Antefix

An antefix (plural antefixes or antefixa) is an upright ornament fixed at the lower end of a row of cover tiles (imbrices) along the eaves of a tiled roof. It sealed the hollow end of the half-round tile, keeping out birds, wind-driven rain and debris, and gave the roof edge a decorative finish.

Form and decoration

Antefixes were usually moulded in terracotta at the same workshops that made the roof tiles. Each was attached to, or made in one piece with, the end of an imbrex. Designs varied by region and period:

• Greek examples commonly carried palmette (anthemion) designs and were often painted.
• Roman antefixes were made in provincial tile works as well as in Italy, and examples have been excavated as far north as York in England and at Saint-Denis near Paris.
• Figured designs such as masks and heads also occur; the motifs varied with workshop, region and period.

Because they were mass-produced from moulds, antefixes from the same mould can link buildings, workshops and dates, which makes them useful to archaeologists. Rare finds, such as an antefix recovered in York, help show how far classical roofing practice travelled.

Function in the roof system

In the imbrex and tegula system, rain runs down the flat tegulae and drops off the eaves. The rounded imbrices sit over the joints. Without an antefix, each imbrex leaves an open hole at the eaves. The antefix closes it, much as a modern eaves closure or bird stop closes the profile of a Spanish tile or corrugated sheet.

Later echoes

Classical revival architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries reused antefix-like cresting along cornices. East Asian roofs developed a parallel feature: decorated round roof-end tiles that cap the eave tiles on Chinese, Korean and Japanese buildings, though these arose independently within those traditions.