- Dura-Europos: distant outpost of the Roman Empire located on the Euphrates
- Galla Placidia: sister of Honorius
- Honorius: moved capital of Western Empire from Milan to Ravenna
- Junius Bassus: prefect of Rome
- Ravenna: last capital of the Western Roman Empire
- ambulatory: passage around the apse of a church
- apse: semicircular recess at one end of a Christian church
- catacomb: underground corridors used for burial
- cathedra: Latin for bishop's chair
- codex: pages of vellum or parchment bound together; predecessor of modern book
- confraternity: an association of Christian families pooling funds to purchase burial sites
- cubicula: small rooms serving as mortuary chapels in the catacombs
- diptych: two hinged, carved panels
- folios: seperate leaves enclosed within a cover and bound together at one side of the codex
- gallery: passageway three to four feet wide dug below the surface of a catacomb
- loculi: catacomb niches to receive the dead
- narthex: porch or vestibule of a church
- orans or orant: praying figure with raised hands
- transept: portion of a cruciform church with an axis that crosses the main axis at right angles
- vellum: skin of unborn calf used for writing material