baptistery
The building or room used for Baptism. It had a font usually in the form of a cross. After the 6th c. the baptisteries constitute distinct constructions- octagonal, circular, cruciform- detached to the church or its courtyard.

consul, -lis
An official of the Roman state. In the period of the Republic, it was the highest military and political office: two consuls were elected each year. The consular office survived into the Imperial period (and further into the early Byzantine period), becoming a honorary post.

indiction
A 15-year cycle according to which a year was assigned in the Middle Ages. Initially it denoted an extraordinary agricultural tax; later on (under Constantine I) it was a tax of which the amount remained unchanged during a 15-year cycle. It gradually acquired a chronological meaning, which it kept even after the tax ceased to exist. The chronological system based on indictions became mandatory under Justinian I. The system was not absolutely precise, since it was the years of the indiction that were reckoned (first indiction, second indiction and so on, until the fifteenth), while the cycles themselves were not numbered.

narthex
A portico or a rectangular entrance-hall, parallel with the west end of an early Christian basilica or church.

paramonarios (or prosmonarios)
The "concierge" of a church or a monastery. He lived permanently in the monastery and was responsible for its security. It was a simple office rather than a clerical dignity.

pedestal
Base on which stands a bust, a stele or a statue.

sarcophagus
A large rectangular stone coffin in which a dead person was laid to rest. In some cases sarcophagi were made also of clay, wood or metal.

tabula ansata (lat.)
Rectangular surface with projections on its sides. It was used either to incise an inscription on it or as a simple decoratif element. It appears on sarcophagi during the 3rd-4th centuries and disappears after the 6th c.

vacat (lat.)
Term used to denote the lacunas in the text of an inscription.