Greek Terracotta Antefixes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2008

Terracotta antefixes
Greek, Attic, ca. 500 BC

Accession # 26.60.9-.14

The roofs of substantial buildings in classical Athens were covered with overlapping tiles. Antefixes were the outermost tiles, often decorated with floral or figural motifs. These examples are said to have come from a small structure on the Athenian Akropolis. The palmettes are variants of those that appear on contemporary vases.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.