Caryatid

Caryatid

A caryatid ( _el. Καρυάτις, "plural:" Καρυάτιδες) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term "karyatides" literally means "maidens of Karyae", an ancient town of Peloponnese. Karyai had a famous temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis in her aspect of Artemis Karyatis: "As Karyatis she rejoiced in the dances of the nut-tree village of Karyai, those Karyatides, who in their ecstatic round-dance carried on their heads baskets of live reeds, as if they were dancing plants" (Kerenyi 1980 p 149).

Some of the earliest known examples were found in the treasuries of Delphi, dating to about the 6th century BC, but their use as supports in the form of women can be traced back even earlier, to ritual basins, ivory mirror handles from Phoenicia, and draped figures from archaic Greece. The best-known and most-copied examples are those of the six figures of the Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens ("illustrations, right").

One of those original six figures, removed by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s, is now in the British Museum in London. The other five figures, although they are damaged by erosion and replaced onsite by replicas, are in the Acropolis Museum.

The Romans also copied the Erechtheion caryatids, installing copies in the Forum of Augustus and the Pantheon in Rome, and at Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. Another Roman example, found on the Via Appia, is the Townley Caryatid.

In modern times, the practice of integrating caryatids into building facades was revived in the 16th century and, from the examples engraved for Sebastiano Serlio's treatise on architecture, became a fixture in the decorative vocabulary of Northern Mannerism expressed by the Fontainebleau School and the engravers of designs in Antwerp. In the early 17th century interior examples appear in Europe, such as the overmantle in the great hall of Muchalls Castle in Scotland. Caryatids remained part of the German Baroque vocabulary ("illustration, right") and were refashioned in more restrained and "Grecian" forms by neoclassical architects and designers, such as the four terracotta caryatids on the porch of St Pancras New Church, London (1822). Many caryatids lined up on the facade of the 1893 Palace of the Arts housing the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. In the arts of design, the draped figure supporting an acanthus-grown basket capital taking the form of a candlestick or a table-support is a familiar cliché of neoclassical decorative arts. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota has caryatids as a motif on its eastern facade.

Origins

The origins of the term are unclear. It is first recorded in the Latin form "caryatides" by the Roman architect Vitruvius. He stated in his 1st century BC work "De architectura" that the female figures of the Erechtheion represented the punishment of the women of Caryae (Greek "Karyiai"), a town near Sparta in Laconia, who were condemned to slavery after betraying Athens by siding with Persia in the Greco-Persian Wars.

However, Vitruvius' explanation is doubtful; well before the Persian Wars, female figures were used as decorative supports in Greece and the ancient Near East.

A caryatid supporting a basket on her head is called a "canephora" ("basket-bearer"), representing one of the maidens who carried sacred objects used at feasts of the goddesses Athena and Artemis. The Erectheion caryatids, in a shrine dedicated to an archaic king of Athens, may therefore represent priestesses of Artemis in Karyai, a place named for the "nut-tree sisterhood" – apparently in Mycenaean times, like other plural feminine toponyms, such as Hyrai or Athens itself.

The later male counterpart of the caryatid is referred to as a "telamon" (plural "telamones") or "atlas" (plural "atlantes") – the name refers to the legend of Atlas, who bore the sphere of the heavens on his shoulders. Such figures were used on a monumental scale, notably in the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Agrigento, Sicily.

ee also

*The Sphere

External links

* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html Artemis at Pantheon.org]
*Kerényi, Karl (1951) 1980. "The Gods of the Greeks" (Thames & Hudson)


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  • Caryatid — Car y*at id, n.; pl. {Caryatids}. [See {Caryatides}.] (Arch.) A draped female figure supporting an entablature, in the place of a column or pilaster. [1913 Webster] || …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • caryatid — 1560s, carved female figure used as a column, from M.Fr. cariatide, from L. caryatides, from Gk. Karyatides (singular Karyatis) priestesses of Artemis at Caryae (Gk. Karyai), a town in Laconia where dance festivals were held in Artemis temple …   Etymology dictionary

  • caryatid — [kar΄ē at′id, kə rī′ə tid΄] n. pl. caryatids [kar΄ē at′əidz] or caryatides [kar΄ēat′ə dēz΄] [< L pl. caryatides < Gr karyatides, priestesses of the temple of Diana at Karyai, Macedonia] a supporting column that has the form of a draped… …   English World dictionary

  • Caryatid — Caryatic Car y*at ic, Caryatid Car y*at id, a. Of or pertaining to a caryatid. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • caryatid — caryatidal, adj. /kar ee at id/, n., pl. caryatids, caryatides / i deez /. Archit. a sculptured female figure used as a column. Cf. atlas (def. 5). [1555 65; < L Caryatides (sing. Caryatis) < Gk Karyátides columns shaped like women, lit., women… …   Universalium

  • caryatid —    A carved female figure used as a column. Dressed in long robes, she supports an architectural element on her head. Her male counterpart is an atlant, atlantid, or atlas. The word caryatid is Greek, and originally referred to maidens of Caryae… …   Glossary of Art Terms

  • caryatid — noun (plural ids or caryatides) Etymology: Latin caryatides, plural, from Greek karyatides priestesses of Artemis at Caryae, caryatids, from Karyai Caryae in Laconia Date: 1563 a draped female figure supporting an entablature …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • caryatid — noun A sculpted female figure serving as an architectural element, used as a support for entablature …   Wiktionary

  • caryatid — car|y|at|id [ˌkæriˈætıd] n [Date: 1500 1600; : Latin; Origin: caryatides (plural), from Greek, female priests of the goddess Artemis at Caryae, a town in ancient Greece ] technical a ↑pillar in the shape of a female figure …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • caryatid —  In architecture, a female form used as a supporting pillar …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

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