GLOSSARY
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Buttress:
an inclined wall reinforcing and supporting weak
sections of buildings.
Castellany:
military castle jurisdiction during Frankish rule.
Catholicon:
a major church in a monastery.
Chrysobull:
imperial document with a golden seal (bulla).
Church:
the building where ecclesiastical services are held.
Christian churches had a plethora of different forms in the
Byzantine period, either by continuing or elaborating on the
style of earlier building types or by re-presenting original
structures. The main types of church design are: single-nave
/ centrally planned / free cross plan / triconch / transitional /
athonite / octagon. Depending on their structure, Byzantine
churches can be
barrel-vaulted
, when roofed with a
semicircular barrel vault;
timber-roofed
, when covered with a
roof of wooden tiles;
cross-vaulted
, when the roof is formed
by the intersection of two vaults;
domed
, when covered with
a dome.
Ciborium:
a structure that houses the altar or a tomb.
Typically, it features four free-standing columns with arches
that support a dome.
Cistercians:
Catholic religious order.
Cistern:
an underground water tank.
Coat of arms:
a family’s heraldic shield, indicating a title of
nobility.
Coin hoard:
hidden group of coins discovered in a place by
chance.
Corbel:
architectural element projecting from a wall to support
arches.
Cornice:
a
stone band, undecorated or with relief decoration.
Crepis or crepidoma:
building foundation with steps.
Cross:
there were numerous variants of this major Christian
symbol in the Byzantine period. The most important were: a)
the
Greek
cross with beams of equal length (crossarms), b)
the
Latin
cross whose lower beam is longer than the rest, c)
the
patriarchal
cross with two horizontal crossarms, d) the
foliated
cross surrounded by vegetal shoots sprouting from its
lower beam, e) the
jewelled
cross decorated with gemstones.
Crossarm:
member of a cross.
Cross-in-square:
architectural church type, typical example
of the Byzantine period. It consists of a cross-shaped centre
inscribed in a square. Depending on the number of columns
supporting the dome in its centre and on the formation of the
bema, the church may be two-columned or four-columned,
distyle or tetrastyle, complex, semi-complex, contracted.
Decoration:
a monument can feature painted, sculpted, or
mosaic decoration. Aniconic decoration excludes paintings
with religious figures.
Aisle:
see Basilica.
Altar screen:
an architectural structure separating the bema
from the main church. In the Early Christian period it was in
the form of a low screen consisting of relief panels. Columns
that supported the architrave were added in the Mid-Byzantine
period and icons were gradually placed in between the
columns.
Ambo:
a raised stand from where the Gospel was read and
sermons were delivered. In the Early Christian period it was
located in the nave and featured relief decoration, marble
elements, and usually a double staircase.
Ambulatory:
a stoa surrounding more than one side of a
building.
Annexes:
small spaces added to a church in order to
meet functional needs, etc. Such spaces involved chapels,
baptisteries, stoas, propyla, belfries, and more.
Apothetes:
a pit where disposable objects, mostly ceramics,
were accumulated.
Arch:
a rectangular recess whose upper section forms a curve.
Architectural sculptures:
a group of relief architectural
elements ornamenting a church (door frames, capitals,
cornices, altar screens).
Architrave:
long, rectangular architectural component
connecting two columns.
Arcosolium:
a type of tomb usually featuring an arched recess
opened on a wall where the deceased was buried, placed in a
sarcophagus or a built tomb.
Atrium:
a) an internal court, usually in luxury residences,
surrounded by columns. It was widely used in antiquity and
in the Early Christian period. b) an open court in front of Early
Christian churches (basilicas) featuring colonnades on the
sides.
Bakery:
room for bread production in monasteries.
Balaneion:
a bath, usually smaller than Roman or Early
Christian bath houses.
Baptistery:
a building housing the baptismal area in the Early
Christian period. Usually annexed to the basilica, the baptistery
was designed around a built font in the centre. As soon as
the custom of infant baptism was established, baptisteries
gradually ceased to exist.
Basilica:
church type whose main feature is the division of its
interior in long, parallel corridors called
aisles
. Depending on
the number of aisles they feature, basilicas may be aisleless,
three-aisled, five-aisled, and so on.
Bath house:
a building containing baths. After the Early
Christian period baths were found mainly in large monasteries.
Bulwark:
a small wall built in front of the main walls, as a first
defence zone.
