CARYATIDES, kiir'l-iitti-dC.z (Lat., Gk. Re pearts, Karyatis, woman of Caryte). A name given to female figures, in Greek architecture, when applied instead of columns to support a roof. The account of the origin of the name given by the Roman architect Vitruvius is, that the inhabitants of Ca•y:e, a city in Laconia, hav ing joined the Persians, the Greeks, after their vieto•y over the Persians. destroyed the town, slew the men. and carried the women into cap As a tokcn of triumph. figures of these women and of the conquered Persians were in troduced as supports in architecture. This story is a pure invention. Such figures are found in Egypt and Greece from early times as supports of thrones or lustral vases, and were used in Creek architecture during the Sixth Century B.C., as is proved by the discovery of such figures used as columns for the treasuries of the Cnidians and the Siphnians at Delphi. The female figures are calm and dignified, in no way op pressed by the weight they sustain, and seem to be conceived originally as ministrants of the deities within. The Creek word means not only
a woman of Caryte, Inn also a dancer in the peculiar dame with which the Laeonian maidens honored Artemis Caryatis. The name ought properly to denote only a certain kind of sup porting figure, in which one hand is raised to help sustain the weight: others would he called Canephori, or Calathephori. The term, however, has been extended to all suit figures. Honig]) in Greek they are properly called only 'Maidens: The most celebrated are the figures which sup port the southwest porch of the Erechtheum in Athens. Male figures used for the same purpose are called Atlantes (q.v.), and in these the idea of suffering under a heavy burden is clearly ex p•essed. See llomolle. in Bulletin de ro•respon dance helh'nique. Vols. XXIII. and XX1V. (Paris, 1899). For illustration, see ERECHTHEUM.