Glossary

Small building of a religious or secular nature.

The agora, in ancient Greek cities, originally served as a meeting place for citizens, and then became the main open space serving as a political, economic and religious centre surrounded by certain public buildings.

Curved aisle allowing the faithful to walk around a holy place.

("master beam")

In architecture, the lower part of the entablature that rests on the columns. By extension, beam resting on columns.

In architecture, it is said of a rectangular structure whose main entrance is on one of the large sides.

Institution specific to Islam, which designated, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, his first successors, as well as the rulers of several later dynasties such as the Umayyads and Abbasids. Adopting the model of the Prophet Muhammad, the Caliph is both the temporal head of the Muslim community and their spiritual guide.

Term for the hall in a temple in which stood the statue of the deity. It was a sacred place where only sanctuary officials who had been ritually purified were allowed to enter. This highly restricted group was called erib biti or “ones who enter the temple".

A frontal and true-to-scale view made in projection on a vertical plane.

The great mosque is the oratory, usually a large building, where the official Friday midday prayer is celebrated. At the end of this congregational prayer, a sermon is preached from the minbar.

Derived from the Arabic word hijra meaning emigration, the hegira marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar calendar. The year 622, when the Prophet Muhammad exiled himself from Mecca to Medina, coincides with Year I of the Hegira.

A hypostyle, in architecture, is a building with a ceiling supported by columns.

A style of Arabic script used by early Muslims to record the Koran.

Architectural and decorative element indicating the direction of prayer, placed in the qibla wall of a prayer room.

Tower at the top of which stands the muezzin who leads the call to prayer five times a day.

Pulpit for preaching in a prayer room to the right of the mihrab. The imam who leads the prayer mounts the minbar to deliver the sermon during the Friday midday prayer, and prays for the reigning sovereign.

Refers to the early Christians, between about 200 and 500 CE.

Religious doctrine or philosophical system that admits the existence of several gods.

Direction towards Mecca used by Muslims in various religious contexts, including ritual prayer. In mosques, this direction is indicated by the qiblah wall, usually holding one or more mihrabs.

Branch of Islam that considers the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali as his legitimate successor. Shiite Muslims challenge the legitimacy of the first three caliphs: Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.

Religious doctrine to which the majority of Muslims hold. The Sunnis recognise the first caliphs - Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman - as the Prophet Muhammad’s rightful successors, unlike Shiite Muslims.

The Arabic word tell refers to an artificial mound formed by superimposed habitation layers, with each new occupation built on the ruins of the previous one. During excavations, archaeologists know that the lowest levels are the oldest and the upper levels the most recent. 

In Greek Antiquity, the temenos is the precinct or enclosure of a sanctuary, the holy ground often containing the altars and temples.

In architecture, a transverse part of a building that lies across the main nave or aisle.

The Arab family from Mecca from which this dynasty originated belonged to the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad. First caliphate dynasty to rule the Islamic empire from 660 to 749.

(Plural : villae)

In Ancient Rome, a large landowner's estate comprising land, farm buildings and sometimes a country house.