In Classical architecture a term or terminal figure is a human head and bust that continues as a square tapering pillarlike form. If the bust is of Hermes as protector of boundaries in ancient Greek culture, it may be called a herm. The crime of Alcibiades and his drinking-mates, for which Socrates eventually indirectly paid with his life, was the desecration of herm figures through Athens in the dead of night.
At the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Lady of Ephesus, whom the Greeks identified with Artemis, was a many-breasted goddess encased in a tapering term, from which her feet protruded. (See illustration at Temple of Artemis).
In the architecture and the painted architectural decoration of the European Renaissance and the succeeding Classical styles, term figures are quite common. Often they represent minor deities associated with fields and vineyards and the edges of woodland, Pan and fauns and Bacchantes especially, and they may be draped with garlands of fruit and flowers.
Architecture is the most accessible of all the art forms, and once you start looking at buildings, you will never stop.
The architectural styles described are all from Ontario Canada, but the "vocabulary" of the buildings is often hundreds or thousands of years old.
Because there are so many pictures, the Building Terms pages take much more time to load than the Glossary, but if you are looking for a particular architectural feature and can't remember the name, you may find it in these pages.
Architecture (in Greek αρχή = first and τέχνη = craftsmanship) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures.
Architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, including within its fold mathematics, science, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy, and so on.
Architecture first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and attendant skills).
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