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  Magna Graecia: Greek Art From South Italy and Sicily > Exhibition Highlights > Antefix with Gorgon Head (about 530 BC)
 
 
Antefix with Gorgon Head (about 530 BC)
Gela, acropolis
Terracotta, bright pink clay, cream-colored slip, mold-made, hand-finished, painted
Museo Archeologico Regionale di Gela, inv. 35688
[Cat. no. 62]

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Antefix with Gorgon Head (about 530 BC)

At the apex of a pitched roof, the crowning tile would require an antefix at either end, two in all, to close off its two open ends. An antefix would often be in the form of the face of some frightening monstrous creature like a Gorgon or satyr, the grimacing visage of which would serve to ward off evil. This crowning circular roof tile from a sacred building from the acropolis at Gela still possesses an original antefix in the form of a Gorgon's face. Somewhat more comical than frightening, its function was nonetheless apotropaic in nature. Much of the original paint still remains, and her wild black hair, and wide staring eyes are rendered in black, while her tongue, which sticks out at the viewer, is rendered in red.

Page 11 of 23 | On the next page: Silenus Antefix (about 470-460 BC)