agora, the
The term initially meant the gathering of the people. During historical times this gathering was called ecclesia and the word agora meant the public space where citizens gathered. The agora consists of commercial and religious buildings as well as constructions of political character.

automata (byz.)
Mechanical devices powered by compressed air or water. They were attested in the Magnaura in the 10th c. and included the throne of Solomon, which could be lifted in the air, mechanical birds that fluttered their wings and roaring golden lions. They may fave been a 9th-c. invention based on the work of Hero of Alexandria (1st c. AD), but it is unclear if they were actually Byzantine inventions.

cistern
A receptacle for holding rainwater, but also water transported from elsewhere, in order to keep it stored. The cisterns were either covered eiter open, and they could have more than one compartements.

orans
(lat., mean. praying): An iconographic type which was used mainly for representations of the Virgin in Byzantine art. It depicts a standing, frontal figure with its hands open, lifted to shoulder height to either side.. It was the typical early Christian posture of praying, byt in Middle Byzantine years, when the prayer is depicted with the proskynesis type, the orans type becomes more rare.