Glossary of Jordanian Art

'ain: A freshwater spring, for example, 'Ain Musa = "Moses' Spring"
al-, el-, ad-, ed-, as-, es-: "The." For example, al-Khazneh, "The Treasury;" ad-Deir, "The Monastery;" as-Sadaqa, etc. The final consonant is taken, according to various complicated linguistic rules, from the initial consonant of the following word.
aniconic: A representation of divine beings in non-figural form, such as the "god blocks" (baetyls) of the Nabataeans.
aspergation: The sprinkling of holy water in Church ritual.
baetyl, or betyl [pronounced "beetle"]: A sacred standing stone ("god block") that represents a divinity. Schematic indications of eyes, nose, and sometimes mouth may be carved on the face of the block.
basilica: Originally a law court in the later Roman Empire, the basilica was adopted as the architectural form of early Christian churches. It consists of a long nave with columned aisles on either side, preceded by a narthex and terminated by a semicircular apse (plan). The altar is placed in the apse, which usually faces east.
biclinium: A Roman dining room with two benches.
bouleterion: The meeting-place of a city council.
broken pediment: An architectural design in which two half-pediments are separated by a void, recess, or some other feature.
crenellation: A tooth-shaped series of projections on top of a castle or fort. Technically, the "teeth" are called merlons, and the crenellations are the spaces in between.
crowsteps: An Assyrian architectural design, adopted by the Nabataeans for the crowns of their tomb facades, that consists of triangular stairsteps, outlined in profile.
engaged column: An attached column that is partly set into the wall behind it.
exedra: 1. In Roman civil architecture, a decorated semicircular recess that serves as a "conversation nook."; 2. In Church architecture, the semicircular recess where a bishop would be seated.
facade: The decorated front of a building.
iconoclasm: The religiously-motivated destruction of sacred images.
in antis: A row of columns that is set in a line across an entrance, between two pilasters or corner posts.
jabal: (Arabic). A mountain.
khirbet: (Arabic). Ruins.
loculus: A small chamber, carved into the wall of a tomb, where the body was placed.
machicolation: A battlement projecting from the wall of a castle or fort, with openings in its bottom through which the defenders could hurl missles onto the heads of the attackers below.
metopes: The square spaces, reserved for sculpture, between the triglyphs of a doric frieze (see: Doric Order of Classical Architecture).
mihrab: (Arabic). A niche in the wall of a mosque that is oriented towards Mecca, the direction of prayer.
nefesh: A memorial stele. Nabataean nefesh were shaped like obelisks, pyramids, or cones.
obelisk: A narrow tapering column of stone that is capped by a pyramid.
odeon: A small, multipurpose theater, used for music recitals, dramatic readings, and meetings.
pediment: The triangular (or sometimes, arched) apex of a portico, door, or window.
petroglyph: A drawing or graffito that is incised onto the surface of a rock. This kind of rock art is most often found in the desert, where chemical processes over time have deposited a thin, dark layer of "desert varnish" upon the rock surface. Scratching through this layer, into the pristine rock below, produces a legible, contrasting line.
pictogram, or pictograph: Any ancient rock painting. Pictograms, unlike petroglyphs, are painted rather than scratched onto the surface.
portico: A roofed porch with columns.
qasr: (Arabic). A palace.
siq: (Arabic). A canyon.
synthronon: A line of seats for clergy, around the apse of a church.
temenos: The sacred precinct in which a temple is located.
theater: Parts of a classical theater in Roman times include: the cavea, or seating area; an orchestra, the semicircular area between the cavea and the stage; and the scenae frons, or stage backdrop. Horizontal aisles called diazomata divided the cavea into upper and lower sections. The audience entered and exited through parodoi, vaulted passageways leading to the orchestra floor on either side of the stage. Smaller tunnels, called vomitoria, debouched on the upper rows of seats. The scenae frons was a brick construction, two or three stories high, with three doors at stage level through which the actors made their entrances and exits. It was furnished with statuary niches, and brightly decorated in colored stone, marble, and plaster.
tholos: A building with a circular floor plan.
trapezoid: A tapering quadrilateral, important as a window void in early stone architecture. Examples: Basta, Ayutthaya.
triclinium: A Roman dining room with three benches.
wadi: A desert river valley that is seasonally dry, but subject to flooding during the rainy season.