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[German version] Private family sanctuary or cult memorial - most commonly situated in the atrium, sometimes also in the kitchen, peristyle or garden of the Roman house - for the lares familiares ( Lares; Personification), either in the form of a niche, a small temple ( Aedicula) or even in the form of a wall painting creating an architectural illusion. Lararia were originally decorated with statuettes and additional votive offerings, depending on wealth, and served a vital purpose within the larger context of social interaction as each family's representative focal point. Numerous lar…

[German version] I. Mesopotamia The Sumerian term é and the Akkadian term bītu, meaning 'temple' or 'house (of the deity)', were not restricted to 'dwellings' of deities of a particular size or importance. They applied to sanctuaries from small neighbourhood shrines in residential areas to large, freestanding, tall buildings, from one-room cult sites to temple complexes with extensive auxiliary buildings, and they could be used for temples where one or many deities were worshipped. Prehistoric structures are often classified as temples only because apparently they nei…

[German version] [1] Architectural term (κρηπίς/ krēpís, κρηπίδωμα/ krēpídōma). Ancient term, documented frequently in building inscriptions, for the stepped base which served as the foundation for various edifices, but particularly for Greek colonnade construction (sources: Ebert 7-9). The krepis rests on the euthynteria (the top layer of the foundation, the first to be precisely planed) and ends in the stylobate, the surface on which the columns stand. The shaping of the initially one- or two-stepped krepis in the early 6th cent. BC is an important result of the comi…

[German version] One of the seven hills of Rome ( Roma), located on the right bank of the Tiber and already during the Republican period connected to the  Campus Martius by four bridges. Because of its military significance, the I. was incorporated into the ager Romanus at an early date (Cass. Dio 37,27,3 - 37,28,1). The name I. probably refers to a cultic site of Ianus. In the later Republic this hill, which was traversed by the via Aurelia was the location of several large  gardens ( horti Agrippinae; horti Caesaris). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography P. Liverani, s.v. I., LTUR …

[German version] (Καρυάτιδες; Karyátides). Female figures, mostly in long robes, used as supports for various utensils (i.a. mirror handles) or in an architectural context ( Architectural sculpture), where they replace columns, semi-columns or pilasters. According to Vitruvius (1,1,5), the term was derived from the Peloponnesian town of  Caryae [2]; it cannot be found in Greek before the 4th cent. BC (Lynceus in Ath. 6,241d). In inscriptions on buildings of the 5th cent. BC (Erechtheion), caryatids are referred to as κώραι ( kṓrai). The earliest architectural caryatids occ…

[German version] Roman mosaicist, signed a figural mosaic found at Oberwenigen near Zurich ( Attillus fecit). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography A. Blanchet, La mosaïque, 1928, 56 L. Guerrini, s.v. A., EAA 1, 906.

[German version] I. Introduction Polychromy is a term of modern art theory for the phenomenon of colour composition in sculpture, relief, architecture and pots and tablets of clay, stone, etc. It is the opposite of monochromy (Monochromata, Ornaments, Painting, Pigments). The Greek adjectives polýchroos (πολύχροος) and polychrṓmatos (πολυχρώματος), which denote material (Emp. fr. B23 DK) or surface (Aristot. Gen. an. 785b 19) polymorphy, are not terms of ancient art terminology [5. 38, 129 ff.]. Rather the procedures of coloration are named…

[German version] Modern term for the problem arising in Greek stone constructions of the Doric order in the attempt to effect a regular sequence, around a corner of,  triglyph and  metope in the  frieze above a row of columns. In canonical Doric structure, every other triglyph rests over the centre of a column. At angles this becomes unfeasible where the depth of the architrave ( Epistylion) exceeds the breadth of a triglyph, since in that case either the architrave is no longer centred on the aba…

[German version] Modern term coined by the ancient historian Ch. Meier [1. 435-439], which refines, in a democratic-pluralistic context, the technical-qualitative self-image of the artisan class in the classical Greek period, as well the political self-awareness which interacts with it; Könnenbewußtsein encompasses in this sense an important aspect, resp. subarea of the Greek term téchnē (cf. also Demiourgos [2] and [3], Crafts, Artist, Art, Technique, technítai , Technology). Especially in the building trade of the 5th cent. BC, besides o…

(‘Chamber, room, cell, booth’). [German version] [1] Enclosed cella in an ancient temple Technical term coined by Vitruvius (4,1 and passim) for the space enclosed by walls within an ancient  temple (Greek: σηκός, sēkós). The formal development of the Greek temple cella from early Greek domestic architecture ( House), together with the related development of the peripteral temple ( Peristasis), is still a subject for debate. In monumental stone structures from the 7th cent. BC onwards, the cella served for the safe-keeping of the cult image or the image of the god, and…

[German version] I. General Cisterns as storage for rain water or as reservoirs for spring and well water were customary and necessary for a regulated and sufficient  water supply in the climatically unfavourable regions of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, both as small systems for individual houses and farms and as communal systems for settlements. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) [German version] II. Ancient Orient s.  Water supply I. D. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] III. Phoenician-Punic region Systems for securing the water supply by collecting …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt There is evidence of vaults and arches in western Asia, chiefly in crypts and on canals. There are only few surviving examples of the vaulting of above ground spaces. Both true and corbelled vaults are documented, over quite small or passage-like rooms, posterns, staircase substructures and doorway, gateway and bridge arches. Barrel vaults and domes were comparatively common, primarily on storage spaces and furnaces. For the most part techniques were used in…

[German version] (Latin). A primitive hut of perishable building materials; as a rule, a wood and clay construction, roofed with reeds, tree bark or turf (house), in Roman literature, originally described as humble housing (Varro Rust. 3,1,3; Verg. Ecl. 1,68; Plin. HN 16,35) and predominantly classified as for primitive peoples (cf. the huts of the Dacians and Marcomanni in reliefs on the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius in Rome). The principle of the 'natural house', which had been described…

[German version] Ostentatious monumental facade, almost 90 m long, at the intersection of the Via Triumphalis and the Via Appia , which led into the city, near the Circus Maximus, forming the conclusion of the southeastern slope of the Palatine in Rome (and terminologically often confused with the Septizonium). The splendid facade, presumably of five storeys, consisted of three exedra side-by-side, which were provided with terminations at right angles towards the sides of the monument. The S. wa…

[German version] In Classical Antiquity, the playful and wasteful use of water – already known occasionally from the Near East – became a factor within the context of a secured water supply, an unrestrictedly enjoyed, at least in part positively defined, public and/or private luxury and especially in the framework of a specifically Roman understanding of nature (Environment II.); it was also reflected in the architecture relevant for them. Waterworks were uncommon in the Greek polis world. Waterworks are first recorded in connection with opulently designed gardens. Parti…

Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) I. Material Remains (CT) A. General (CT) [German version] 1. Introduction (CT) The present article offers a survey of the ways in which material remains from the ancient world have been transmitted to the modern age. Not included are the active acquisition of antiquities for display or their representation in art museums, or the systematic post-Classical acquisition of remains for research purposes (cf. Antiquarianism; Antiquities, collections of; Classical Archaeology;  Art works, acquisition of/ Art theft; Museum). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) …

[German version] The first toilet facilities connected with sewers in the Graeco-Roman cultural area are to be found in Minoan Crete (sit-down latrines in the palace of Knosos), then not again until the Hellenistic period; in archaic and classical Greece, latrines that consisted of a seat over a transportable vessel were predominant. This comparably primitive principle is also further encountered in Roman culture (for instance in the multi-storey tenement blocks in the large cities), whilst from…

[German version] Scratched or scored lines in architecture (Construction technique; Building trade). The architect's plan was successively transmitted to the emerging building at a scale of 1:1 by tracing. Tracings are recorded from the pre-Greek era in Mesopotamian and Egyptian architecture; in Graeco-Roman architecture, tracing long made scale construction drawings unnecessary. Well-preserved or documented tracings are found, among other places, on the Propylaea in Athens, the large tholos in Delphi and the more recent temple of Apollo in Didyma. Höcker, Christoph (Kissi…

Näf, Beat (Zürich RWG) [German version] I. History and interpretation (CT) Näf, Beat (Zürich RWG) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) Among the great places of antiquity that are of decisive importance for the culture and heritage of the western world, Athens (A.) plays a most important role. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the historical influence of Rome is greater. Since time immemorial Jerusalem, in particular, has been in competition with A. with respect to the question of which city was the foundation…

[German version] (περίστασις; perístasis). Ancient Greek term for a ring of columns (Column), and hence a colonnade in a Greek temple or other ancient buildings with surrounding columns [1]. The colonnade can be formed of a single row (Peripteros) or a double row (Dipteros) (cf. also Peristylion. On formal problems relating to peristaseis in Greek temple construction: Angle triglyph problem; Inclination; Curvature; Proportion). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography 1 F. Ebert, Fachausdrücke des griechischen Bauhandwerks I. Der Tempel, Diss. Würzburg, 1910, 23…

[German version] of Megara, son of Naustrophus, as an  architect and engineer, presumably under the tyrant  Polycrates, was responsible for the construction of a  water supply system for the town of  Samos (modern Pythagoreion on the island of Samos) described by Herodotus (3,60) as one of the great feats of Greek engineering; there is no evidence of further work by E. The system that was rediscovered in 1853 consists of four building complexes connected with each other: a fountainhead building situated high in the mountain ( Wells) with a great covered water reservoir, a pipeline c. 840…

(Κόροιβος; Kóroibos). [German version] [1] Hero founder of Tripodiscus in the Megaris Hero founder of Tripodiscus in the Megaris. The legend is told in Callim. Fr. 26-31 in connection with an Argive aition according to the local historians Agias and Dercylus (FGrH 305 F 8 to) [1]:  Linus, the son of Apollo and  Psamathe, is torn apart by dogs, and Psamathe is killed by her father  Crotopus. As a punishment Apollo sends a child-murdering demon, the Poineḗ or   Ker , to Argus. When the brave C. kills the monster, the god sends a further plague, whereupon…

[German version] ( tector albarius). According to Vitr. De arch. 2,8,20 a Roman craftsman who was responsible for plastering walls, as a rule in three layers, the top layer of which could be painted or stuccoed while still moist. Construction technique; Fresco; Stucco; Wall-painting Höcker, Christoph (Kissing)

[German version] I. Architecture 'Proportion' is a modern technical term in the archaeological research of monuments. In the description of a structure, a proportion represents the ratio of two lines or the ratio of the sides of a rectangular area, in the mathematical sense of a division (x:y). The proportions of a building are determined based on its detailed measurement. Increasingly precise and generally binding procedures for obtaining and evaluating the relevant data have been developed by W. Dörpfeld; K. Koldewey; O. Puchstein i.a. since the late 19th century. The extent to wh…

[German version] (also Lauretum, from laureus, ‘bay-tree’). Place on the Aventine Hill in Rome ( Roma) where bay-trees grow. According to legend the burial place of Titus Tatius (Festus 496 L.). Already at the time of Varro (Varro, Ling. 5,152) the site could no longer be located with certainty. The possibility that L. was divided into two parts ( L. minor and L. maior) is a matter for discussion because of two corresponding street names in Regio XIII (cf. CIL 6,975). Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Richardson, 234f.

(Ἄνδρων; Ándrōn). [German version] [1] One of the 400 (end of the 5th cent. BC) From Gargettus, son of an Androtion and father of the Atthidographer  Androtion (FGrH 324), with sophistic interests (Pl. Grg. 487C; Prot. 315C). About a debt affair Dem. Or. 22,33 and passim. Probably identical with A., one of the 400 (500: [1]), author of a   psephisma against Antiphon [4] 411 BC (Craterus FGrH 342 F5). Kinzl, Konrad (Peterborough) Bibliography 1 G. Pesely, in: Illinois Class. Stud. 20, 1995, 66-76. Davies, 913 Traill, PAA 129265, 129130 P. Harding, Androtion and the Atthis, 1994, 14 f. …

[German version] Architect of Samos. For a considerable fee he built the pontoon bridge over the Bosporus (Hdt. 4,87,1ff.) for Darius [1] I in 513/2 BC in the context of the campaign against the Scythians. M. attained fame through a votive offering in the Heraeum of Samos: a panel painting described in detail by Herodotus (4,88,1-89,2), which depicted the (pontoon) bridge and praised the architect in an epigram. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography H. Svenson-Evers, Die griechische Architekten archaischer und klassischer Zeit, 1996, 59-66 (with additional literature).

[German version] From the Greek κρυπτή ( kryptḗ); in the description of the Nile barge of Ptolemy IV, transmitted in Athenaeus 5, 205a, it designated a closed walkway lit by windows. In Lat. texts cryptoporticus could cover various items of architecture such as cellars (Vitr. De arch. 6, 8), vaults (Juv. 5, 106) or even subterranean, vaulted cult or grave structures. In modern archaeological terminology the term cryptoporticus is used synonymously with crypta; this compound word from crypta and   porticus that comes to us only from Pliny (Ep. 2,17,20; 5,6…

[German version] The cylinder, in some cases lavishly sculpted and sometimes decorated with a double trochilus and convex and concave sections, that forms the 'middle layer' of a conventional old-Ionic column base (Samos, Heraion; Column). The spira supports the equally sculpted and convexly curved torus . The spira customarily rises from a plinth. A special form of Ionic basis is developed in late 6th- and 5th-cent. BC Attic architecture, consisting of a torus as base surface, a concavely curved trochilus lying on it and a further torus on top of that, and dispenses with the spira as an …

[German version] Architectural component, i.e. a tongue-shaped projection from the face of a wall. A widespread practice in the ancient art of building (altars, temples, house architecture etc.). In stone construction, the ante stands out against the wall surface with profiled elements, usually rests on an ante foot (ante base) and is crowned by a special ante capital ( Column). As of late classical times, the ante is occasionally separated from the wall by a monolithic execution and thus overly e…

[German version] (παλαίστρα, Latin palaestra). The palaistra developed in the 6th cent. BC as a core element of a gymnasium (with illustration) and, together with a dromos (an elongated running-track) and various long colonnades and covered walkways,  forms a  constitutive part of this type of architecture. A palaistra consists of a roughly square court, surrounded by a peristyle, and various suites of adjacent rooms. Palaistrai were used as places for wrestling; the associated rooms were used for exercising, changing and storing equipment. Greek palaistrai were public spaces,…

[German version] I. Definition In contrast to the townhouse ( domus) or the cottage ( casa; tugurium ), in Latin usage villa describes a combined residential and commercial building in the context of agriculture (V.), and occasionally an agricultural establishement including all facilities (usual term for this : praedium ). This connection with agriculture gradually dissipated in the 2nd cent. BC, a fact which is reflected in the increasingly differentiated range of terminology; along with the 'classical' v. rustica ('country house', 'country estate') which continued to …

(Δάφνις; Dáphnis). [German version] [1] Mythical cowherd Mythical cowherd of Sicilian tradition, son of  Hermes (Stesich. fr. 102 PMG = Ael. VH 10.18; Timaeus, FGrH 566 F 83; Diod. Sic. 4,84,2). He died still a youth because of an unfortunate love affair with a  nymph and was honoured with ritual mourning songs typical of those for Adonis (Theoc. 1,64ff.; 7,73ff.). In bucolic poetry he served as the ideal for the adolescent shepherd and was seen as the originator of the shepherd's song (e.g. Diod. 4,84,3). Despite the Greek name (from   dáphnē : ‘laurel’), the fig…

[German version] A two-part building complex on the via sacra on the edge of the Forum Romanum (Forum [III 8]) in Rome, which, according to the ancient Roman mythologizing historiography, was supposed to have been built as his residence and place of office by the legendary king Numa Pompilius (Ov. Fast. 6,263 f.; Tac. Ann. 15,41; Cass. Dio fr. 1,6,2; Plut. Numa 14; Fest. 346-348; 439; cf. also [1. 328]). The excavated building of striking structure, with a three-roomed core facing the via sacra and a court annexe ([2] with illustration; presumably this court is what was meant by regium atr…

[German version] According to Suetonius (Augustus 100,4; cf. Str. 5,3,8) one of the earliest buildings built under Augustus on the Campus Martius in Rome. It was probably begun in 28 BC, inspired in form and content by the Maussoleum and the tomb of Alexander [4] the Great, and completed around 23 BC. A circular building with a total diameter of 87 m, it consisted of an indeterminate number of concentrical walls made of tuff, that had been several stories high and were connected by radial walls. T…

[German version] (θάλαμος/ thálamos). According to the earlier archaic perception a non-specific term for various rooms inside of a Greek house; according to more recent definition a bedroom of the master of the house or the women's apartments (cf. Hom. Il. 6,321; Hom. Od. 10,340 et passim), usually on the upper floor of a Classical Pastas or Prostas house (House [II] B) and therefore also according to Greek understanding belonging absolutely to the private sphere (Private sphere and public sphere). The ancient terminology is unclear; thalamos can also be the term for a weapo…

[German version] The plan layout of Greek  temples. An amphiprostylos is an ante temple ( Ante) without perimeter hall, which in front of the pronaos as well as on its rear side has an even number of columns each which are spread across the entire width of the building (cf. Vitr. De arch. 3,2,4). In comparison to the   prostylos , where the rows of columns decorate just the entrance and not the rear as well, the amphiprostylos is the form occurring less frequently. The most famous example is the temple of Nike on the Athenian Acropolis. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography H. Knell, Grundz…

[German version] (περίπτερος; perípteros). Colonnaded temple with only a single circle of columns (Temple), in contrast to the dipteros. The term appears in the Latin form for the first time in Vitruvius (3,2,1 et passim). The peripteros rises from a stepped base (Krepis [1]; Stylobate), in the 5th cent. BC with canonical 6×13 columns (in the 6th cent. BC other concepts can be found, esp. elongated forms, primarily in western Greece). It is the standard form of the Greek temple. The regularity of the column positions (Spacing, i…

[German version] The water basin in the  atrium of the Roman house in which rainwater from the  compluvium, the opening of the atrium, was collected and which was often part of a  cistern. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography E. M. Evans, The Atrium Complex in the Houses of Pompeii, 1980 R. Förtsch, Arch. Komm. zu den Villenbriefen des jüngeren Plinius, 1993, 30f.

[German version] I. Ancient Orient The family in Mesopotamia was organized in a patrilineal manner; remnants of matrilineal family structures are to be found in Hittite myths, among the Amorite nomads of the early 2nd millennium BC and the Arab tribes of the 7th cent. BC. As a rule monogamy was predominant; marriage to concubines with lesser rights was possible, while there is evidence of polygamy particularly in the ruling families. The family consisted of a married couple and their children althoug…

[German version] From Latin ceno; originally the dining room on the upper floor of the Roman  house. From time to time the term cenaculum includes the entire upper floor (Varro, Ling. 5,162; Fest. 54,6); the rooms described as cenacula were for accommodating guests of an inferior rank or slaves. They could also be the object of a lease; cenaculum became in this context synonymous with shabby housing. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography Georges, 1, 1067, s.v. c. (sources) G. Matthiae, s.v. Cenacolo, EAA 2, 467 (bibliography).

[German version] Greek ἀ(ι)ετός/ a(i)etós (architectural inscriptions: [1. 33f.]); Latin fastigium, fronton; triangular front, framed by the horizontal and raking cornices, of the saddleback roof of a typical Greek columned building; sacred architecture, the gable field (tympanon, for the terminology see: Vitr. De arch. 3,5,12; 4,3,2) is frequently decorated with sculptures; cf.  architectural sculpture. The pitch and hight of a gable in  proportion to the columns and the entablature provide some indicati…

[German version] (ναΐσκος/naḯskos, ‘little temple’). A small temple-shaped building without a surrounding peristyle. In the technical terminology of classical archaeology the term is used for small free-standing architectural structures (e.g. well houses; wells) as well as (occasionally) for specially designed cella constructions within a temple (e.g. in the temple of Apollo at Didyma), occasionally also synonymous with naós (Cella). Also used of tomb reliefs with seemingly architectural wall ends, which protruded because of their spatially deepened surroundings. Höcker…

[German version] The headquarters or commander's office of a Roman legion camp or fort, located at the heart of the facility as its administrative and religious centre, at the intersection of the two main streets (Cardo, Decumanus). The principia consisted of an open courtyard with a sanctuary for the standards, enclosed by the grouping of the legion's administrative buildings, arsenal and assembly rooms for the officers. Castra; Praetorium Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography A. Johnson, Roman Forts of the 1st and 2nd Century AD in Britain and the German Provinces, 1983  H. von …

[German version] (παστάς; pastás). Transverse hall that in the Greek house (with fig.) connects the courtyard with the residential block behind it; an extension of the porch (prostas) issuing from the courtyard in older residential buildings, e.g. the houses of Priene, into a type of corridor and therefore a typologically determining element of the more modern, late Classical residential dwellings like those of Olynthus. The pastas house forms the nucleus of later, large-scale peristyle houses. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) Bibliography W. Hoepfner, E.L. Schwandner, Haus und St…

[German version] Apart from defensive and protective installations (Fortifications) and funerary architecture, towers are found in Graeco-Roman architecture primarily in domestic constructions, particularly in rural areas. They were used there partly as representational buildings, but also as safe places of refuge in period of crisis and also as well ventilated places for storing agricultural produce which were difficult for pests to reach. The significance of 'Greek tower farmsteads' as a type of…

[German version] Stone theatre on the Campus Martius in Rome (Rome III.), begun by L. Cornelius [I 7] Balbus on the occasion of his triumph over the Garamantes in 19 BC and dedicated in 13 BC (Suet. Aug. 29,5; Cass. Dio 54,25,2). Significant remains survive in modern Rome in the area around the Piazza Paganica, some of them unexcavated. The theatre, which was rebuilt several times and after the fire of AD 80 probably entirely reconstructed, held an audience of about 8000 and was therefore the smal…

[German version] The term central-plan building (CB) describes an edifice -- either detached or integrated into an architectural ensemble - with main axes of equal or nearly equal lengths, so that none is dominant. The basic shapes of a CB are a circle, a square, or a regular polygon, sometimes with an additional projection to set off the entrance. According to this definition, the Greek  tholos is a centralized building, as are various other examples of circular  funerary architecture ( Tumulus; …

[German version] [1] Technical term in history of art and architecture (from Latin spolium, 'arms stripped from an enemy, booty'). Technical term of archaeology and art history, denoting parts of earlier buildings or monuments reused in constructive or decorative contexts. Scholars long saw the use of spolia in architecture and decoration as a symptom of decline in architecture, of the dissolution of the Classical Orders (Column) and of a lack of imagination and technical ability in respect of architectural …

(δελφίς/ delphís and δελφίν/ delphín, Lat. delphinus and delphin). [German version] [1] Representative of the small viviparous whale A frequent representative in the Mediterranean of the small viviparous  whale, with a spout (αὐλός; aulós), articulation of sounds, and pulmonary respiration (Aristot. Hist. an. 1,5,489a 35-b 5; 4,9,535b 32-536a 4; 8,2,589a 31-b 11 with a discussion of its role as an aquatic animal, ἔνυδρος; énydros), was admired chiefly by the Greeks as ‘king of marine animals’ (or of fishes; Ael. NA 15,17; Opp. Hal. 1,643 and 5,421 or 441). …