Key Terms for the Art of Ancient Rome
- Aeneas
- apse (for more information see apse)
- aqueduct (for more information see aqueduct)
- arcade (for more information see arcade)
- arch (for more information see arch)
- barrel vault (for more information see barrel vault)
- basilica (for more information see basilica )
- Byzantium/Constantinople
- capital
- cella (for more information see cella)
- Cleopatra VII
- clerestory (for more information see clerestory)
- coffers (for more information see coffers)
- column (for more information see column)
- concrete(for more information see concrete)
- Constantine I
- contrapposto (for more information see contrapposto)
- dome (for more information see dome)
- dictator
- drum (for more information see drum)
- engaged column
- Edict of Milan
- Flavian Dynasty
- forum (for more information see forum)
- fresco (for more information see buon fresco and secco fresco)
- groin vault (for more information see groin vault)
- Imperial Rome
- Julius Caesar
- Julio-Claudian Dynasty
- Mark Antony
- mosaic
- nave (for more information see nave)
- oculus
- Octavian/Augustus
- patrician
- Pax Romana
- personification
- perspective
- pilaster (for more information see pilaster)
- plebeians
- Pompey
- Pompeii
- portrait
- Punic Wars
- Roman Republic
- Rome
- Romulus
- side aisle
- spolia
- Trajan
- triumphal arch (for more information see triumphal arch )
- verism (for more information see verism)
A Trojan survivor of the Trojan War who, according to legend, journeyed to Italy and founded the bloodline that would eventually lead to the Julio-Claudian emperors.
A semicircular or polygonal recess in a building. In Christian architecture, an apse is often found at the east end of a basilica church.
A system for conveying water by gravity flow from a source to the place where it will be used. Roman aqueducts often consisted of long arcades carrying a covered water channel.
A series of arches carried by columns or piers.
In architecture, a curved structural element that spans a space. For arch types see: triumphal arch, horseshoe arch, keel arch, corbeled arch, ogee arch.
An elongated or continuous semicircular vault, shaped like a half-cylinder. Also known as tunnel vault.
A Christian church building that has a nave with a semicircular apse, side aisles, a narthex and a clerestory.
New capital of the Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) established by Constantine I in 330 CE in the existing city of Byzantium. Renamed after Constantine.
The topmost part of a column.
The main interior room of a Greek or Roman temple, where the cult statue was placed. Also called the naos.
Last ruler of ancient Egypt before it became part of the Roman Empire.
The upper part of a wall that contains windows that let in natural light to a building, especially in the nave, transept, and choir of a church or cathedral.
Recessed decorative features used to decorate ceilings, vaults or domes.
An architectural element consisting of a shaft, round or polygonal in section, used for structural support or decoration. Columns usually are placed on a base and topped by a capital. Columns that are attached to a wall are called engaged columns or half-columns.
A versatile building material composed of sand, water, cement (a powdery substance made of calcined lime and clay) and aggregate (rubble, gravel, crushed stone). When these ingredients are mixed together, they form a fluid mass that is easily molded into shape and sets into a hard, durable material. The ancient Romans pioneered the use of concrete in architecture.
Flavius Valerius Constantinus, Roman emperor (r. 306-337)who issued the Edict of Milan granting religious tolerance in the empire. Known as the first Christian emperor (although he likely still worshipped the old Roman gods). He moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople in 330 CE.
A way of representing the human body so that the weight appears to be supported on one leg. Contrapposto was discovered by ancient Greek sculptors and rediscovered by Renaissance artists in Europe.
In architecture a vault, usually circular at the base and rising above the central part of a building. Domes come in a wide variety of forms, including saucer-shaped, onion-shaped, oval, pumpkin-shaped, bulbous, parabolic, and hemispheric. A dome can be elevated by being placed on top of a circular or polygonal drum.
A ruler with total power over the country.
A cylindrical or polygonal vertical wall supporting a dome.
A column, usually half-round in section, that is attached to a wall. Also known as a half-column.
Passed by Constantine I and Licinius in February 313 CE, the proclamation declared religious tolerance of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
A Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire from 69 to 96 CE, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian.
In ancient Roman urban planning, the city center. An open space used for markets and gatherings of citizens, surrounded by temples and public buildings.
A painting technique in which water-based paint is applied to a surface of wet plaster and bonds with the plaster as it dries. In Italian, the technique is known as buon fresco. Painting on dry plaster, known as fresco secco, is less durable.
The intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults.
Established in 27 BCE at the end of the Roman Republic when Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome.
A Roman general, statesman, consul, and author, who played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.
The first five Roman emperors who ruled the Roman Empire, including Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.
Julius Caesar’s right hand man, and a member of the Second Triumvirate. He was eventually defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.
A medium in which small, roughly cubic pieces of colored material (usually stone or glass) are embedded in mortar to create patterns or images. The small pieces are called tesserae.
The central space of a church. In a basilica church, the nave is usually flanked by aisles.
(Latin: “eye”). In ancient Roman and later architecture, a circular window.
Grandnephew and adopted heir of Julius Caesar. The first emperor of the Roman Empire.
A group of elite families in ancient Rome.
The Pax Romana (Roman Peace) was a period of relative peace in the Roman Empire for a period of about 200 years—from the time of Augustus until the political instability of the 3rd century C.E.
According to the Oxford dictionary: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
a figure intended to represent an abstract quality.
the representation of a three-dimensional object or space in a two-dimensional work of art.
A shallow, rectangular decorative feature projecting from a wall. A pilaster usually has a capital and a base, like a flattened column.
A general body of free Roman citizens who were part of the lower strata of society.
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, who represented the Roman Senate in a civil war against Julius Caesar.
An ancient market and trading town on the Bay of Naples.
Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (a volcano near the Bay of Naples) in 79 C.E. making the town one of the best-preserved examples of a Roman city.
An image of a person, usually drawn, painted, photographed or sculpted from life. A portrait of two people together is called a double portrait. A portrait with more than two people is a group portrait. A portrait created by an artist of herself or himself is a self-portrait.
A series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, from 264 BCE to 146 BCE, that resulted in the complete destruction of Carthage.
Between the period of Kings and Emperors, there was the Roman Republic, whose most important political institution was the Senate.
An Italic civilization that began on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BCE. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, and centered on one city, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world.
The founder of Rome, and one of two twin sons of Rhea Silvia and Mars.
the lateral aisles of a building (such as a basilica or church) used as passageways that are usually separated from the nave by columns or piers.
Spolia refers to the reuse of building stone or decorative sculpture on a new monument.
An emperor of Rome (r. 98-117 CE).
A monument in the form of an arch with one or more barrel-vaulted passages. The triumphal arch was invented by the ancient Romans and used to commemorate military victories.
From the Latin verus (“true”), a style of portraiture that attempts to depict a true likeness of an individual. Etruscan and Roman sculptors working in the veristic style faithfully represented their subjects’ imperfections, such as wrinkles, warts, and baldness.
