# Acrolith

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{{Short description|Type of composite ancient Greek sculpture}}
[[File:Antinous Mandragone profil.jpg|thumb|The ''[Antinous Mondragone](/source/Antinous_Mondragone)'', the head from an acrolithic [cult image](/source/cult_image) of the deified [Antinous](/source/Antinous)]]

An '''acrolith''' is a composite [sculpture](/source/sculpture) made of stone together with other materials such as wood or inferior stone such as [limestone](/source/limestone),<ref name="Grossman">{{cite book |last1=Grossman |first1=Janet |title=Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone |date=2003 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=0892367083 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbkrZuMc-hwC&pg=PA3}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Chisholm">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Acroliths|volume=1|page=155}}</ref><ref name="sturgis23">{{cite book|last1=Sturgis|first1=Russell|title=A Dictionary of Architecture and Building, Volume I|date=1901|publisher=Macmillan|page=23}}</ref> This type of statuary was common and widespread in [Classical antiquity](/source/Classical_antiquity).

The name ''acrolith'' derives from [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) ἄκρος (''ákros''), meaning "extremity", and λίθος (''líthos''), meaning "stone".

Similarly, [chryselephantine sculpture](/source/chryselephantine_sculpture) used [ivory](/source/ivory) instead of marble, and often gold on parts of the body and ornaments. Acroliths are frequently mentioned by [Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)) (2nd century AD), the best known example being the [Athene Areia](/source/Athena_Areia) ("Warlike Athena") of the [Plataea](/source/Plataea)ns.<ref name="Chisholm"/>

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."<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Srinivsan|editor-first1=Doris |title=On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World|chapter=Acroliths from Bactria and Gandhara|last=Bopearachchi|first=Osmund |date=Jun 22, 2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004154513 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuevCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |access-date=Feb 11, 2021}}</ref>

"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."<ref name=Grossman />

== Examples of acrolithic sculptures ==
* ''Athene Areia'' of the Plataeans
*''[Colossus of Constantine](/source/Colossus_of_Constantine)''
*''[Antinous Mondragone](/source/Antinous_Mondragone)''
* ''[Hera Farnese](/source/Hera_Farnese)''
* [Augustus](/source/Augustus), [dea Roma](/source/dea_Roma), [Tiberius](/source/Tiberius), [Livia](/source/Livia) from [Leptis Magna](/source/Leptis_Magna) in [Libya](/source/Libya)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Secondary sources==
*{{Cite book|author=Barrett, Anthony A|title=Livia, First Lady of Imperial Rome|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-300-10298-7}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}

Category:Ancient Roman sculpture
Category:Ancient Greek sculpture
Category:Hellenistic sculpture

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