This thesis reevaluates the meaning of the contested Latin term circumlitio in Pliny the Elders anecdote (35.133) about the fourth-century BCE Greek painter Nicias and the contemporary sculptor Praxiteles. Analysis of both visual and textual evidence reveals that the term refers to the thorough covering of the marble surface of the statue with the encaustic wax painting carried out by Nicias and not the color of the paint layer, as often emphasized in modern translations.
