Thermae

In Roman architecture, a bath complex with rooms of different temperatures and exercise areas. Such a complex of rooms designed for public bathing, relaxation, and social activity for the ancient Romans. The great imperial thermae are Baths of Titus (81 AD), Baths of Domitian (95), Trajan's Baths...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Thermae

Kausambi

A site in the Ganges Valley of northern India which was a great urban center in the early historical period. Its earliest wall, of mudbrick faced with baked brick 12 m high, was built about 500 BC. Within it is a Buddhist monastery the fifth century BC where, according to an inscription, the Budd...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names, Architectural

Kausambi

Boat-Shaped Building

In Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, there is evidence of a variety of longhouse with bowed sides during the Viking period. The finest examples have been excavated at 11th-century Viking camps such as Trelleborg in southern Jutland. A reconstructed example there has walls made of halved tree...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Boat-Shaped Building

Podium

In architecture, any of various elements that form the foot or base, of a structure, such as a raised pedestal or base, a low wall supporting columns, or the structurally or decoratively emphasized lowest portion of a wall. The podium formed a sort of shelf or seat around a wall. The term podium ...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Podium

Gerzean

A late predynastic culture of Upper Egypt, successor of the Amratian, c 4000-3500 BC. It is named after the site of El Gerza or Gerzeh in the Fayum and is well represented at the cemetery of Naqada in Upper Egypt; another important site is Hierakonpolis. Flintwork included ripple-flaked knives an...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Gerzean

Header And Stretcher

In architecture, header is a brick or stone laid in a wall with its end towards the face of the wall; stretcher is a brick or stone laid with its length parallel to the face of a wall.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Header And Stretcher

Protome

Decorative motif in the form of a human or animal head.

archaeologsEnglishArtifacts, Architectural, Ancient Pottery

Protome

Naos

A shrine, usually monolithic, in which the image of an Egyptian deity was kept, especially in temple sanctuaries. A small wooden naos was normally placed inside a monolithic one in hard stone; the latter are typical of the Late Period, and sometimes elaborately decorated. The largest naoi are tho...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Naos

Amphiprostyle

A Greek or Roman temple having a two open porticoes (proticum and posticum), one in the rear and one in the front, but without columns on the sides. The construction never exceeded four columns in the front and four in the rear. The porticoes were constructed to project beyond the cella (main bod...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Amphiprostyle

Erechtheum

A temple on the Acropolis at Athens, dedicated to Erechtheus, the legendary king of the city. It was built in c 421-407 BC and is remarkable for its caryatid porch and the complexity of its plan. It is a large and complex rectangular building in the Ionic style, built of white Pantelic marble and...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Erechtheum

Palafitta

The Italian name for villages of pile dwellings in the northern part of the country. Most of these lakeside villages belong to the Neolithic period and earlier part of the Bronze Age. Later changes in water levels have caused many of these villages to become submerged.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Palafitta

Antis, In

Used of a temple building in which the lateral walls of the cella extend to form part of the facade, enclosing the sides of the pronaos.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Antis, In

Tympanum

The triangular space within a pediment, or the space between the top of a door and its surrounding arch. It is a vertical face which forms the rear of a pediment.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Tympanum

Anathyrosis

In Greek architecture, the technique of matching two adjoining blocks or column drums by hollowing out the center and having the blocks make contact only at the edges.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Anathyrosis

Adytum

In classical architecture, an enclosed room which formed the innermost sanctuary of a temple. It was entered via the opisthodomos and was to the rear of the cella.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Adytum

Buchau

A Late Bronze Age settlement site in southern Germany with two Urnfield period occupations. There were single-room buildings and a larger two-roomed building in one occupation; the second settlement had nine complexes of large multi-room houses with outbuildings.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Buchau

Opus Reticulatum

A Roman construction technique consisting of blocks which are laid on a concrete core so that the edges are placed on a diagonal and produce a crisscross pattern. It is a technical term used by Vitruvius c 30 BC to describe the diamond pattern of square stones that was often used as a decorative ...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Opus Reticulatum

Peristyle

The screen of pillars surrounding a temple, forming colonnades along its sides. These colonnades are found on the exterior of buildings, as in the classical Greek temple, and also within the courtyard of a Hellenistic or Roman house. A peristyle court is a court with a roof around the sides suppo...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Peristyle

Kheker Frieze

The name of a decorative motif common in ancient Egyptian architecture from at least as early as the 3rd Dynasty (2686-2613 BC): rows of knots in decorative carved or painted friezes around the upper edges of buildings.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Kheker Frieze

Parados

An entrance or exit used by actors to reach or leave an orchestra in a theater; the area between the seats and the skene.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural, Theaters

Parados

Oculus

The central opening at the top of a dome, such as in the Pantheon at Roman. The term is also used for a small window that is circular or oval in shape, such as an oeil-de-boeuf window. A third meaning is a decorative and religious motif symbolizing an eye, consisting of paired circles or spirals,...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery, Architectural

Oculus

Palaestra

In Greco-Roman times, an open-air courtyard surrounded by a colonnade (or porticos) and used for wrestling, gymnastics, and military training. This building consisted of a large central sand-covered courtyard surrounded by changing rooms and washrooms. It is from the Greek word for 'area of wrest...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Palaestra

Echinus

In architecture, the top of classical column-shafts which form part of the capital. In the Doric order, it is a convex section immediately below the abacus. In the Ionic order, it is between the volutes of the capital and is often decorated with an egg-and-dart pattern.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Echinus

Corbel Vault

In architecture, a simple form of vault in which the stones are overlapped on each other and topped with a capstone. As distinguished from the true arch, it has no keystone and is not self-supporting; the thrust must be take up by massive walls. The corbel vault is therefore suitable for spanning...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Corbel Vault

Paraskenia

In a Greek theater, the side wings of the skene - which was originally a mask-changing building and developed into an edifice decorated with columns, with three doors used for entrances and exits and the appearance of ghosts and gods.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Paraskenia