A statue with the head (and sometimes the hands and feet) made of stone, while the body is of some other material.
Adventus
Latin for arrival. Used to represent the formal arrival of an emperor or general, with all its pomp and circumstance.
Apotheosis
The occasion when someone (often an emperor) becomes a god or goddess after death. Typically represented by the person being carrid up to heaven.
Augustus
A title for the emperor meaning "revered." The name was originally taken by Octavian but was used subsequently for all reigning emperors.
Barbarians
People who were from foreign lands, and by implication considered less civilized than the Romans.
Bust
A portrait sculpture depicting only the head and shoulders of the subject.
Caesar
Title used by the imperial family. Derived from Julius Caesar, it was first a family name, and eventually came to designate a son or junior colleague destined for the imperial throne.
Consuls
The two chief administrators of the Roman state during the Republican period. They were elected annually. The office continued under the empire but became more of titular post.
Dacians
A nation whose homeland lay on the north side of the lower Danube, and was roughly equivalent to modern Romania.
Emblema
The central motif in a mosaic; often set off by a frame, and better made than the background.
Forum
The public open space in a Roman city or town, originally used as a market; the center of political and administrative activities.
Freedman
An emancipated slave. Freed slaves frequently became wealthy and important figures during the period of the Roman empire.
Gaul
Ancient division of the Roman Empire, in western Europe.
Gladiator
In ancient Rome, a man, often a slave, who fought in an arena as a public show.
Granulation
The decoration of gold jewelry by covering the surface of the object with small globules of gold in elaborate patterns.
Idealization
A process in art through which artists strive to make their forms and figures attain perfection, based on pervading cultural values or their own mental image of what the ideal is.
Latium
The area to the south and east of Rome. Home of the Latin tribes.
Motif
Any discrete element of a design or composition, often referring to those that can be easily separated from the whole for the purposes of copying or studying.
Municipium
A town whose inhabitants enjoyed Roman citizenship, although they usually followed their own laws.
Parthians
A nation that overran much of the area to the east of the River Euphrates in the second century BC, and was a constant threat to the eastern Roman provinces.
Patera
A saucer-like dish often used for holding liquid offerings to the gods.
Patricians
Citizens who were members of noble families.
Plebians
Citizens who made up the common people; not members of noble families.
Province
Technically the area of responsibility of a magistrate, but usually equated with a particular geographical region.
Sarcophagus
A container to hold a dead body. Usually made of stone, but can also be of terracotta or metal.
Terracotta
Baked clay
Tessera
A squarish piece of stone or glass used to create a mosaic.
Toga
The basic formal outer garment for Roman men. It was a semicircular piece of woolen cloth, about five yards long, that was draped over one shoulder and hung down to the feet.
Triclinium
The dining room of a Roman house.
Virtus
Latin for courage and strength. The idea or quality associated with have those attributes.
