ACROTERIA, or Acroteres, in Architecture, little pedestals, usually without bases, placed at the middle, and at the two extremes of frontispieces or pediments; and serving to support statues. See PEDESTAL and STATUE.
Those at the extremes ought to be half the height of the tympanum; and that in the middle, according to Vitruvius, one-eighth part more. See PEDIMENT, etc.
Acroteria sometimes also signify figures, whether of stone or metal, placed as ornaments, or crownings, on the tops of temples or other buildings. See CROWNING.
Sometimes it also denotes those sharp pinnacles, or spire battlements, which stand in ranges about flat buildings, with rails and balusters. See PINNACLE and BATTLEMENT.
The word, in its original Greek, signifies the extremity of any body; as the tip of a rock, etc.
