Caryatid
A draped female figure substituted for a column supporting an entablature. Caryatids occur only rarely in Greek architecture. Their earliest appearance is in a cluster of Ionic treasuries built at Delphi in the mid 6th c. B.C. and the Lyons kore of similar date from the Athenian Acropolis. They are not employed again until the Erechtheion (421-406 B.C.), after which their next use is in the Limyra heroon (370-350 B.C.) in Lycia.
The distinctive costume, pose and hairstyle of caryatids are presumably related to both their function and meaning. Their origin and significance, however, remain controversial. Suggested explanations for their origin include Oriental influence, borrowing of forms in the minor arts, and the adaption of figures found on perirrhanteria (ritual water basins). The meaning of their iconography has been sought in both historical-political events (Vitruvius) and religious beliefs (as nymph-intercessors).
- Vitruvius 1.1.5: The female figures in architecture that supported burdens are said to have been called Caryatids in token of the abject slavery to which the women of Caryae (a town in Laconia near the borders of Arcadia, originally belonging to the territory of Tegea in Arcadia) were reduced by the Greeks, as a punishment for joining the Persians at the invasion of Greece.
- Atlantes