ACROTE´RIUM
ACROTE´RIUM
ἀκρωτήριον) signifies an extremity of
anything. It is generally used in the plural. 1. In Architecture it was used
originally in the same sense as the Latin
fastigium, namely, for the sloping roof of a building, and more
particularly for the ornamental front or gable of such a roof; that is,
the pediment. (
Plut. Caes.
63, compared with
Cic. Phil.
2.43,
110, and
Suet. Jul. 81.) The usual meaning of
acroteria, however, is the pedestals placed on the
summit of a pediment to receive statues or other ornamental figures. There
were three
acroteria, one above each angle of
the pediment. Vitruvius says that those over the outer angles (
acrot. angularia) should be as high as the apex of
the tympanum, the central one (
acrot. mediana) an
eighth part higher (
Vitr. 3.3, or 3.5.12). Some
writers include the statues themselves as well as the bases under the same
(Salmas. in Ael. Spart.
Pescenn. Nig. 12; Bursian ap. Pauly,
s. v.), but this appears to be a mistake; in Plato,
Criti.
116 D, the pinnacles or
flèches of a
temple are all that is meant. 2. The extremities of the prow of a vessel,
which were usually taken from a conquered vessel as a mark of victory: the
act of doing so was called
ἀκρωτηριάζειν.
(
Xen. Hell. 2.3, § 8; 6.2.36;
Hdt. 3.59,
8.121.)
[p. 1.12]3. The extremities of a statue,
wings, feet, hands, &c. (Dem.
c. Timocr. p. 738.121;
Athen. 5.199 c.)
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