Antefix

This Etruscan antefix depicts the mythological character Silenus. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Etruscan antefix from Vulci, 1st century BCE.

Etruscan antefix from Cerveteri, 6th century BCE.

An antefix (from Latin antefigere, to fasten before) is a vertical block which terminates the covering tiles of the roof of a tiled roof. In grand buildings the face of each stone ante-fix was richly carved, often with the anthemion ornament. In less grand buildings moulded ceramic ante-fixae, usually terracotta, might be decorated with figures or other ornament, especially in the Roman period. By this time they were found on many large buildings, including private houses.

Antefixes in position

Etymology

From Latin antefixa, pl. of antefixum, something fastened in front, from antefixus, fastened in front: ante-, ante- and fixus, fastened, past participle of figere, to fasten.^[1]

References

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

External links

• Media related to Antefixes at Wikimedia Commons