Architecture / Origin / Greek

a la Grecque: Having to do with real or supposed Greek taste or Greek design; applied especially to the fret, meander, or key ornament.
academy: Garden of Akademos near Athens where Plato taught. 2. Institution of higher learning for the arts and sciences. 3. Place of training in skill, e.g. riding. 4. Society/institution for the promotion of art, science, etc.
acaina: An ancient Greek measure of length, equal to 1215 inches (3,086 cm).
acroaterion: In ancient Greece, a hall or place where lectures were given.
acrolith: A statue, in Greek art, having head and extremities of stone, with a trunk usually of wood, draped with textiles.
acropolis: The citadel in ancient Greek towns.
adit: In ancient classical architecture, the entrance or approach to a building.
adyton: The innermost and holiest room of a Greek temple.
aegicrames: In classic sculpture, the heads or skulls of rams.
aegicranes: In classic sculpture, the heads or skulls of rams.
Aeginetan Marbles: A collection of sculptures, the most important of which originally decorated the pediments of the Temple of Aphaea in the island of Aegina, built about 475 B.C. Discovered in 1811, they are preserved in the Glyptothek at Munich. They have given their name to a style of Greek sculpture of the period of transition between the archaic and the fully developed.
Aeolic: Primitive type of Ionic capital with volutes seeming to grow from the shaft and a palmette between the volutes.
aes: In ancient Rome or Greece: copper, tin, or any alloy of these metals.
Aesymnium: The building erected by Aesymnus the Megarean by suggestion of the Delphic Oracle.
aethousa: The portico on the sunny side of the court of a Greek dwelling. 2. The place in an ancient Greek dwelling where strangers slept.
aetiaioi: In ancient Greece, the slabs forming the tympanum of a pediment.
aetoma: Ridge of a Classical temple. 2. Apex acroterium. 3. Pediment tympanum.
aetos: Ridge of a Classical temple. 2. Apex acroterium. 3. Pediment tympanum.
agalma: In ancient Greece, any work of art dedicated to a god.
agora: In ancient Greece, an open space, often the market place.
agyieus: An altar or statue of Apollo, as guardian of the streets and public places; generally placed at the street door of Greek houses, and at the center door of the scena of Greek theatres.
Akropolis: Fortified citadel in Greek cities. “The Acropolis” usually refers to the one in Athens.
Alexandrine: Concerning Alexander the Great and his successors, their dominions and their cities and buildings. 2. Concerning the city of Alexandria in Egypt.
amphidistyle-in-antis: In a Greek temple, having two columns between antae at both front and rear.
amphirostylos: Prostyle at each end; said especially of a Greek or Roman temple.
amphistylar: Said of a classical temple having columns across the length of both sides or across both ends.
amphithalamus: In the early Greek dwelling, an anteroom off a bedchamber.
amphithura: In ecclesiastic antiquity, the curtain, parted in the middle, which separated the chancel from the main body of the church.
amphora: An antique earthenware jar of considerable size, usually provided with two handles. The form varied greatly, from a somewhat full-bodied jar with wide mouth, to a long and slender jar with pointed bottom and large neck. Intended usually for wine or oil, they were used for a great variety of purposes, the largest being as much as 5 feet high.
anabathra: In Classical antiquity, the steps to an elevated area, as in a theatre or circus, or leading to a pulpit.
anaimaktos: Ancient Greek altars on which fruits or inanimate things were offered, without fire or blood.
analemma: A retaining wall at the side of an ancient Greek or Roman theatre. 2. Any raised construction which serves as a support or rest, such as a buttress, pier, foundation, or one wall which supports another.
anathyrosis: A Greek method of fitting masonry without mortar by carefully dressing the contact edges of the blocks, leaving the center rough and slightly recessed.
ancones: A bracket or console used in classical architecture to support a cornice or the entablature over a doorway or window.
androne: A passage/corridor. 2. Ancient Greek male rooms.
angle capital: A capital at the corner where a range of columns turns.
annulated column: A group of slender shafts apparently held together by encircling bands.
anta: Equivalent to pilaster where the latter is the respond to a column. Mostly applied to Greek architecture, where the anta capital is different from that of the columns accompanying it.
antae: Equivalent to pilaster where the latter is the respond to a column. Mostly applied to Greek architecture, where the anta capital is different from that of the columns accompanying it.
antefix: Anthemion-ornamented finials that embellish the edge of a Greek temple above the entablature, covering the open ends of its roof tiles and forming a serrated silhouette.
antefixa: Anthemion-ornamented finials that embellish the edge of a Greek temple above the entablature, covering the open ends of its roof tiles and forming a serrated silhouette.
antefixae: Ornamental blocks used to conceal the ends of tiles on the edge of a roof.
anteportico: An outer porch or a portico in front of the main portico in a classical temple.
anterides: In ancient architecture, the buttresses of a wall.
anthemion: An ornamental design element based on the palmette or honeysuckle.
anthemion and palmette: Also see anthemion.
Antique: Pertaining to the Classical civilizations of Graeco-Roman Antiquity.
antiquity: The ancient Greek or Roman periods.
apophyge: A small, concave curve joining the shaft of a classical column to its base.
apotheca: In ancient Greek architecture, a storage cellar for wine, oil, and the like.
Appoline: Type of decoration drawing on the attributes of the Greek sun-god Apollo, found in Classical Antiquity and revived during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, especially during the reign of Louis Quatorze. Common motifs were the head of Apollo surrounded by sun-rays (the sunburst), the chariot, the lyre, and the sun.
apteral: Descriptive of a temple with porches at ends but without columns on the sides.
apteros: Without wings; said of a personage to whom wings are generally ascribed, as, Nike Apteros, the wingless Victory of the Greeks, perhaps to be identified with the goddess Athene, when appearing as a personification of Victory.
aquila: A tympanum decorated with carvings; properly a Greek term, originating from their very early practice of carving an eagle in the pediment of a temple, especially one dedicated to Zeus (Jupiter). In Etruscan or other edifices of araeostyle construction, the aquila was formed of wood to lighten the weight on the architrave.
Arcadia: Central area of Peloponnesus, shut off from the coast by mountains, inhabited in Antiquity by shepherds and hunters worshipping the nature-deities Pan, Hermes, and Artemis…
arceps: In ancient Greece and Rome, a building in which archives of a city or state were deposited; also called archeion or tabularium. Same as archivium.
archaic smile: The peculiar expression of mouth and eyes, resembling a smile, which characterized early Greek sculpture of the human face down to the close of the 6th century B.C.
archeion: In the ancient Greek temple, a secret place for treasures.
archivium: In ancient Greece and Rome, a building in which archives of a city or state were deposited; also called archeion or tabularium.
areostyle: One of the intercolumniation spacings used in classical architecture – that of four diameters, or even five. It was considered applicable only to the Tuscan order.
areosystyle: Intercolumniation alternately areostyle (four diameters) and systyle (two diameters).
argurokopeion: In ancient Greece, a place where money was coined; a mint.
artemiseion: A building or shrine of Artemis.
artemision: A building or shrine dedicated to the worship of Artemis.
athemion: A Greek architectural ornament in the form of a stylized representation of the flower of the honey-suckle.
Athenian: Adjective, characteristic of the center of Greek art, Athens.
atlantes: Plural form of Atlas, supporting columns in the form of male figures.
Attic: Characteristic of Attica of ancient Greece.
attic: In classical architecture, the space above the entablature or wall cornice; in modern usage, the room or space in the roof of a building; a garret. The term knock-heads is found in earlier literature for describing attics with sloping ceilings.
Attic base: The standard Vitruvian base to a classical column.
attic window: A window lighting an attic story, and often located in a cornice. Attic windows are common to ancient Greek and Greek Revival architecture.
aula: In ancient Greek architecture, a court or hall.
aula regia: The central portion of the scene in the Greek and Roman theatres, especially for tragic performances, representing a noble mansion.
balaneia: Greek term for a bath.
balaneion: A Greek term for a bath.
balteus: Literally, a belt; praecinctio; the band forming the junction of the volutes in an Ionic capital. 2. The wide step between tiers of seats in an ancient theater or amphitheater.
barycae: Greek term for an areostyle temple.
barycephalae: Greek term for an areostyle temple.
basilica: The early Greek name for a royal palace; a large oblong building with double columns and a semicircular apse at one end, frequently used by Christian emperors of Rome for religious purposes.
Bassae Order: Greek Ionic Order with capital similar to an angular capital, that is with volutes on all sides, but with a high curved join set under the abacus between volutes. Developed by C.R. Cockerell from his studies of the temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae.
bell: In Classical architecture, the bare vase form of the Corinthian capital, around which the acanthus leaves are grouped. 2. An electrical device for producing a ringing sound when the electrical circuit is closed. 3. A form made of metal for sounding a musical tone with the aid of a clapper. 4. The base of a caisson enlarged to increase its bearing area.
bolster: A horizontal member used on top of a post or column to lengthen the bearing. 2. The cushion-like member joining the volutes of an Ionic column, the balteus. 3. A horizontal timber on a post for enlarging the bearing area and reducing the free span of a beam.
bomon: In ancient Greece, an altar to a god.
bouleuterion: From Greek boule, the council of ancient Athens. Also the council chamber of ancient Greek cities.
brephotropheum: In ancient Greece and Rome, an institution for foundlings.
bronteum: In ancient Greek theaters, and underfloor space for the sound effect of thunder.
canephora: A maiden bearing a basket on her head in an early Greek religious festival.
canephore: A maiden bearing a basket on her head in an early Greek religious festival.
capeleion: In ancient Greece, a place where wine and provisions are sold. 2. The bar in a public inn.
carceres: The stall doors of a Greek hippodrome or circus.
caryatid: Female figures supporting an entablature. The most famous example is at the Erectheum, Athens, where Vitruvius improbably supposed the figures to represent Carian captives, hence the generic name.
caryatides: Female figures supporting an entablature. The most famous example is at the Erectheum, Athens, where Vitruvius improbably supposed the figures to represent Carian captives, hence the generic name.
cast-iron column: Columns made of cast-iron in numerous shapes and a range of ornamental treatments, but often with classical shapes that are abstracted and flattened.
catabasion: A reliquary or recess for relics under the altar in a Greek church.
cavaedium: In ancient architecture, an open court within a house, or as an entrance; an atrium.
cecropium: A building or sacred spot at Athens, dedicated to or commemorative of Kekrops, the mythical founder of the city…
centaur: In classical mythology, a monster, half man and half horse; a human torso placed on the body of a horse.
cercis: Greek term for the spectators’ section of a theater; the Latin form is cuneus.
chartophylacium: In ancient architecture, a recess or a room for the preservation of valuable records or other writings.
Chi-Rho: A Christian monogram and symbol formed by superimposing the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. Also called chrismon.
choragic monument: In ancient Greece, a commemorative structure, erected by the successful leader in the competitive choral dances in a Dionysiac festival, upon which was displayed the bronze tripod received as a prize; such monument sometimes were further ornamented by renowned artists.
choragium: In ancient Greece and Rome, a large space behind a theatre stage where the choirs rehearsed and where stage properties were kept.
chresmographion: The chamber between the pronaos and the nave or cella of a Greek temple where the oracles were delivered.
chrismographion: The oracle room in a Greek temple, between pronaos and naos or cella.
Chrismon: A monogram of the first two letters of the Greek Christos, widely used in church symbolism.
chryselephantine: Of gold and ivory. Greek statues, often of clay or wood, were sometimes sheathed in thin plates of gold and ivory.
circumlition: The coloring of ancient Greek figure sculpture.
Classic Greek architecture: Apogee of Greek architectural design, much imitated in later architecture.
Classical: Of or relating to the Classical period of architecture and civilization, i.e., Greek and Roman.
Classical architecture: The architecture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, and architecture using forms derived from Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman architecture.
classical figurative statuary: Statues of men and women dressed in ancient Grecian or Roman attire.
Classical orders: The arrangement of columns and entablature used in Classical architecture, including the Greek and Roman orders: Doric, Ionian, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite.
Classical style: A style of architecture and decoration broadly based on ancient Greece and Rome which recurs constantly throughout the history of Western European art, particularly since the Renaissance up to the 19th century.
Classicism: In architecture, principals that emphasize the correct use not only of Roman and Greek, but also of Italian Renaissance models.
cleithral: In early Greek architecture, having a roof that forms a complete covering; said of certain temples, as distinguished from hypaethral.
clepsydra: In ancient Greece, a device for measuring elapsed time by the quantity of water discharged through an opening.
climax: In Greek architecture, the radiating passages with steps in an ancient theatre leading from the orchestra to the various tiers of seats.
clithral: In early Greek architecture, having a roof that forms a complete covering; said of certain temples, as distinguished from hypaethral.
coilon: Greek term corresponding to the Latin cavea; the seating area of the ancient theater or amphitheater; originally, the underground pens for the wild animals awaiting fights in the arena.
column: A vertical support; in classical architecture, a usually cylindrical support, consisting of a base, shaft and capital. 2. A rigid, relatively slender structural member designed primarily to support axial, compressive loads applied at the member ends.
columna caelata: A column adorned by carving, said especially of one whose shaft is so adorned, as those of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The one shaft of which the sculpture is best known was adorned with probably eight figures of life size and larger…
columniation: The manner of grouping columns, particularly the various plans of the ancient Greek temples.
colymbethra: A baptistery, or its font, in the Greek church.
colymbion: A basin for holy water in the Greek church.
Composite Order: A classical order with capitals in which the volutes of the Ionic are combined with the acanthus foliage of the Corinthian.
conisterium: In ancient Greece and Rome, a room appended to a gymnasium or palaestra in which wrestlers were sprinkled with sand or dust after having been anointed with oil.
cora: Literally a maiden; applied by Greek authors to a draped female figure used in architecture.
Corinthian: The slenderest and most ornate of the three Greek orders, characterized by a bell-shaped capital with volutes and two rows of acanthus leaves, and with an elaborate cornice. Much used by the Romans for its showiness. Also see order.
Corinthian capital: The type of Greek column characterized by simulated acanthus leaves.
Corinthian column: A slender, fluted Grecian or Roman column with ornate, leaflike carvings around the capital.
Corinthian Order: The most ornate of the classical Greek orders of architecture, characterized by a slender fluted column with a bell-shaped capital decorated with stylized acanthus leaves; variations of this order were extensively used by the Romans.
cornice: In classical architecture, the upper, projecting section of an entablature; projecting ornamental molding along the top of a building or wall.
cornice return: This deviation from the normal pediment design started in the Baroque age. In Neo-Classical Ontario architecture, cornice returns are frequently employed as a decorative element on the end of a gable or pediment, and also above doorways.
corycaeum: A room in the ephebeum of a palaestra in which young men exercised by striking a large sack or bag filled with flour, sand, or fig seeds; the bag, at body height, hung from the ceiling in a manner similar to a punching bag. Derived from the Greek work korykos for “sack.”
Cretan and Mycenaean: The earliest architectural type of the Ancient Greek world destroyed in the 12th century BC. Mainly known from the excavations at Knossos and Phaestos on Crete.
crossette: A lateral projection of the architrave moldings of classical doors and windows at the extremities of the lintel or head. Also called an ear, or elbow. 2. A small projecting part of an arch stone which hangs upon an adjacent stone.
cymatium: The crown molding that caps a classical cornice (often a cymarecta).
cyzicene: An apartment in an ancient Greek house, usually having a view of a garden, similar to the Roman triclinium.
cyzicene hall: In ancient domestic architecture, a large hall looking out upon a garden; it served the purpose of a triclinium or banquet hall, though much larger than the ordinary triclinium. The cyzicene hall was a feature of Greek rather than of Roman houses.
Daedalus: A Greek mythological figure who personified the beginning of the arts of sculpture and architecture.
decastyle: Indicative of a range of ten columns as a peristyle or as the front portico of a classical temple.
denticulation: An even series of rectangles used as ornament to decorate cornices of classical buildings and fireplace mantels. First found in Greek architecture 400 B.C., the dentil can be found on almost any Classical style building.
dentil: Small rectangular blocks placed in a row, like teeth, as part of a classical cornice.
diaconicon: Originally a place where the deacons kept the vessels used for the church service. 2. In Greek churches, a sacristy to the right of the sanctuary.
diastyle: Having an intercolumniation of three diameters.
diathyra: A vestibule leading to the doors of a Greek house.
diatoni: In ancient Greek and Roman masonry construction, stones which extend the full thickness of the wall; same as through stones.
diatonous: In Greco-Roman work, going through a wall; said of a bond stone.
diaulos: Peristyle round the great court of the palaestra, described by Vitruvius, which measured two stadia (1,200 ft.) in length, on the south side this peristyle had two rows of columns, so that in stormy weather the rain might not be driven into the inner part. The word was also used in ancient Greece for a foot race of twice the usual length.
diazoma: In ancient classical work, the landings at various levels encircling an amphitheater.
dicasterium: In ancient architecture, a tribunal or hall of justice.
dictyotheton: A type of masonry used by the ancient Greeks; composed of square-cut stones, forming a network or chessboard pattern; similar to the opus reticulatum of the Romans. 2. Open lattice masonry to admit light and air.
dipteral: Said of a classical temple having two rows of free columns, rather than a single row, surrounding the cella. Also see peripteral, pseudodipteral.
dipteron: Greek term designating a building having a double peristyle.
dipteros: Greek term designating a building having a double peristyle.
dipylon: In ancient Greece, a gate consisting of two separate gates placed side by side. 2. A gate of this type on the northwestern side of Athens.
Doric: The oldest and simplest of the classical Greek orders, characterized by heavy fluted columns with no base, plain saucer-shaped capitals and a bold simple cornice.
Doric Order: The oldest and simplest of the classical Greek orders, characterized by heavy fluted columns with no base, plain saucer-shaped capitals and a bold simple cornice.
Dryopic: Pertaining to the Dryopians, held to be one of the earliest settlers in Ancient Greece, hence prehistoric columnar structures pre-dating Classical Antiquity, such as those of Euboea.
eagle: A pediment of a Greek building.
echeum: A vase used in the ancient Greek theater for sound amplification.
egg-and-dart: A decorative molding in classical cornices that resembles alternating egg-shaped ovals with downward-pointing darts.
ekklesiasterion: The public hall of a Greek town. 2. The town’s council chamber. 3. A hall for religious meetings.
emplection: Greek and Roman masonry in which thick walls were faced on both sides with ashlar and filled with rubble.
emplecton: A type of masonry commonly used by the Romans and Greeks, especially in fortification walls, in which the exterior faces of the wall were built of ashlar in alternate headers and stretchers, and with the intervening space filled with rubble.
emplectum: A type of masonry commonly used by the Romans and Greeks, especially in fortification walls, in which the exterior faces of the wall were built of ashlar in alternate headers and stretchers, and with the intervening space filled with rubble.
encarpus: In classical architecture, a continuing festoon or swag of fruits and flowers, usually on a frieze.
enneastylar: In classical architecture, having nine columns.
enneastyle: In classical architecture, having nine columns.
enplecton: Greek or Roman masonry consisting of cut stone facings with an infilling of rubble.
entasis: The slight inward curve or taper given to the upper two-thirds of a classical column.
eopyla: Greek term for a church with an apse at the eastern end.
eothola: Greek term for a church with an apse at the western end.
ephebeion: Greek term for a building for exercise and wrestling.
ephebeum: A room for gymnastics in classical public baths.
episkenion: The upper story of the scene building in an ancient Greek or Roman theatre.
epistata: In Grecian archeology, the entablature, or sometimes all the masonry above the column capitals.
epistaton: In Grecian archeology, the entablature, or sometimes all the masonry above the column capitals.
Erechtheum: A temple on the Acropolis in Athens; the most important monument of the Ionic style, including a fine example of a porch of caryatides.
Erecthion: A temple on the Acropolis in Athens; the most important monument of the Ionic style, including a fine example of a porch of caryatides.
ergasterion: In Greek archaeology, a workshop, the term having the large significance of the French atelier. In modern Greek, applied especially to an establishment of some importance maintained by the government or by an association.
eustyle: In classical architecture, descriptive of intercolumniation of 2 1/4 diameters, center to center.
exedra: From Greek ex, “out” plus hedra, “seat.” A seat with a high back, curved in a semicircle. 2. Also a semicircular roofed recess in a building with seats or a curved bench.
fortress: A fortress is an urban center that has a massive stone enclosing wall to protect the inhabitants from bands of thieves, vagrants and advancing armies. Fortresses were known in the Mycean civilization (2000 B.C.), all through the middle ages, and are being built again in smaller and more sophisticated form as “gated communities.”
fret: Meander, or bandlike ornament of shallow short fillets touching each other at right angles, called variously angular guilloche, Greek key, or lattice, depending on the type. If some fillets are set diagonally it is called Chinese fret, found in Chinoiserie and Regency work. 2. Trellis-work. 3. Any interlacing raised work. 4. Complex patterns of ribs on a Gothic vault. 5. Net-like forms, as in tracery.
frieze: The middle horizontal member of a classical entablature, above the architrave and below the cornice. 2. A similar decorative band in a stringcourse, or near the top of an interior wall below the cornice. 3. In house construction, a horizontal member connecting the top of siding with the soffit of the cornice.
frontispiece: A portion of the façade of a building, usually a centered doorway that is slightly raised from the rest of the building and has extensive ornamentation. Frontispieces are generally Classical in design.
geison: In Greek and Greco-Roman architecture, the projection from the face of a wall of the coping or eaves; especially the broad shelf in front of the tympanum of a pediment and formed by the top of the cornice of the entablature below. The triangular panel may be flush with the face of the architrave of this lower entablature, or may be set farther in, making the recess for the statuary or the like so much deeper and increasing the width of the geison. In the Parthenon at Athens this projection, or the width of the geison, is nearly three feet. The term is often extended so as to imply the mass of cut stone itself which projects and forms the cornice of the horizontal entablature.
golden section: A proportional ratio devised by the Greeks that expresses the ideal relationship of unequal parts.
golosniki: In early Russian architecture, acoustic resonators, made of clay, which were set into the upper portion of the walls of some churches; the mount of the resonator faced the interior of the church and was flush with the wall surface. Such resonators also are found in some Greek Orthodox churches and early Scandinavian churches.
gorgoneion: In classical decoration, the mask of a Gorgon, a woman with snakes for hair, to avert evil influences.
Greek: Cross used by various ancient peoples, and as far back as a thousand years before the Christian era.
Greek architecture: For the three centuries after the sixth century B.C., the Greeks created monumental buildings with columns, pediments, entablatures, capitals, bases, and all the elements of architecture that are now referred to as “Classical”.
Greek cross: A cross with four equal arms.
Greek Doric order: Also see Doric order.
Greek foot: An ancient Greek measure of length, equal to 12.15 inches.
Greek fret: A running ornament resembling a series of identical rectilinear labyrinths or mazes.
Greek house: The ancient Greek house varied in design according to the period and the wealth of the owner, but there were three common features. The house was divided into two parts; the men’s apartments (andron) and the women’s apartments (gynaeceum or gynaekonities). The entrance door of the house opened into a vestibule (prothyron); on both sides of the vestibule, in the interior, were the doorkeeper’s room and shops for business and work. The vestibule led to an open court (aula) which was surrounded on three sides by columns, in the middle of which was the altar of Zeus Herkeios, the patron deity of domestic life. Large houses usually had a second court entirely surrounded by columns. At the sides of the aula were rooms for eating, sleeping, and storage, as well as cells for the slaves. On the sides of the court opposite the vestibule there were no columns, but two pilasters which marked the entrance to an open room or vestibule called the prostas or parastas. On one side of the parastas was the sleeping room of the master and mistress of the house (thalamos). Some houses had an upper story, usually smaller in area than the lower story. The roof of the Greek house usually was flat. The rooms usually were lighted through doors which opened into a court.
Greek key: Also see fret.
Greek key pattern: A geometrical decoration made of continuous right-angled lines; also called Greek meander.
Greek masonry: See isodomum.
Greek meander: See Greek key pattern.
Greek order: Also see Greek order.
Greek orders: Also see Greek order.
Greek temple: Temples were monumental homes for the individual god or goddess who protected and sustained the community. Worshippers were not allowed in the temple, although they would be able to see the huge statue of the deity from outside the temple.
Greek theater: An open-air theater, usually hollowed out of the slope of a hillside with a tiered seating area around and facing a circular orchestra backed by the skene, a building for the actors’ use.
Greek theatre: An open-air theatre constructed by the ancient Greeks; usually built on a hillside, with no outside façade. The orchestra, on which the actors and chorus performed, was a full circle; behind it was the skene, a temporary or permanent building for the actors’ use. In the classic theatre, the seating area (around and facing the orchestra) usually occupied approximately three-fifths of a circle. Also see Roman theatre.
Greek tile: A building material made of fired clay, concrete, or asbestos cement. Seam is covered by two adjoining planes at an angle to one another and perpendicular to the flat section of the tile.
Greek-cross plan: Church plan in the form of a Greek cross, with a square central mass and four arms of equal length. The Greek-cross plan was widely used in Byzantine architecture and in Western churches inspired by Byzantine examples.
griffin: A winged lion, familiar in the sculpture of Greece and Persia.
griffon: A winged lion, familiar in the sculpture of Greece and Persia.
gynaeceum: In Greek archaeology, that part of a large dwelling which is devoted to the women, hence, the family rooms as distinguished from the more public rooms where the master and his soldiers or male dependents commonly lived. 2. In modern times a harem; the living place of the women in a dwelling of any nation or epoch. 3. In ecclesiology, that part of a church occupied by women to the exclusion of men, as in early Christian practice, and still to a certain extent in the East.
gynaecium: In Greek archaeology, that part of a large dwelling which is devoted to the women, hence, the family rooms as distinguished from the more public rooms where the master and his soldiers or male dependents commonly lived. 2. In modern times a harem; the living place of the women in a dwelling of any nation or epoch. 3. In ecclesiology, that part of a church occupied by women to the exclusion of men, as in early Christian practice, and still to a certain extent in the East.
gyneaceum: That part of a Greek house or a church reserved for women.
gyneceum: That part of a Greek house or a church reserved for women.
gyneconitis: The section of the Greek church reserved for women.
harmonic proportions: Classical Greek theories, repeated in the Renaissance especially by Alberti and Palladio, relating the proportions of music to those of architectural design.
harmus: Greek term for a tile covering the joint between two common tiles.
hecatomped: Measuring 100 Attic feet in length, e.g. the width of the octastyle front and the length of the naos of the Parthenon, Athens. Hecatompedon is a temple in which 100 feet is an essential element of proportion.
hecatompedon: Greek term for a temple of one-hundred-foot front length – the length of the Parthenon in Attic fret.
hecatompedos: Greek term for a temple of one-hundred-foot front length – the length of the Parthenon in Attic fret.
Hellenic: Pertaining to the classical Greek period, roughly from 480 B.C. to the death of Alexander in 323 B.C.
Hellenistic: Characteristic of the style of Greek art after the death of Alexander in 323 B.C.
hemi-: Greek word meaning ‘half’. In prefixes other words in architectural terminology…
henostyle: A classical portico with only one pillar.
heptastyle: Descriptive of the Greek temple having seven columns across the front.
Heraeum: A temple or sacred enclosure dedicated to the goddess Hera.
hercos: In Greek, a fence or enclosing wall.
hermes: In Greek archaeology, a figure having the head, or head and bust, of a god resting upon a plain, blocklike shaft. It is supposed that the use of these figures is of very remote antiquity…
hexastylar: Descriptive of the Greek temple having six columns across the front, rear, or both.
hexastyle: Descriptive of the Greek temple having six columns across the front, rear, or both.
honeysuckle: Greek enrichment resembling a honeysuckle flower, and called anthemion or palmette.
honeysuckle ornament: A common name for the anthemion, common in Greek decorative sculpture.
hypaethral: Greek term descriptive of a roofless temple or other building.
hyperoon: In Greek architecture, apparently an upper story. It is the word used in the Acts of the Apostles, xx. 8. Also see hyperoum.
hypethral: Greek term descriptive of a roofless temple or other building.
hyposcenium: In the ancient Greek theatre, the low wall beneath the front part of the logeion.
hypotrachelion: A groove on a Doric column between the capital and the shaft.
icon: A sacred picture, as used in countries where the Greek Church prevails.
iconostasis: In the Greek Church, a screen corresponding to the altar rail in other churches.
Ionic: Greek column type with scrolls on top. Pertaining to, or characteristic of, Ionia.
Ionic capital: A capital distinguished by flanking volutes.
Ionic column: A simple, slender Greek column with volutes on either side of the capital.
Ionic columns: The elegant voluted order of Greek architecture. Its capitals are sometimes compared to ram’s horns.
Ionic Order: The elegant voluted order of Greek architecture. Its capitals are sometimes compared to ram’s horns.
isocephalism: In Greek bas-reliefs, the custom of designing the heads of all figures along one horizontal line.
isodomon: In ancient Roman and Greek masonry, an extremely regular masonry pattern in which stones of uniform length and uniform height are set so that each vertical joint is centered over the block beneath. Horizontal joints are continuous, and the vertical joints form discontinuous straight lines; opus isodomum.
katabasis: In the Greek Orthodox church, a place under the altar for relics.
kerkis: In an ancient Greek theatre, one of the wedge-shaped sections of seating of the theatre, divided by radiating staircases.
komistra: A pit or dance floor of a Greek theater.
konistra: In Greek, an arena; that is, a place covered with sand or dust. Commonly, in archaeology, the orchestra of the Greek theatre; but as the plan and disposition of the orchestra is greatly in dispute, it is used sometimes for the whole enclosure and sometimes for a limited part of it.
kosmeterion: A robing-room for religious processions in ancient Greece.
labyrinthine fret: Key-pattern, Greek key, or meander, resembling a labyrinth.
later: A brick, formed in a mold and dried in the sun or baked in a kiln by the early Greeks and Romans; much larger and much thinner than modern bricks; each brick was stamped with the name of the maker and the year in which it was made. Fancy bricks were made in molds of all shapes and sizes to imitate the designs produced with a chisel in stone or marble structures, but ordinary bricks usually were rectangular, square, or triangular in shape.
laterculus: A brick, formed in a mold and dried in the sun or baked in a kiln by the early Greeks and Romans; much larger and much thinner than modern bricks… Diminutive of later.
leaf and dart: In Greek architecture and derivatives, a pattern of alternating, conventionalized, deltoid and lanceolate leaves, usually applied to a cyma reversa.
leaf-and-dart: In Greek architecture and derivatives, a pattern of alternating, conventionalized, deltoid and lanceolate leaves, usually applied to a cyma reversa.
lesche: In ancient Greece, a public portico, clubhouse, or the like, frequented by the people for conversation or the hearing of news; such buildings were numerous in Greek cities, and their walls often were decorated by celebrated painters.
leschi: In ancient Greece, a public forum, usually sheltered.
lithostrotum opus: In ancient Greece and Rome, any ornamental pavement, such as mosaic.
logeion: The raised platform for the actors in the Classical theatre, corresponding to the modern stage.
ludion: An ancient Greek term for a tile used as a brick.
lunette: A semi-circular area formed by an arch. Lunettes can either be windows or decorated areas at the end of a barrel vault. The windows were popular in Neo-classical and Classic Revival architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries.
marigold: Formalized circular floral decoration in Greek architecture, resembling a rosette, but more like a chrysanthemum or marigold, repeated in series, e.g. on the architrave of the north portico of the Erechtheion, Athens.
Medusa: In Greek mythology, the one of the three Gorgons who was mortal and whose head was cut off by Perseus.
megaron: The principal hall of a Mycenaean palace, consisting of a squarish room with a hearth in the center and a porch of columns in antis. 2. In many Greek temples, a space divided off and sometimes subterranean, which only the priest was allowed to enter. 3. The great central hall of the Homeric house or palace.
mesaula: Greek term for a minor interior court.
mesaulos: In an ancient Greek house: 1. A passageway connecting the andron with the gynaeceum. 2. The door in this passageway. 3. A door leading to the workroom of the female servants.
metaulos: See Greek house.
metroon: A shrine or sanctuary of the Great Mother, or Mother of the Gods; called also Basileia, or Queen…
Minoan architecture: The architecture of Bronze Age Crete, which reached its apogee between the 19th and 14th century B.C.
monopteros: In Greek architecture, a circular peripteral building, as a temple, having only a single row of columns.
monpteron: In Greek architecture, a circular peripteral building, as a temple, having only a single row of columns.
Mycenae: One of the most ancient Greek cities located in the southern part of Greece. Strategically located as a citadel, it was the center of Mycenaean civilization. The city was approached through the Lion Gate of massive masonry construction, surmounted by affronted lions. Other important ancient remains include the Treasury of Atreus and the beehive tombs.
Mycenaean architecture: That of a civilization recorded principally in Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily before the Hellenes, probably about fourteen centuries B.C.
naos: Inner cell or sanctuary of a Greek temple, equivalent to the Roman cella, containing the deity’s statue. 2. Sanctuary of a centrally planned Byzantine church. 3. Small shrine, often portable, e.g. the battered-sided Egyptian type, carried by a Naöphorus figure.
necropolis: A city of the dead; a large cemetery in ancient Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Carthage, etc. 2. An ancient or historic burial place.
neorama: A panoramic elevation of an interior, originally of a Greek temple.
Nero Antico: A black marble of ancient Greece.
Nero-Antico: A black marble of ancient Greece.
octastyle: In classical architecture, having eight columns across the main façade.
oecus: In the Greek house, a room for the use of the mistress and her sewing women; also used for banquets.
oecus Cyzicenus: An oecus having glass doors or windows reaching down to the ground so as to provide a view of the surrounding country for those reclining at a table; this type of oecus was used frequently in Greece, but was somewhat of a novelty in Italy.
omphalos: A sacred stone in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, believed by the ancient Greeks to mark the exact center of the earth.
opa: In a classical temple, a cavity which receives a roof beam.
opaion: In ancient Rome and Greece, an opening (as in a roof) for smoke to escape. 2. In Greek architecture, a lacunar.
optostrotum: Greek term for brick paving.
opus graecanicum: Work done in the Greek manner; apparently a pavement, as of mosaic, or an inlay of marble, supposed to resemble in pattern or in workmanship the work done by the Greeks.
opus graecanium: Work done in the Greek manner; apparently a pavement, as of mosaic, or an inlay of marble, supposed to resemble in pattern or in workmanship the work done by the Greeks.
orchaestra: Circular space for the chorus and dancers in an Ancient-Greek theatre. 2. In a Roman theatre, the semicircular level space between the stage and proscenium and the first semicircular row of seats. 3. In a modern theatre the space reserved for the musicians. 4. In the USA the main floor, parquet, or stalls of a theatre.
orthostates: In a Greek temple, the lower deep course in the naos walls.
ovum: In classical architecture and derivatives, an egg-shaped ornamental motif.
palmate: Having lobes or leaves in fan shape, as the Greek anthemion.
pandokeion: In ancient Greece, a type of private inn which accommodated and entertained travelers.
pandroseion: Also see pandrosium.
pandrosium: A building or enclosure on the Acropolis of Athens, sacred to the Nymph Pandrosos…
parabema: A chamber to the side of the bema or sanctuary in Greek churches.
parapetasma: In the cella of an ancient Greek temple, a solid enclosure, latticework, or curtain which screened the statue in the temple.
parascenium: A wing-like projection extending forward, at the ends of the skene, in ancient Greek theatres.
parastadae: That part of the flanking wall of the cella of a Greek temple which project beyond its front or rear, enclosing walls so as to form an open vestibule; the ends of these walls were treated with bases and capitals, and the area enclosed by them with its open screen of columns became a portico in antis. The word parastas is often used to signify the anta itself, and Vitruvius applies the term to an isolated square pillar. The jamb of a doorway, especially when treated with shaft and capital, is called parastas (also written prostas).
parastatica: A pilaster attached to a Greek temple; a parastas.
parathura: The back door of an ancient Greek house.
paratorium: The place at the east end of a basilican church, usually on the north side, for the offerings; in some Greek churches, located on the south side.
parekklesion: A Greek chapel; may be attached or free-standing.
parerga: Purely ornamental additions to a work of ancient Greek architecture.
Parian marble: White, granular, saccharoidal marble from the Island of Paros in the Aegean Sea, much used by the ancients for statuary as well as building.
parodos: A passage used by the chorus of an ancient Greek theater.
Parthenon: Originally, the room behind the cella in the great temple of Athena Parthenos on the Athenian Acropolis. 2. More commonly the name of the entire temple.
pastas: In ancient Greek architecture, a term for vestibule.
pediment: In classical architecture, the triangular gable end of the roof above the horizontal cornice, often filled with sculpture. 2. In later work, a surface used ornamentally over doors or windows; usually triangular but sometimes curved.
Pelasgic architecture: Also see Pelasgic building.
Pelasgic building: Also see Pelasgic style.
Pentellic marble: A white to grayish crystalline marble from Mount Pentelicus, between Athens and Marathon in Greece. It was used in the Parthenon.
periaktos: In an ancient Greek theatre, one of the two pieces of machinery placed on both sides of the stage for shifting scenes. Consisted of three painted scenes on the faces of a revolving frame in the form of a triangular prism. The scene was changed by turning one periaktos or both, so as to exhibit a new face to the audience.
peribolos: In Greek architecture, a wall enclosing consecrated grounds, generally in connection with a temple. The area so enclosed. In the Middle Ages, the wall enclosing the choir, the atrium, or any other sacred place; or the other walls surrounding the precinct about a church, and forming the outmost bounds allowed for refuge and sanctuary.
peristylon: See Greek house.
petal: Imbrication, petal-diaper, or scale-pattern ornament suggesting overlapping scale-like shapes. It represents roofing-tiles, as on the top of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, Athens, and was often found in Roman work, e.g. sarcophagi. Petal-diaper patterns occur in roofing and tile-hanging.
pharos: In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a lighthouse.
philosopher’s garden: Ancient-Greek open-air discussions often occurred in gardens associated with gymnasia… the idea was revived during the Renaissance…
phyrctorion: In ancient Greece, a watchtower from which a sentinel could warn of the approach of a hostile force, by means of fire.
pinaculum: In ancient Greek or Roman architecture, a roof terminating in a ridge (the ordinary covering for a temple; in contrast, private houses had flat roofs).
plane of a column: The surface of a longitudinal section made on the axis of the shaft of a column. In some Greek peristyles and porticoes the planes of the columns incline inward slightly.
plethron: A measure of length of the ancient Greeks; equivalent to 100 Greek feet… 2. A unit of area equal to the square of the above length.
Pnyx: A public place of assembly in ancient Athens near the Acropolis; an open, paved, semicircular area surrounded by a wall; speakers addressed the people from a platform.
poecile: A stoa or porch on the agora of ancient Athens having walls adorned with paintings of historical and religious subjects.
polis: An ancient Greek city-state.
polyandrion: In ancient Greece, a monument or a burial enclosure provided by the state for a number of men, usually for those of its citizens who had fallen in battle.
polystyle: In classical architecture, many-columned.
post-and-lintel system: The fundamental principle of Greek architecture. The arcuated system — that involving the use of arches — was not used by the Greeks. Horizontal beams (lintels) are borne up by columns (posts).
posticum: The open vestibule of an ancient temple in the rear of the cella, corresponding to the pronaos at the front of the temple; in Greek architecture, an opisthodomos. 3. The back door of an ancient Roman house.
procoeton: In ancient Greece and Roman dwellings, an antechamber or room preceding other rooms or chambers.
pronaos: The portico of a temple in classical architecture, or the space in front of the cella.
propnigeum: The furnace serving the sweating room in a Greek gymnasium.
propylaeum: An imposing gateway in front of and separate from a temple. Propylaea, the entrance to the Acropolis at Athens.
propylaia: From Greek pro, “before,” plus pule, “gate.” An entrance gateway; refers to entrance gateways to Greek temple enclosures.
proskenion: In the ancient Greek theatre, a building before the skene; the earliest high Hellenistic stage; later, the front of the stage.
prostas: In ancient Greek architecture, a vestibule or antechamber. 2. Same as prostasis.
prostasis: The portion of the front of a classical temple in antis which lies between the antae. 2. A pronaos before a cella.
prothesis: A chapel as part of a building of the Greek Church.
prothyris: In ancient Greek architecture, a crossbeam.
prothyron: In an ancient Greek house, an entrance vestibule.
proto-Doric: Of a style apparently introductory to the Doric style.
proto-Ionic: Of a style apparently introductory to the Ionic style.
prytaneium: A public hall in ancient Greek states and cities where public officials received and entertained distinguished guests, honored citizens of high public merit, etc. 2. In many ancient Greek towns, a public building consecrated to Hestia and containing the state hearth.
prytaneum: A public hall in ancient Greek states and cities where public officials received and entertained distinguished guests, honored citizens of high public merit, etc. 2. In many ancient Greek towns, a public building consecrated to Hestia and containing the state hearth.
pseudisodomum: In Greek or Roman masonry, ashlar of regular cut stone in which the heights of the courses are not uniform.
pseudo-dipteral: Descriptive of classical dipteral temples in which the inner line of columns is omitted but where the space they would have occupied is retained.
pseudo-peripteral: Descriptive of classical temples having columns across the front and on the sides to the depth of the portico, the sides and rear of the cella having columns engaged upon their walls.
pseudoprostyle: In Classical architecture, same as prostyle but without a pronaos, the columns of the portico being set less than the width of an intercolumniation from the front wall or being actually engaged in it.
pteron: In classical architecture, that which forms a side or flank.
relief: Sculpture engaged with its background, as seen on Classical friezes and pediments. 2. An apparent projection from a flat background due to contrast, creating the illusion of three dimensions.
scaena: The back scene in a classical theatre.
scamillus: In Classical and Neoclassical architecture, a plain block placed under the plinth of a column, thus forming a double plinth. 2. A slight bevel at the outer edge of a block of stone, as occurs between the necking of a Doric capital and the upper drum of the shaft.
scenae frons: From Latin and Greek skene, “scene,” plus frons, “facade.” In a Roman theater, the richly embellished wall rising behind the stage area.
scene building: A back scene in classical theatre.
scenophylacium: Originally a place where the deacons kept the vessels used for the church service. 2. In Greek churches, a sacristy to the right of the sanctuary. Also see diaconicon.
sceuophylacium: Originally a place where the deacons kept the vessels used for the church service. 2. In Greek churches, a sacristy to the right of the sanctuary. Also see diaconicon.
sekos: In ancient Greece: 1. A shrine or sanctuary. 2. The cella of a temple. 3. A building which only the specially privileged might enter. 4. An assembly hall for ordinary citizens, serving a religious purpose.
semitae: In an ancient Greek gymnasium, a barrier which separated the wrestlers from the public.
Serlian motif: Palladian motif. Named for Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1555), an early interpreter of Classical design principles and a precursor of Andrea Palladio.
Seven Wonders of the World: Name given to a list of ancient architectural structures and monumental sculptures, compiled by the Greek poet Antipater of Sidon (170-120 BCE).
skene: The Greek term for scaena. A structure facing the audience in an ancient Greek theater, forming the background before which performances were given.
skenotheke: In the skene of an ancient Greek theatre, a storeroom for the properties.
Solomonic column: A twisted column.
stasidion: A still in a Greek church.
stereobate: From Greek, sterebates, “solid base.” The total substructure or base of a classical building; in a columnar building, the uppermost level is the stylobate.
stillicidium: In Doric buildings, dripping eaves in which the roof terminates.
stoa: In ancient Greek architecture, a portico or cloister.
stopped flute: In classical architecture and derivatives, a flute terminated, usually about two-thirds of the way down a column or pilaster. Below this, the shaft may be smooth or faceted, or the fluting may be incised partway leaving a flat surface sunk between fillets. A cabled flute is sometimes called “stopped.”
strigil: Strigil is an instrument with a curved blade, used especially by the ancient Greeks and Romans for scraping the skin at the bath and in the gymnasium. A strigil sarcophagus is a sarcophagus carved with S-shaped parallel grooves reminiscent of the shape of many strigils.
stylobate: Greek origin stylobates, “column foundation or base.” The upper layer of the stereobate upon which the columns rest.
synoecia: In ancient Greece, a residence shared by several families.
taphos: A barrow or mound of earth or stones, as an ancient Greek tomb or memorial.
temple front: A central formal entrance of Classical columns, entablature, and pediment, usually a full two stories high.
tendril: Architectural ornament resembling plant-like tendrils, in Classical architecture associated with acanthus, anthemion, and palmette. It recurs in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon ornament, medieval grapevine or trail, Renaissance and Mannerist arabesque and grotesque, Art Nouveau whiplash and derivations from Celtic and Norse ornament, and many other styles in various guises and variations.
tetrastyle: Having four columns, usually in the Greek temple manner.
thalamium: In Greek architecture, an inner room of chamber; especially, the women’s apartment.
thalamus: In classical architecture, an inner room, often for women or for use as a bridal chamber.
the antique: A term associated mainly with sculpture, used to describe the art of the Greeks and Romans.
thermae: In classical architecture, the public baths.
Thersilium: A building at Megalopolis in Greece, described by Pausanias as already in ruins, and as a council house for the Arcadian Ten Thousand…
thesaurus: In ancient Greece, a treasury house.
thymele : In the orchestra of an ancient Greek theatre, a small altar dedicated to Bacchus; usually at the center of the orchestra circle and marked by a white stone.
torch: In architectural decoration, an emblem founded upon sculptured representations; in Greco-Roman work, usually, of a bundle of strips held together by occasional withes or bands…
torus: A doughnut-shaped surface generated by the revolution of a circle about an exterior line lying in its plane. 2. A convex, half-round molding, in Classical architecture at the base of an Ionic column; also used in the Renaissance and neo-Renaissance.
trabeated system: Horizontal beams (lintels) are borne up by columns (posts). The fundamental principle of Greek architecture. The arcuated system – that involving the use of arches – was not used by the Greeks.
trachelium: In classical architecture, any member (usually part of the necking) which comes between the hypotrachelium and the capital.
trochilus: Greek term for the scotia.
Tuscan order: A classical order most readily distinguishable by its simplicity. The columns are never fluted, the capitals are unornamented, and the frieze lacks the triglyphs that are part of the Doric order.
tympanum: The area between an arch and the top of a doorway or the area under the raking cornices of a pediment, above the cornice. In Greek architecture these carried scenes of Greek heroism, in Christian, it is stories from the bible.
xenodocheion: In classical architecture, a room or building devoted to the reception and accommodation of strangers or guests.
xenodocheum: In classical architecture, a room or building devoted to the reception and accommodation of strangers or guests.
xoanon: In ancient Greece, a primitive statue.
xystus: In classical architecture, a roofed colonnade for exercise in bad weather. 2. In ancient Rome, a long, tree-shaded promenade. 3. A tree-lined walk.

Also see Architecture Origin index.

Also see Architecture index.