Roman Architecture

Question 1

Acanthus

Answer 1

A plant common to the Mediterranean, appearing often in such Roman architectural ornaments as the swirling vines of the Ara Pacis Augustae, and as rows of leaves in Corinthian and Composite capitals.

Question 2

Adyton

Answer 2

A shrine on the interior altar of a Roman temple, as originally located in the Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek.

Question 3

Aedicula (Aediculae)

Answer 3

Niches surrounded with temple-like columns and pediment. A profusion of them can be seen in the restored view of the Nymphaeum at Miletus.

Question 4

Ala (Alae)

Answer 4

1) The “wings” of a Roman house where the shrines and images of family ancestors were kept; 2) The “wings” formed by the space between the outer walls of the cella and freestanding columns of some temples, most prominently the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus in Rome.

Question 5

Ambulatio

Answer 5

A walkway, for example at Tiberius’ Villa Jovis on Capri.

Question 6

Annular Vault

Answer 6

A ring vault used in a wide variety of Roman buildings from sanctuaries to theatres. The Santuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina is one example.

Question 7

Apodyterium

Answer 7

The dressing room in a Roman bath building with recesses in the wall for clothes, for example in the Stabian Baths at Pompeii.

Question 8

Arcosolium (Arcosolia)

Answer 8

Large arcuated horizontal niche that contained a deceased body and was sealed by a marble slab, as in the interior of the Tomb of the Caetennii in the Vatican Cemetery.

Question 9

Arcuated Lintel

Answer 9

An entablature that has been arched up in the center to create a more dramatic effect. Possibly used first in Syria, it was introduced into Roman architecture under Hadrian in such varied locations as Tivoli, Ephesus, and Athens.

Question 10

Arena

Answer 10

Elongated oval-shaped space, surrounded by tiered seating, in an amphitheater and used to showcase various spectator events, as in Rome’s Colosseum.

Question 11

Atrium (Atria)

Answer 11

The main room of a Roman house where the paterfamilias greeted clients and other important symbols of marriage and married life were displayed.

Question 12

Atrium Testudinatum

Answer 12

An atrium without an opening in the ceiling.

Question 13

Aula Regia

Answer 13

An audience hall in an imperial villa or palace, for example Tiberius’ Villa Jovis on Capri and Domitian’s Domus Augustana in Rome.

Question 14

Barrel Vault

Answer 14

Vault shaped like a barrel, used in such varied locations as a market hall at Ferentino and an underground cryptoporticus at Arles.

Question 15

Basalt

Answer 15

A volcanic rock, usually black or grey in color, although its hue may change with oxidation. Its weight made it a good choice in Roman antiquity for support at the base of a wall or a dome, as well as for street pavement stones.

Question 16

Basilica

Answer 16

An elongated rectangular building with a central nave and side aisles, sometimes lighted by a clerestory. It was most often used for legal transactions, as at Pompeii, but is also an example of the “interchangeability of form” when utilized in another context, for example as a dining room in a Herculaneum house.

Question 17

Bucranium (Bucrania)

Answer 17

Skull of a bull or ox, used as a decorative motif, often with garlands, as in the inner frieze of the precinct of Rome’s Ara Pacis Augustae.

Question 18

Caldarium

Answer 18

The hot room or sauna in a Roman bath building, normally with a niche with basin for cold-water splashes. Rectangular or round, depending on chronological date, caldaria are preserved in the Forum Baths at Pompeii and the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.

Question 19

Cardo

Answer 19

Main north south street of a Roman city, which intersected with the decumanus.

Question 20

Caryatid

Answer 20

A sculptured female figure that replaced a column and supported an entablature, first used in Greece and then adopted by the Romans, appearing in such contexts as the Forum of Augustus in Rome and Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli.

Question 21

Carystian Marble

Answer 21

Green-tinged marble from Carystos in Greece, used at such disparate sites as the Severan Forum at Leptis Magna and the Library of Hadrian in Athens.

Question 22

Castrum

Answer 22

Roman military camp, the plan of which was adopted for Roman town planning, and can be seen at Ostia in its earliest formulation.

Question 23

Cavea

Answer 23

Semicircular seating of Roman theatres and amphitheaters, as in the Theater at Orange.

Question 24

Cella (Cellae)

Answer 24

1) The central space of a temple, for example, the Temple of Mars Ultor in Rome and the Capitolium at Ostia; 2) The rectangular spaces at the front of a Roman house that could be opened up as the tabernae or kept closed from the street and used as additional interior residential quarters.

Question 25

Cenacula (Cenaculae)

Answer 25

Second story dining rooms like those along the Via dell'Abbondanza in Pompeii.

Question 26

Cenotaph

Answer 26

A marker that commemorates a person's death, but doesn't serve as his tomb.

Question 27

Clerestory

Answer 27

A window-system, located in the second story of a basilica or basilicia-like space, usually above the inner columns or piers, which allows light to stream into the central nave or chamber, as in the Basilica Ulpia in Rome, or the oecus of the House of the Mosaic Atrium in Herculaneum.

Question 28

Compluvium

Answer 28

The rectangular opening in the ceiling of the atrium of a Roman house that allows water to fall into the impluvium below.

Question 29

Composite Capital

Answer 29

A capital, which combines features of the Ionic (volutes) and Corinthian (acanthus leaves) orders. The Romans used it infrequently but prominently, as on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

Question 30

Corinthian Order

Answer 30

The third Greek order, used infrequently by the Greeks in the Hellenistic period. The Romans embraced it and made it their own because it was ornate and looked attractive from all sides. An early example is used at the so-called Temple of Vesta at Tivoli.

Question 31

Cornice

Answer 31

The uppermost part of a Roman entablature.

Question 32

Cryptoporticus

Answer 32

Barrel-vaulted underground passageway used in Roman antiquity for a street, storage, or as a dump for discarded antiquities in structures like the Sanctuaries of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina and Hercules Victor at Tivoli, and the Augustan Forum and Arles.

Question 33

Cubiculum (Cubicula)

Answer 33

Small sleeping rooms that line the side walls of the atrium in a Roman house and sometimes surround the peristyle garden.

Question 34

Cuneus (Cunei)

Answer 34

Wedge-shaped section of seats in a Roman amphitheater and theater, as in the amphitheater at Pozzuoli and the theater at Orange.

Question 35

Decumanus

Answer 35

Main east west street of a Roman city, which intersected with the cardo.

Question 36

Dolia

Answer 36

Urns to hold food that were placed in the open recesses of the counter of a Roman thermopolium.

Question 37

Domus

Answer 37

The house of a family of means in Pompeii and elsewhere. Examples at Pompeii are the House of the Vettii and the House of the Faun.

Question 38

Domus Italica

Answer 38

A simple early single-family dwelling, based on the ideal Roman house, known through a description by Vitruvius in De architectura.

Question 39

Doric Order

Answer 39

One of the canonical Greek orders immortalized through the 5th-century B.C. Parthenon in Athens. Used sparingly in Roman architecture in the Republic (Temple of Hercules at Cori) and the Empire (Temple of Venus at Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli) or in combination with the other Greek orders -- Ionic and Corinthian -- in a Hellenizing display. The façade of the Colosseum is the premiere example.

Question 40

Engaged Columns

Answer 40

Partial columns that are attached to the wall as on the side and back of the Temple of Portunus in Rome.

Question 41

Entablature

Answer 41

The horizontal element supported by a colonnade.

Question 42

Exedra (Exedrae)

Answer 42

Semicircular space or recess, for example in the Forum of Augustus in Rome.

Question 43

Fauces

Answer 43

The hallway leading into a Roman house. The fauces in Pompeii's House of the Faun is a well-preserved example.

Question 44

Frigidarium (Frigidaria)

Answer 44

The cold room of a Roman bath, which was circular with an oculus in its earlier form and rectangular with groin vaults in later versions.

Question 45

Groin Vault

Answer 45

A ribbed vault formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults, which began to the used in Rome under Vespasian, for example in the second story of the Colosseum.

Question 46

Headers and Stretchers

Answer 46

Large stones placed in an alternating pattern of long rectangular sides and short square sides as in the Servian Walls in Rome.

Question 47

Hellenized Domus

Answer 47

A Roman dwelling initiated in the second-century B.C. under the influence of Greek peristyle houses and characterized by the addition of the Greek columnar order of facades, in atriums, and in gardens.

Question 48

Hemicycle

Answer 48

Large semicircular space that was designed for such diverse Roman locations as a religious sanctuary (Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina) and a shopping mall (Markets of Trajan, Rome)

Question 49

Horrea

Answer 49

Roman warehouses. The best examples, which are faced with exposed brick, are at Ostia.

Question 50

Hortus

Answer 50

small garden open to the sky and located at the back of a Roman Domus Italica.

Question 51

Hospitalia

Answer 51

Two wings flanking the Regia of a tripartite stage building or set, depicted in the Second Style Roman wall painting, for example, in the Room of the Masks in the House of Augustus in Rome.

Question 52

Hymettian Marble

Answer 52

Marble from Mt Hymettos, southeast of Athens, and used in the Monument of Agrippa on the Athenian Acropolis.

Question 53

Hypocaust

Answer 53

Under-floor heating system that supplied hot air for the tepidarium and caldarium of a Roman bath building. A well-preserved example in the Stabian Baths at Pompeii illustrates how it worked.

Question 54

Hypogeum

Answer 54

The subterranean chambers under the floor of a Roman amphitheater, as have recently been revealed in the Colosseum.

Question 55

Impluvium

Answer 55

A central rectangular pool in the atrium of a Roman house used to catch rainwater.

Question 56

Insula (Insulae)

Answer 56

A multi-storied apartment building or a city block located in crowded commercial cities like Ostia.

Question 57

Ionic Order

Answer 57

The other canonical Greek order, seen in its purest form in the 5th-century B.C. Erechtheion in Athens.It is experimented with in the Roman Republic, for example at the Temple of Portunus in Rome.

Question 58

Isodomic Blocks

Answer 58

Ashlar Masonry cut in regular sizes and laid in consistent courses, preserved in paint on First Style walls at the House of Sallust in Pompeii.

Question 59

Luna or Carrara marble

Answer 59

The high quality grey-veined marble quarried on the northwest coast of Italy, used later by Michelangelo, and still prized today. Early Roman examples of its use are for the Forum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis Augustae in Rome.

Question 60

Macellum (Macella)

Answer 60

A market, as at Leptis Magna.

Question 61

Narthex

Answer 61

The transverse entrance to a late Roman round and basilican architecture, later adopted in Italy for early church architecture. Roman examples are the "Temple of Minerva Medica" and the Basilica Nova in Rome.

Question 62

Natatio

Answer 62

A large swimming pool in massive Roman public baths in cities like Rome. The natation in the Baths of Caracalla is nearly as large as the frigidarium and aligned with it as part of the central bathing block.

Question 63

Necropolis

Answer 63

Roman cemetery or city of the dead, which stood on major roads outside city walls.

Question 64

Nymphaeum (Nymphaea)

Answer 64

A fountain, used either in a domestic or monumental public setting. Examples are the small private fountain at the Domus of Fortuna Annonaria at Ostia and the monumental civic fountain at Miletus.

Question 65

Oculus

Answer 65

Circular opening in a dome, which originates in the frigidaria of Pompeii and culminates in the Pantheon.

Question 66

Odeon (or Odeum)

Answer 66

A small Greek or Roman music hall for concerts that was roofed to maximize the acoustics. There is a well-preserved example at Pompeii.

Question 67

Oecus

Answer 67

A small banqueting hall in a Roman house.

Question 68

Oecus Aegypticus (Egyptian Oecus)

Answer 68

A small domestic banqueting hall in the shape of a basilica (central space and side aisles), incorporated, for example, into the House of the Mosaic Atrium at Herculaneum.

Question 69

Opus Caementicium

Answer 69

Roman concrete, a composite of various natural elements (stone, mortar, sand, and pozzolana) that became a liquid mass when mixed with water and eventually hardened into a very strong substance.

Question 70

Opus Incertum

Answer 70

Small irregularly shaped stones used as a facing for opus caementicium in such Republican buildings as the so-called Temple of Vesta at Tivoli and the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina.

Question 71

Opus Mixtum

Answer 71

Opus caementicium faced with reticulate and brick.

Question 72

Opus Quadratum or Ashlar Masonry

Answer 72

Large rectangular stones laid in regular horizontal courses, as in the foundations of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus in Rome.

Question 73

Opus Reticulatum

Answer 73

A facing for concrete using small pyramidal-shaped bricks forming a netlike pattern. Good examples are preserved at Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli.

Question 74

Orchestra

Answer 74

Semicircular area in front of the stage building of a Roman theater, for example at Pompeii.

Question 75

Palaestra

Answer 75

An exercise court in a Roman bath building, examples of which can be seen in small baths at Pompeii and massive imperial baths in Rome.

Question 76

Patera (Paterae)

Answer 76

Libation dish, used as a decorative motif, often with garlands, as in the frieze of the inner precinct of Rome's Ara Pacis Augustae.

Question 77

Pediment

Answer 77

The triangular part of the front of a Greek and Roman temple surmounting a series of columns, as evident in the Pantheon in Rome.

Question 78

Pendentive

Answer 78

A triangular section of vaulting between the arch an the rim of the dome, used for example, in the Large Baths at Hadrian's Villa.

Question 79

Pentelic Marble

Answer 79

Marble from Mt Pentelikon near Athens. Arguably the premiere marble in Greco-Roman antiquity due to its flawless white color and subtle tingle of yellow, set off to perfect advantage by Greece's radiant sun and deep blue skies. Used for the canonical Greek temples on the Athenian Acropolis and for later Roman structures in Athens, for example, the Temple of Roma and Augustus and the Library of Hadrian.

Question 80

Peperino

Answer 80

Grey volcanic tufa stone from the environs of Rome used especially in wall building in the Republic and the age of Augustus, for example for the enclosure wall of the Forum of Augustus in Rome.

Question 81

Peristyle

Answer 81

A courtyard or garden, open to the sky and surrounded by columns or porticoes.

Question 82

Petit Appareil

Answer 82

The French version of opus incertum, used as the concrete facing at the Trophy of Augustus at La Turbie.

Question 83

Piscina

Answer 83

A small pool for cold water splashes in early Roman bath buildings like the Stabian Baths at Pompeii.

Question 84

Plinth

Answer 84

The base or lowest zone of a Roman wall. A painted version is on the First Style walls of the House of Sallust in Pompeii.

Question 85

Polygonal Masonry

Answer 85

Multi-sided stones piled on top of one another in Late Republican walls in Italy, primarily north of Rome. A 4th century B.C. example is the city walls at Norba.

Question 86

Porticus

Answer 86

An open rectangular space behind a Roman theater, such as that at Pompeii, with covered colonnades and cubicles for refreshments, souvenirs, theatrical props, storage, and other uses.

Question 87

Pozzolana

Answer 87

A volcanic substance, plentiful in the area around the Bay of Naples, which was mixed with other elements to create Roman opus caementicium. Second and 1st century B.C. use is attested at the so-called Temple of Vesta at Tivoli and the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina.

Question 88

Proconnesian Marble

Answer 88

White marble quarried on the Island of Proconnesus (modern Marmara) off Turkey. It was used, for example, for the columns of Hadrian's Temple of Venus and Roma in Rome.

Question 89

Pseudo-peripteral colonnade

Answer 89

A colonnade that encircles a building, normally a temple, with some of the columns attached as opposed to being free-standing, as on the side and back of the Temple of Portunus in Rome.

Question 90

Pumice

Answer 90

A volcanic rock used to create a light version of concrete.

Question 91

Pumpkin Dome

Answer 91

A dome with a circular base and ribbed vault, resembling a gourd or pumpkin. It has been closely associated with the emperor Hadrian, who appears to have designed some himself. An example is the semi-dome of the Serapeum at Hadrian's Villa.

Question 92

Quadrifrons (or Tetrapylon)

Answer 92

A monumental four-sided arch located at the intersection of two major roads in some Roman provincial cities. The Arch of Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna is a good illustration.

Question 93

Regia

Answer 93

Central section of a tripartite stage building or set, depicted in Second Style Roman wall painting, for example, in the Room of the Masks in the House of Augustus in Rome.

Question 94

Rustication

Answer 94

Stone masonry deliberately left in a rough state and contrasted with finished capitals and bases. The emperor Claudius favored such rustication and it was used during and after his lifetime for architecture built by or associated with him, for example the harbor columns at Portus, the Porta Maggiore, and the Claudianum.

Question 95

Scaenae Frons

Answer 95

Façade of a Roman stage building (scena), for example at the theaters at Pompeii and Orange.

Question 96

Socle

Answer 96

The lower part of a Roman wall, visible in color in First Style Roman wall painting, for example at the House of Sallust in Pompeii.

Question 97

Spolia

Answer 97

Fragments of earlier monuments incorporated into a later one, either because of lack of new building materials or to create a link between the earlier and the recycled monument. The Arch of Constantine in Rome is the quintessential example.

Question 98

Stringcourse

Answer 98

A decorative horizontal band normally located on the exterior of a building but seen in painted interiors at the House of Sallust in Pompeii.

Question 99

Suspensurae

Answer 99

Stacks of bricks, interspersed with layers of concrete, which raised the level of the floor to make space for the hypocaust system in Roman bath buildings. These bricks still support the hypocaust in Pompeii's Stabian Baths.

Question 100

Taberna (Tabernae)

Answer 100

A rectangular chamber, which opens off the street and normally serves as a shop. Examples can be found street side in Pompeii and in the Markets of Trajan in Rome.

Question 101

Tablinum

Answer 101

A room on axis with the fauces and atrium of a Roman house and serving first as the master bedroom, later as a location for the family archives, and ultimately as a passageway into the garden.

Question 102

Tepidarium

Answer 102

The rectangular warm room in such Roman bath buildings as the Stabian Baths at Pompeii and the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.

Question 103

Tetrastyle Atrium

Answer 103

An atrium with four columns around the impluvium, as in the House of the Silver Wedding and House of the Faun in Pompeii.

Question 104

Tetrastyle Oecus

Answer 104

A small banqueting hall with columns at the four corners.

Question 105

Thermopolium (Thermopolia)

Answer 105

An ancient bar or the equivalent of a modern fast-food restaurant with the best surviving examples at Pompeii and Ostia.

Question 106

Tholos

Answer 106

A round shrine, usually with conical roof and encircling columns, often depicted in South Style Roman wall painting, for example at the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale.

Question 107

Tower Tomb

Answer 107

A Roman tomb or cenotaph that is taller than it is wide and thus resembles a tower. The Monument of the Julii at Saint-Remy-de-Provence is an example.

Question 108

Travertine

Answer 108

White limestone quarried in Tivoli and used extensively in Rome in the Late Republic and Early Empire, for example at the Temple of Portunus.

Question 109

Tribunal

Answer 109

A raised structure in a Roman basilica where the magistrate or judge sat. The tribunal of the Basilica at Pompeii is relatively intact.

Question 110

Triclinium (Triclinia)

Answer 110

The dining room of a Roman house.

Question 111

Triglyph and Metope (Doric Frieze)

Answer 111

The Doric order was traditionally combined with a triglyph and metope frieze, which consisted of panels of alternating triple striated bands and a plain or sculpted panel as in the Temple of Hercules at Cori.

Question 112

Trophy

Answer 112

A Roman monument that commemorated a military or diplomatic victory, such as the Trophy of Augustus and La Turbie.

Question 113

Tufa

Answer 113

The primary local building stone of Roman and environs; there are a number of varieties, among them a grey peperino.

Question 114

Tuscan Atrium

Answer 114

An atrium with no columns around the impluvium, as in the House of the Vettii in Pompeii.

Question 115

Velarium

Answer 115

The awning, supported by brackets, stretched over a theatre or amphitheater to protect spectators from sun or rain. A painting from Pompeii shows what it would have looked like.

Question 116

Vestibulum

Answer 116

The small vestibule sometimes preceding the fauces of the Roman house, where a visitor, while waiting to enter, could stand below the roof and be protected from sun or rain. The vestibulum of the House of the Faun is a well-preserved example, as is that in the House of the Tragic Poet.

Question 117

Villa Suburbana

Answer 117

Roman villas on the edge of cities, such as the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii.

Question 118

Vomitoria

Answer 118

Barrel-vaulted entrances and exits in a Roman amphitheater or theater, for example in Rome's Colosseum.

Question 119

Voussoir Blocks

Answer 119

Wedged-shaped stones that each form one segment of an arch as in the arched opening in the wall at Falerii Novi.

Question 120

Wattle and Daub

Answer 120

Twigs and rods covered and plastered with clay, a building material used for the walls of the 8th century B.C Huts of Romulus.

Question 121

Zoomorphic Capitals

Answer 121

Column capitals in which the volutes are replaced with animal protomes, such as the bulls at the Inner Propylaia at Eleusis, Greece.

Question 122

Answer 122

Polygonal Masonry

Question 123

Answer 123

Ashlar Masonry (Opus Quadratum)

Question 124

Answer 124

Opus Incertum

Question 125

Answer 125

Opus Reticulatum

Question 126

Answer 126

Barrel Vault

Question 127

Answer 127

Groin Vault

Question 128

Answer 128

Segmented dome

Question 129

Answer 129

Hemispherical dome

Question 130

Answer 130

Pumpkin dome

Question 131

Answer 131

Doric

Question 132

Answer 132

Ionic

Question 133

Answer 133

Corinthian

Question 134

Answer 134

Elevation

Question 135

Answer 135

Plan

Question 136

Answer 136

Section

Question 137

Answer 137

Axonometric View