Art History Terms - Ancient Egypt

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.