Acrolith

The Antinous Mondragone, the head from an acrolithic cult image of the deified Antinous

An acrolith was a statue made in Classical antiquity, in which the trunk of the figure was made of wood, and the head, hands, and feet were made of marble. The wood was concealed either by drapery or by gilding; only the marble parts were exposed to view.

Greek etymology: acros and lithos, English translation: "height" or "extremity" and "stone".

Earlier, similar sculptures used ivory instead of marble, and normally gold on the body. Acroliths are frequently mentioned by Pausanias (100s CE), the best known example being the Athene Areia ("Warlike Athena") of the Plataeans.

Examples of acrolithic sculptures

• Athene Areia of the Plataeans
• Colossus of Constantine
• Antinous Mondragone
• Hera Farnese
• Augustus, dea Roma, Tiberius, Livia from Leptis Magna in Libya

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Secondary sources

• Barrett, Anthony A (2002). Livia,First Lady of Imperial Rome. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10298-7.