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caryatid, in classical architecture, draped female figure used instead of a column as a support.
What is a caryatid person?
A caryatid (/ˌkæriˈætɪd/ KARR-ee-AT-id; Ancient Greek: Καρυάτις, pl. 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.
What was the purpose of Caryatids?
Caryatids are female figures that serve as the architectural support for the entablature of a building. The Greeks called these supporting figures korai, maidens.
Are Caryatids always female?
A Caryatid is a female figure used as an architectural support in place of a pillar. The male equivalent is an Atlantes, and these too are covered on this page – though the female is much the more common.
What are Caryatids and Herms?
Atlas: male caryatid. Herm: A squared stone pillar with a carved head on top (typically of Hermes), used in ancient Greece as a boundary marker or a signpost.
Where is the Caryatid?
The Caryatid columns now on the acropolis are copies, five of the originals reside in the Acropolis Museum of Athens and the other is in the British Museum, London.
What is Caryatid architecture?
caryatid, in classical architecture, draped female figure used instead of a column as a support.
How many Caryatids are there?
The five caryatids are displayed, with a place ready and waiting for their sixth sister, should she return home from London.
How tall are the Caryatids?
Each Caryatid is 2,27m high and stand 1,68m distance from each other. The elegant figures of the Caryatides have been fully uncovered and now show their Ionic Chiton [ankle length, belted garment] with all of the fine carving on these magnificent female figures.
Which temple contains the Caryatids and what are they?
The six replica Caryatids hold up the roof of the temple on the Acropolis. The originals are housed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The Caryatids at the Acropolis Museum.
What is the male equivalent of a caryatid?
They were first used in Greek architecture and the most famous caryatids are on the Erechtheum at Athens (c. 421–406 bc). The male equivalent of the caryatid is the atlas; the term canephorae is applied to caryatids supporting baskets on their heads.
What is a metope in Greek?
In classical architecture, a metope (μετόπη) is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order.
How much does the caryatid weigh?
Like the other remains, the Caryatids have been packed in steel casing, holding upright each of the statues, which weigh 860 kilos and are 2.2 metres high.
What is the top of the Parthenon called?
Dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, the Parthenon sits high atop a compound of temples known as the Acropolis of Athens.
What is a Cella in Greek architecture?
cella, Greek Naos, in Classical architecture, the body of a temple (as distinct from the portico) in which the image of the deity is housed. In early Greek and Roman architecture it was a simple room, usually rectangular, with the entrance at one end and with the side walls often being extended to form a porch.
What does a pediment look like?
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. They are found in ancient Greek architecture as early as 600 BC (e.g. the archaic Temple of Artemis). Variations of the pediment occur in later architectural styles such as Classical, Neoclassical and Baroque. A pediment is sometimes the top element of a portico.
What story was told by the Laocoön sculpture?
The Story of Laocoön Specifically, this piece portrays a story from the Greek Epic Cycle, a collection of poems detailing the Trojan War. According to legend, Laocoön was a priest from Troy, who—along with his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus—was attacked by sea serpents sent by a god.
How is Greek art different from Egyptian art?
Egyptian art was more oriented towards religion. On the contrary, Greek art was much more oriented towards philosophy. Unlike Egyptian art, Greek art examined the world as it was and explored the various concepts of life.
How tall is the Erechtheion?
Six Ionic columns on the eastern facade (6.58 m tall including base and capital) present the principal entrance (4.88 m x 2.42 m). On the north side is the porch sacred to Poseidon Erechtheus (a local version of the god) and site of the trident strike which tapped the god’s salt spring (the Erechthian Sea).
What was a tholos used for?
In the Mycenaean period, tholoi were large ceremonial tombs, sometimes built into the sides of hills; they were beehive-shaped and covered by a corbeled arch. In classical Greece, the tholos at Delphi had a peristyle; the tholos in Athens, serving as a dining hall for the Athenian Senate, had no outside columns.
What are the three Greek orders?
At the start of what is now known as the Classical period of architecture, ancient Greek architecture developed into three distinct orders: the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders.
Are caryatids Ionic?
A caryatid is a sculpture of a woman that is used as a column, usually to support a porch roof. Caryatids were never used in Doric architecture and only rarely in Ionic. The figures therefore both naturalistically resemble both the flexibility of the human form and the rigidity of a column.
What period is Nike adjusting her sandal from?
Nike Adjusting Her Sandal, marble relief sculpture from the balustrade of the Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens, c. 420–410 bce; in the Acropolis Museum, Athens.
When were the caryatids built?
Constructed between 421-405 BCE, the six Caryatids adorn the southern porch (also referred to as Porch of the Maidens) of the Erechtheion, and serve as structural and architectural support in place of the typical columns.
What is significant about the 3 female figures on the east pediment of the Parthenon?
The east pediment of the Parthenon showed the birth of goddess Athena from the head of her father Zeus. They are perhaps, from left to right, Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home, Dione, and her daughter Aphrodite.
