The plural of acroterium; multiple sculptural ornaments or pedestals placed at the highest points of a building's roof.
Latin plural of acroterium, from Greek 'akron' (peak/summit) and 'terion' (small structure). This became the standard term used by architects and art historians to describe rows of decorative elements crowning classical buildings.
When archaeologists excavate Greek ruins, missing acroteria are often the biggest clues about a temple's original grandeur—they were frequently stolen or destroyed, but we can tell from the broken attachment points exactly what the roof line once looked like.
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