Phidias: Athenian sculptor (around 490–430 B.C.) who was responsible for the Parthenon sculptures and cult statues of Athena in Athens and Zeus at Olympia

pigment: coloring agent derived from minerals and plants

Pliny the Elder: Roman naturalist and writer, active in the first century A.D.

Pompeii: city near Naples buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79

Poseidon: Greek god of the sea; known as Neptune to the Romans

potash: potassium-rich salts derived by evaporating wood ash in iron pots and used in glassmaking

Praxiteles: famous fourth century B.C. Greek sculptor; best known as creator of the Aphrodite of Knidos.

Ptolemy: Greek general from Macedonia who, after the death of Alexander the Great, became ruler of Egypt; the "Ptolemaic" period, when Egypt was ruled by Greeks, lasted from 332 B.C. to 30 B.C.

pyramid: form of the superstructure of tombs in certain periods of Egyptian history; thought to represent the rays of the sun descending to earth

pyxis: storage container; plural is pyxides