An acrolith is a composite

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

made of stone together with other materials such as wood or inferior stone such as

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, as in the case of a figure whose clothed parts are made of wood, while the exposed flesh parts such as head, hands, and feet are made of marble. The wood was covered either by drapery or by gilding. This type of statuary was common and widespread in

Classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

Greek etymology Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkan ...

: ''acros'' and ''lithos'', English translation: "extremity" and "stone". Similarly,

chryselephantine sculpture Chryselephantine sculpture () is a sculpture made with gold and ivory. Chryselephantine cult statues enjoyed high status in Ancient Greece. Ancient examples Chryselephantine statues were built around a wooden frame with thin carved slabs of iv ...

used

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

instead of marble, and often gold on parts of the body and ornaments. Acroliths are frequently mentioned by Pausanias (2nd century AD), the best known example being the Athene Areia ("Warlike Athena") of the

Plataea Plataea (; , ''Plátaia'') was an ancient Greek city-state situated in Boeotia near the frontier with Attica at the foot of Mt. Cithaeron, between the mountain and the river Asopus, which divided its territory from that of Thebes. Its inhab ...

ns. It was common practice in antiquity to drape statues with clothing. "If such statues were draped, only the visible areas of the body, the head, feet and hands needed to be rendered in an attractive material, namely stone. If the statue was not dressed, the wooden part of the body was gilded." "This type of statue was produced where cost and availability of materials were factors. In areas where there were no native sources, marble was costly since it had to be imported and was therefore reserved for the principal or visible parts of a figure that represented flesh."

Examples of acrolithic sculptures

* ''Athene Areia'' of the Plataeans *''

Colossus of Constantine The ''Colossus of Constantine'' () was a many times life-size acrolithic early-4th-century statue depicting the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (''c.'' 280–337), commissioned by himself, which originally occupied the west apse of the Bas ...

'' *''

Antinous Mondragone The ''Antinous Mondragone'' is a high marble example of the Mondragone type of the deified Antinous. This colossal head was made sometime in the period between 130 AD to 138 AD and then is believed to have been rediscovered in the early 18th ce ...

'' * ''

Hera Farnese The Hera Farnese is a type of sculpture of Hera. Its main example is a 63 cm high Roman marble copy of the 1st century AD of a Greek original of the second half of the 5th century BC, now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. It was ...

'' *

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, dea Roma,

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC AD 29) was List of Roman and Byzantine empresses, Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption ...

from

Leptis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by #Names, other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Established as a Punic people, Puni ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

References

Secondary sources

External links

*{{commons category-inline Ancient Roman sculpture Ancient Greek sculpture Hellenistic sculpture