unburnt: Not baked, or fired, in a kiln; said of articles of clay such as in most cases are so completed by exposure to heat. Unburnt bricks are very common in Egyptian and Syrian building.
- uraeus: Representation of the sacred asp, cobra, or serpent, e.g. on the Nemes headdress of Ancient-Egyptian divinities and sovereigns, or on either side of winged discs or globes on the gorge-cornice of Egyptian architecture. See also ouroboros.
- water: Classical ornament such as the Vitruvian scroll may represent waves, while the Ancient-Egyptians used parallel zig-zag lines to suggest water. Sculpted representations of flowing water are associated with grottoes, nymphaea, etc., and are found in rustication, often frozen, or congelated…
- winged globe: Disc or representation of a globe, usually flanked by rearing uraei, associated with Ancient-Egyptian architecture, and often occurring on the cavetto or gorge-cornice.
- ziggurat: A tiered temple from the Egyptian, Sumerian, or Babylonian times that had a pyramidal look to it. This shape was popular during the Art Deco era in buildings such as the Chrysler building.
- zoo: Open-air enclosed area for keeping, displaying, studying, and breeding animals. The type is ancient, for animals were kept in gardens in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China for purposes of providing game for hunting, food, and impressing visitors. Menageries to show off species discovered in explorations were developed from Renaissance times, but the animals were caged rather than allowed the freedom of open-air habitats, and in the 18th c. royal menageries were opened to the public… In the 20th c., with concerns about conservation and improved knowledge about animals’ welfare, natural habitats were created, so the modern zoo promotes horticulture to provide them.
- zoological garden: Open-air enclosed area for keeping, displaying, studying, and breeding animals. The type is ancient, for animals were kept in gardens in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China for purposes of providing game for hunting, food, and impressing visitors. Menageries to show off species discovered in explorations were developed from Renaissance times, but the animals were caged rather than allowed the freedom of open-air habitats, and in the 18th c. royal menageries were opened to the public… In the 20th c., with concerns about conservation and improved knowledge about animals’ welfare, natural habitats were created, so the modern zoo promotes horticulture to provide them.
Also see Architecture Origin index.
Also see Architecture index.