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1898 illustration of abacuses of many capitals in various styles. In architecture, an abacus (from the Ancient Greek ἄβαξ (ábax), ' slab '; or French abaque, tailloir; pl.: abacuses or abaci) [1] is a flat slab forming the uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, above the bell.
The two earliest Egyptian capitals of importance are those based on the lotus and papyrus plants respectively, and these, with the palm tree capital, were the chief types employed by the Egyptians, until under the Ptolemies in the 3rd to 1st centuries BC, various other river plants were also employed, and the conventional lotus capital went through various modifications.
(Greek: Περίστασις) A four-sided porch or hall of columns surrounding the cella in an ancient Greek peripteros temple (see also Peristyle). In ecclesial architecture, it is also used of the area between the baluster of a Catholic church and the high altar (what is usually called the sanctuary or chancel). Peristyle
The word abacus dates to at least 1387 AD when a Middle English work borrowed the word from Latin that described a sandboard abacus. The Latin word is derived from ancient Greek ἄβαξ (abax) which means something without a base, and colloquially, any piece of rectangular material.
A fleuron is a flower-shaped ornament, [1] and in architecture may have a number of meanings: . It is a collective noun for the ornamental termination at the ridge of a roof, such as a crop, finial or épi.
The motif then spread to Persia, Egypt and the Hellenistic world, and as far as India, where it can be found on the abacus part of some of the Pillars of Ashoka or the Pataliputra capital. [4] Bead and reel motifs can be found abundantly in Greek and Hellenistic sculpture and on the border of Hellenistic coins.
Pantheon is a Greek adjective meaning “honor all Gods”, in fact it was first built as a temple to all gods. According to Roman legend, the original Pantheon was constructed on the very site where Romulus, their mythological founder, ascended to heaven.
It is a highly simplified plant motif, characteristic of the "late Norman" style of Romanesque architecture. A waterleaf capital is formed of broad, smooth leaf-shapes (typically four in number), unribbed except for a central fold, which curve upward and outward before curling over at the tips where they meet the abacus (the flat slab at the ...