AP ART HISTORY: SHMERYKOWSKY
GREEK ARCHIECTURE TERMS
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abacus - the uppermost member of a capital. Plain in the
Doric order, molded in the Ionic order.
architrave - a lintel in stone or beam of timber carried
from the top of one column or pier to another; the lowest
member of the entablature.
base - the lowest member of a column; the Doric column
has no base.
capital - the topmost member of a column and the most
distinctive member of the order.
cella - the enclosed chamber or sanctuary of a temple;
also known by the Greek term naos.
cornice - the upper member of the entablature.
Doric - the order evolved in the Dorian and western
regions of Greece.
echinus - the convex molding supporting the abacus of a Doric capital.
entablature - the superstructure carried by columns; usually divided into 3 parts: architrave (the supporting
member resting on the columns), frieze (the decorative portion), cornice (crowning and projecting member).
flutes - the vertical channels in the shafts of columns.
frieze - the middle member of the entablature, usually decorated with sculpture (continuous sculpture in the
Ionic order; sculptured metopes separated by triglyphs in the Doric order).
Ionic - the order evolved in the Ionian and eastern Greek world.
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metope - the sunken pictorial panels between triglyphs in the Doric order.
opisthodomos - the recessed porch in the rear of a Greek temple order
pediment - 'the gable': the recessed area within the angle formed by the meeting of the cornices at the roof;
usually filled with sculpture.
peripteral - a temple whose cella is surrounded by a covered colonnade.
Peristyle- A series of columns surrounding a building or enclosing a court. A court enclosed by columns.
pronaos - the porch in front of the naos or cella.
raking cornice - upper frame of the pediment, below the roof line.
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shaft - the main body of a column of pier between base and capital.
stylobate - the top step of a temple, forming the platform for the columns.
triglyph - a raised rectangular divider beteen the metopes, marked with 3 vertical channels.
volute - the spiral scroll of the Ionic capital.
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Skene: Play House. Right behind the orchestra
orchestra, the “dancing place” of the chorus and the
chief performance space
The audience sat in the theatron, the “seeing place,” on
semi-circular terraced rows of benches (in the earliest
theaters these were wooden; they were later built of
stone).
On either side of the stage building were long ramps,
called eisodoi or parodoi, that led into or away from the
orchestra.