An acrolith was a statue

Statue

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...

 made in Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

, in which the trunk of the figure was made of wood, and the head, hands, and feet were made of marble. The wood was concealed either by drapery or by gilding; only the marble parts were exposed to view.

Greek etymology: acros and lithos, English translation

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

: "height" or "extremity" and "stone".

Earlier, similar sculptures used ivory

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

 instead of marble, and normally gold on the body. Acroliths are frequently mentioned by Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 (100s CE), the best known example being the Athene Areia ("Warlike Athena") of the Plataea

Plataea

Plataea or Plataeae was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes. It was the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persians....

ns.

Examples of acrolithic sculptures

• Athene Areia of the Plataeans
• Colossus of Constantine
  Colossus of Constantine
  The Colossus of Constantine was a colossal acrolithic statue of the late Roman emperor Constantine the Great that once occupied the west apse of the Basilica of Maxentius near the Forum Romanum in Rome...
  
  
• Antinous Mondragone
  Antinous Mondragone
  The Antinous Mondragone is a unique colossal 0.95 m high marble example of the iconographic type of the deified Antinous, of c. AD 130. It can be identified as him from the striated eyebrows, full lips, sombre expression and the head's twist down and to the right , whilst its smooth skin and...
  
  
• Hera Farnese
  Hera Farnese
  The Hera Farnese is a type of sculpture of Hera.Its main example is a 63 cm high Roman marble copy of the 1st century AD of a Greek original of the second half of the 5th century BC, now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. It was part of a colossal acrolithic statue, and shows the...
  
  
• Augustus
  Augustus
  Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
  
  , dea Roma, Tiberius
  Tiberius
  Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
  
  , Livia
  Livia
  Livia Drusilla, , after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14 also known as Julia Augusta, was a Roman empress as the third wife of the Emperor Augustus and his adviser...
  
   from Leptis Magna
  Leptis Magna
  Leptis Magna also known as Lectis Magna , also called Lpqy, Neapolis, Lebida or Lebda to modern-day residents of Libya, was a prominent city of the Roman Empire. Its ruins are located in Khoms, Libya, east of Tripoli, on the coast where the Wadi Lebda meets the sea...
  
   in Libya
  Libya
  Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....