ANTHEMION - a conventional design consisting of a number of radiat ing petals, developed by the Greeks from the Egyptian and Asiatic form known as the lotus palmette. One of the most fertile sources of decorative ornament, it was not only used widely by the Greeks and Romans but occurs also in Byzantine and Roman esque examples and is common in modern work. Used first by the Greeks as a decoration on painted pottery, it was later combined into bands painted on architectural mouldings, and in the 5th century B.C. these painted forms came to be carved in relief. It is used especially in bands as a decoration for the cymatium of a cornice and singly for acroteria (see ACROTERIUM), ante-fixae (q.v.) and the top of vertical stele (q.v.).