Abacus: the upper part of a column where a horizontal beam rests upon a row of columns.
Ashlar masonry: Pre-cut, tooled, and polished square blocks of stone.
Architrave: The lowest part of 3 horizontal components of a classical entablature.
Capital: Top part of a column about the shaft.
Caryatid: A female figure supporting entablature and serving as a column.
Chaitya Hall: In Buddhist architecture of India, any site that contains a stupa.
Clerestory: The upper most part of a wall or building that is pierced by a window opening to let light in.
Corbeled Arch: Masonry constructed over an opening by a series of courses projecting from each side and stepped progressively further inwards until they meet at midpoint.
Cornice: The uppermost, projecting portion of an entablature, also the molding of a building or wall.
Cuneiform: The system of Mesopotamia writing in which wedge-shaped characters were incised into clay tablets.
Doric order: A system of architecture that coordinates columns
Engaged column: A column embedded or attached to a wall
Entablature: The upper, horizontal part of a classical order supported by columns of architrave, frieze, and cornice.
Entasis: Means stretching. It’s the swelling of a classical column as it tapers towards the top and creates an illusion
Frieze: Part of the entablature that lies between the architrave and the cornice. Sometimes decorated in sculptural reliefs.
Fresco: Water-soluble pigments are applied to fresh or wet plaster.
Geomancy: Selecting a building site by determining whether natural features lead the architecture to be in harmony with unforeseen forces.
Hypostyle Hall: A large hall featuring a flat roof supported by rows and rows of columns.
Ionic order: ionic is characterized by scroll-shaped elements in the capitals, bases supporting columns, and continuous frieze.
Mandala: a mystical diagram of the cosmos.
Mastaba: Derived
