Glossary

Amphitheatre

A large circular or oval-shaped open-air building, with seating arranged around a central space in which spectacles or contests (such as gladiatorial combat) could be staged.

Baths

In the Roman world, baths were large multi-room complexes which provided facilities for bathing and exercise.

Canonical

The canon is a group or body of related works (e.g. texts, images, or objects) that are generally agreed to be especially authoritative, important and worth studying.

Classical antiquity

The historical period usually understood as spanning from around the eighth century BCE to the fifth century CE, centring on the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.

Couplet

A self-contained set of two lines related to each other by rhyme, as AA, or BB.

Half rhyme

When the vowel shape of a word is similar to or reminiscent of another without being a full rhyme; as in ‘home’ and ‘bloom’.

Portico

An architectural structure usually consisting of a row of columns along a walkway or at an entrance to a building, with a roof.

Quatrain

A self-contained set of four lines related to each other by rhyme, usually ABAB.

Renaissance

The term commonly used to describe the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe, a historical period characterised by a renewed cultural interest in classical antiquity.

Rhyme

When the vowel shape of a word is the same as another; as in ‘love’ and ‘dove’.

Stanza

A piece of verse laid out on the page as a separate chunk. A poem is often made up of multiple stanzas, and usually these stanzas will be formally very similar.

Symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else.

Toga

An ancient Roman garment consisting of a long piece of cloth which had to be draped around the body and over the shoulders in a particular way.