ashlar masonry
carefully cut and regularly shaped blocks of stone used in construction, fitted together without mortar
atlantid
A male figure that functions as a supporting column. See also caryatid.
axial plan
the horizontal arrangement of the parts of a building or of the buildings and streets of a city or town, or a drawing or diagram showing such an arrangement. In an axial plan, the parts of a building are organized longitudinally, or along a given axis; in
ben-ben
A pyramidal stone; a fetish of the Egyptian God Re
block statue
In ancient Egyptian sculpture, a cubic stone image with simplified body parts.
canon
A rule, for example, of proportion. The ancient greeks considered beauty to be a matter of "correct" proportion and sought a canon for proportion, for the human figure and buildings.
capital
The uppermost member of a column, serving as a transition from the shaft to the lintel.
caryatid
a female figure that functions as a supporting column
clerestory
The fenestrated part of a building that rises above the roofs of the other parts. In Roman basilicas and medieval churches, the windows that form the nave's uppermost level below the timber ceiling or the vaults.
colonnade
A series or row of columns, usually spanned by lintels.
course
in masonry construction, a horizontal row of stone blocks
engaged column
In architecture, a column-like, nonfunctional form projecting from a wall and articulating it visually.
fluting
vertical channeling, roughly semicircular in cross-section, and used principally on columns and pilasters
hieroglyphic
written in or belonging to a writing system using pictorial symbols
hypostyle hall
a hall with a roof supported by columns
ka
an Egyptian concept referring to one's life force.
mastaba
Arabic, "bench." An ancient Egyptian rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over a subterranean tomb chamber connected with the outside by a shaft.
mortuary temple
In Egyptian architecture, a temple erected for the worship of a deceased pharaoh.
necropolis
Literally this means "city of the dead". In Egypt it describes the Valley of the Kings and Queens, areas devoted to burial.
nemes
In ancient Egypt, the linen headdress worn by the pharaoh, with the uraeus cobra of kingship on the front.
papyrus
a tall reed that grows in the Nile delta, used by the ancient Egyptians to make a paperlike material for writing on
pylon
The wide entrance gateway of an Egyptian temple, characterized by its sloping walls
serdab
A small concealed chamber in an egyptian mastaba for the statue of the deceased.
sphinx
one of a number of large stone statues with the body of a lion and the head of a man that were built by the ancient Egyptians
sunken relief
The artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself
uraeus
An Egyptian cobra; one of the emblems of pharaonic kingship.
valley temple
The temple closest to the Nile River associated with each of the Great Pyramids at Gizeh in ancient Egypt.