Inarchitecture, anantefix (from Latin antefigere 'to fasten before') is a vertical block which terminates and conceals thecovering tiles of a tiled roof (seeimbrex and tegula,monk and nun). It also serves to protect the join from the elements. In grand buildings, the face of each stone antefix was richly carved, often with theanthemion ornament.[1] In less grand buildings moulded ceramic antefixes, usuallyterracotta, might be decorated with figures heads, either of humans, mythological creatures, or astrological iconography, especially in theRoman period. On temple roofs,maenads andsatyrs were often alternated. The frightening features of theGorgon, with its petrifying eyes and sharp teeth, was also a popular motif to ward off evil. A Roman example from the Augustan period features the butting heads of two billy goats. It may have had special significance in imperial Rome since the constellationCapricorn was adopted by the emperorAugustus as his own lucky star sign and appeared oncoins and legionary standards.[2] By this time they were found on many large buildings, including private houses. The earliest examples in museum collections date back to the 7th century BCE in both Greece and Etruria.[2]
In the garden of theVilla Giulia in Rome, that houses the National Etruscan Museum, is a reconstruction of an Etruscan temple built between 1889 and 1890 on the basis of the ruins found in Alatri. Its tiled roof is lined with antefixes.
From Latinantefixa, pl. ofantefixum, something fastened in front, fromantefixus, fastened in front:ante-,ante- andfixus, fastened, past participle offigere, tofasten.[3]
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