A small shrine, often on a base and surrounded by columns, but it could alse take
the shape of a niche in the walls of a temple or a house that contained images of deities.
In the plural, the term can denote a small house.
The inner structure of a Greek or Roman temple in which the image of the divinity is kept.
In a Roman temple the cella usually consists of a single room with only one opening, in front.
Magistrate in charge of law and order in the city. The prefect controlled
the urban cohorts (cohortes urbanae) that functioned as the city's police force.
A walkway, generally underground, that flanked or surrounded a courtyard. Ground-level
passages placed behind porticoes also seem to have been called crypta. The first type was
lit through openings in the ceiling; the second received light from windows to the portico.
A wedge. Often used to refer to the wedge-like segments in the seating area of a
theater that are created when flights of steps ascend from
the orchestra to the highest tier of seats.
Meaning "island," the term is used variously, in antiquity and today, to refer to a
building block in a Roman city, to a building within a block, and even to an
individual domestic space inside a building.
The term, which means "between antae," is generally used to refer to the number of
columns between the two short walls (the antae) that project from the front or
back of a structure. Distyle in antis, for example, implies there are two columns
between the antae.
A dry sweat room, usually circular. The structure can be an independent building, or
can be incorporated into a Roman bath complexes where it was usually accessed from the
warm room (tepidarium).
Building specifically designed to function as a food market. It took the form of a central courtyard
with porticoes and shops or stalls on three or four sides and a circular water basin or fountain
in the center.
The seating area for spectators in a Roman circus, theater, or amphitheater that
lies between the areas closest to and furthest away from the stage or the arena.
Red paint used to define incised letters on Roman inscriptions. On the Severan Marble Plan,
minium was added to every incised line (except the guidelines). It also filled the recessed outlines that marked especially important buildings.
The type of facing of Roman concrete walls that consisted of irregularly-sized
stones, placed in an irregular pattern. Used mostly in the first and second centuries
BCE.
Term used by Vitruvius to describe a row of columns where the intercolumniations (spaces
between the columns) equal one and one half lower diameter of a column.
Architectural structure of varying shapes used for the instruction of youth,
for informal gatherings of small groups, or meetings of professional clubs.
Small shop that opened onto a street or a courtyard. Usually it had a single door;
sometimes it had a back room or loft that was used for storage or as living quarters.
Deep, square indentation on the back of certain FUR slabs. It is believed such cuttings
were additional means by which the slabs were held in place to the wall behind the map. A marble
wedge connected the tassello on the back of the slab to a similar cutting in
the brick wall itself.
A Roman bath complex, often substantial in size, that usually contained various rooms associated
with bathing (caldarium, tepidarium, frigidarium) and might also include space
used for exercise
(palaestra), for outdoor swimming (natatio), lavatories (foricae),
and even libraries.
A raised platform used for various purposes. In Roman law courts, the judges sat on tribunals
placed at one end of the building; in military camps, they were platforms from which the generals
administered justice; and in a Roman theatre, tribunals were elevated seats above the
entrances, usually appropriated by the praetor, the emperor, or the person who paid for the spectacle.