Chapter 2 Vocab
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Created by:
harmonyeverafter on February 21, 2009
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Ancient Near Eastern Art
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12 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Cuneiform | The wedge-shaped characters made in clay by the ancient Mesopotamians as a writing system. |
| Ziggurats | From the Assyrian word ziqquratu, meaning "mountaintop" or "height." In ancient Assyria and Babylonia, a pyramidal mound or tower built of mud-brick forming the base for a temple. It was often either stepped or had a broad ascent winding around it, which gave it the appearance of being stepped. |
| Cella | The principal enclosed room of a temple used to house an image. (Also called the naos.) Or, the entire body of a temple, as distinct from its external parts. |
| Registers | A horizontal band containing decoration, such as a relief sculpture or a fresco painting. When multiple horizontal layers are used, registers are useful in distinguishing between different visual planes and different time periods in visual narration. |
| Hieratic Scale | An artistic technique in which the importance of figures is indicated by size, so that the most important figure is depicted as the largest. |
| Frontality | Representation of a subject in a full frontal view. |
| Stele | From the Greek word for "standing block." An upright stone slab or pillar, sometimes with a carved design or inscription. |
| Buttresses | A projecting support built against an external wall, usually to counteract the lateral thrust of a vault or arch within. |
| Lamassu | An ancient Near Eastern guardian of a palace; often shown in sculpture as a human-headed bull or lion with wings. |
| Orthostats | Upright slabs of stone constituting or lining the lowest courses of a wall, often in order to protect a vulnerable material such as mud-brick. |
| Rhyton | An ancient drinking or pouring vessel made from pottery, metal, or stone, and sometimes designed in a human animal form. |
| Blind Arcades | An arcade (series of arches supported by piers or columns) with no openings. The arches and supports are attached decoratively to the surface of a wall. |
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