Art History Vocab Exam 1

Dolmens

Megalithic construction used to mark burials.

Menhirs

Megalithic construction used to mark routes.

Henge

Circular arrangement of stones, wood posts, etc., not sure the exact purpose they served. Most famous is Stonehenge.

Cuneiform

Earliest form of writing developed by the Sumerians, a pictographic system.

Hierarchy

largest figure is most important

lamassu

mythical creature, half-man/half-bull that was viewed as protective

Mesopotamia

Greek word that means lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, also called the Fertile Crescent. Modern countries are Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.

polytheism

worship of many gods

stylized

a non-realistic depiction based of abstraction

stylus

a tool used to write, press into wet clay

ziggurat

temples

Sargon of Akkad

name meant "True King"

Naram-Sin

grandson of Sargon

Hammurabi

instituted the first law code

Sargon II

known for his grand palace at Khorsabad

Narmer

unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt

Mentuhotep

Middle Kingdom reunifier, also known as the "herdsman of the land" and the "sheperd of the people"

Hyksos

asiatic group who invaded Egypt during the second intermediate period and they brought a warlike attitude with them

Hapshepsut

only female pharaoh

Akhenaten

heretic who changed the religious system form polytheism to monotheism, introduced the worship of the sun disc Aten.

Nefertiti

wife of Akhenaten

Tutankhamen

the boy king who died around the age of 18. he is well known for his intact tomb.

Ramses II

ruled for the longest of any pharaohs, around 67 years, outliving most of his children. known for his colossal monuments like his temple at Abu Simbel

Ra

Sun god, the highest of the pantheon. it also billed as the creater god and the pharaohs identified with him. also known as Amen and Aten

Osiris

God of the dead

Anubis

jackal-headed god of mummification who worked for Osiris

Seth

God of chaos

Horus

son of Osiris and Isis who ruled in the world of the living, depicted as a falcon.

Hathor

daughter of Ra, half-cow/half-woman known as the nourisher

Maat

Goddess of truth, her feather is seen in the last judgment scenes.

Imhoteop

high priest and architect for Djoser who planned the step pyramid complex at Saqqara

Thutmose

artist who designed Nefertiti's famous portrait head.

Ben-Ben

first mound of earth at the time of creation

mastaba

first type of burial structure that mimicked the ben-ben or primordial mound that was the first land of Egypt

sarcophagus

burial container: more elaborate based on the status of the individual

necropolis

"city of the dead", complexes for burial

sphinx

protective creature, lion with a human head. Pharaohs adopt it in official portraiture, putting their head on its body.

pharaoh

ruler "Great House"

dynasty

era of rulers, usually based on bloodline

Ka

spirit that lives on after death: necropolis, etc was designed to provide for and protect it

serdab

sealed room that contained the ka statue

mummification

preservation of the body

canopic jars

held the organs after mummification

cannon of proportions

the way things should be shown in order to look the best

Schielmann

archaeologist that used homer's Illiad as the basis for his digs between 1870 and 1890

Theseus

greek hero that defeated the Minataur finding his way out of the labyrinth through the help of Mino's daughter Ariande

Linear A and B

writing systems developed by the Minoans, pictographic like cuneiform

epiphanic

religious belief that the gods could inhabit statuary, intermediates, etc.

cyclopean architecture

characterized by use of massive stones which supposedly only giants like the mythical Cyclops' could lift

Exekias

Black Figure master

Euthymides

Red Figure master

amphora

most popular style of vase, used for storage/transport

archaic smile

strange half-smile seen of archaic sculptures

black figure

style of vase painting which uses a reductive method.

Kouros/Kore

gender specific terms applied to archaic figurative statuary.

krater

vase used for wine mixing

peplos

wool garment worn by women

polis

city, basis of city-state system

red figure

opposite of black figure, this is an additive method.

xenophobic

afraid of outsiders