This glossary, which will be updated during the lessons, will provide students with the scaffolding of architectural terms needed to understand and describe the buildings that we are going to study.
a vertical block which terminates the covering tiles of a tiled roof
is the horizontal beam that rests on the capitals of the columns
a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below
the multilevel platform on which the temple is erected
the large horizontal section of the temple. It is composed by (from bottom to top): a structural element, the architrave, which transmits the weight of the roof to the columns; a decorated frieze; a moulding (cornice or geison).
the wide central section part of an entablature. It is can be decorated with reliefs
an architectural element found particularly in classical architecture consisting of a gable, usually of a triangular shape, placed above the horizontal structure of the entablature. Includes the tympanum, often decorated with relief sculptures
the top step of the crepidoma