Caryatids are
female figures serving as
supports. The most likely
derivation of their name is from the young women of
Sparta who danced every year in honour of
Artemis Karyatis ('
Artemis of the
Walnut Tree').
One of the most well known Caryatids is the Caryatid from the
Erechtheion from the
Acropolis in
Athens,
Greece. It was made around 420 BC. This is one of six caryatids that held up the roof of the
temple on the
Acropolis known as the
Erechtheion. She wears a
peplos, a simple
tunic pinned on each shoulder. Her hair is braided and falls in a thick rope down her back. She probably held a
sacrificial vessel in one of the missing hands.
The figure strongly resembles the women of the east frieze of the
Parthenon, which had just been completed when work on the
Erechtheion began. She carries an
architectural capital like a basket on her head. From the side, her
burden seems to bear down upon her; the weight is taken on the right leg, encased in
perpendicular folds arranged like the fluting of a
column shaft. The other leg is flexed with the
drapery moulded to it.
Between
1800 and
1803 G.B. Lusieri, acting on behalf of
Lord Elgin, removed this caryatid, which stood second from the left on the front of the south porch. During the
Greek War of Independence (
1821-33) the
Erectheion was reduced to ruins, although the caryatids survived. It has since been reconstructed. The
British Museum's caryatid is better preserved than her sisters, which have now severely weathered. They have recently been removed to the
Acropolis Museum and replaced by casts.
This statue stands presently in the
British Museum in
London,
England. Room 19,
Greece: the
Acropolis & the late
5th century BC, South West corner