Library: Art History by Credo Reference: Prehistoric & Ancient

Prehistoric Architecture

Barrow: Topic Page
Burial mound, usually composed of earth but sometimes of stones.
Easter Island: Topic Page
An isolated volcanic island in the Pacific, 3700 km (2300 miles) west of Chile, of which it is a dependency: discovered on Easter Sunday, 1722; annexed by Chile in 1888; noted for the remains of an aboriginal culture.
Megalith: Topic Page
Prehistoric stone monument of the late Neolithic (New Stone Age) or early Bronze Age.
Monolith: Topic Page
Single isolated stone or column, usually standing and of great size, used as a form of monument.
Pyramid
From The classical tradition
Architectural form consisting of a square or trapezoidal base with four triangular sides meeting at a central point or apex. The pyramid achieved its characteristic form in pharaonic Egypt, where edifices of this type were employed as sepulchral monuments.
Ziggurat
From The Columbia Encyclopedia

Form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The ziggurat was a pyramidal structure, built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, with a shrine at the summit.

Ancient Structures

Colosseum: Topic Page
Also known as the Flavian amphitheatre, the Colosseum in Rome was the largest of the ancient amphitheatres.
Great Wall of China: Topic Page
Fortifications, c.1,500 mi (2,400 km) long, winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Hebei prov. on the Yellow Sea.
Hadrian's Wall: Topic Page
Line of fortifications built by the Roman emperor Hadrian across northern Britain from the Cumbrian coast on the west to the North Sea on the east.
Pantheon: Topic Page

Constructed during the reign of the emperor Hadrian between 118 and 125 ce in the Campus Martius district of ancient Rome, the imposing Pantheon still dominates its surroundings today.
Parthenon: Topic Page
[Gr.,=the virgin's place], temple sacred to Athena, on the acropolis at Athens. Built under Pericles between 447 B.C. and 432 B.C.
Petra: Topic Page
Ancient rock city in present-day Jordan. The site includes some 800 structures, the best known of which is the Khazneh el-Farun, a mausoleum, monument, or temple with a two-story facade and Hellenistic split pediment.
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
From The Classical Tradition
The most common list of the Seven Wonders of the World includes the following outstanding buildings and monumental sculptures: (1) the Pyramids of Gizeh and (2) the Lighthouse (Pharos) of Alexandria, in Egypt; (3) the walls and the hanging gardens of Babylon, in Mesopotamia; (4) the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos and (5) the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor; (6) the Colossus, on the Aegean island of Rhodes; and (7) the Statue of Zeus in his temple at Olympia, in Greece.

Prehistoric Structures

Acropolis: Topic Page
The Acropolis of Athens was a ceremonial site beginning in the Neolithic Period. The area was adorned during the time of Cimon and Pericles with some of the world's greatest architectural and sculptural monuments.
Avebury: Topic Page
Europe's largest stone circle (diameter 412 m/1,350 ft), in Wiltshire, England.
Machu Picchu: Topic Page
Inca site in Peru. The imposing city is one of the largest pre-Columbian sites found virtually intact.
Newgrange
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable
A megalithic passage tomb dating from about 3200 bc. It is situated in the Boyne Valley, near Slane in Co. Meath. The grave-mound, which is kidney-shaped, is about 11 m (36 ft) high and 90 m (300 ft) in diameter, and has been reconstructed with materials found on the site after a major excavation that began in 1962.
Stonehenge: Topic Page
Megalithic monument on Salisbury Plain, 3 km/1.9 mi west of Amesbury in Wiltshire, England.

Ancient Architecture

Byzantine Architecture: Topic Page
The architecture of the Byzantine Empire at its outset was essentially that of the Late Roman Empire from which it emerged in the early fourth century CE.
Egyptian architecture
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The architecture of the ancient Egyptians, formulated prior to 3000 B.C. and lasting through the Ptolemaic period (323–30 B.C.).
Greek architecture: Topic Page
The art of building that arose on the shores of the Aegean Sea and flourished in the ancient world.
Roman architecture: Topic Page
Structures produced by the ancient Romans.

Greek Orders

Orders of architecture: Topic Page
In classical tyles of architecture the various columnar types fall, in general, into the five so-called classical orders, which are named Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite.
Doric Order: Topic Page
Earliest of the orders of architecture developed by the Greeks and the one that they employed for most buildings.
Ionic Order: Topic Page
The spreading scroll-shaped capital is the distinctive feature of the Ionic order; it was primarily a product of Asia Minor.
Corinthian Order: Topic Page
Most ornate of the classic orders of architecture. It was also the latest, not arriving at full development until the middle of the 4th cent. B.C.

Subject Guide

John Hong

Email Me

Subjects: Counseling, Criminal Justice, Drama, History, Humanities, Legal Sources, Literature, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Spanish, Theater