Six women have been standing on a porch in Athens for two and a half thousand years. Not statues placed on a shelf — actual columns. Their heads hold up the roof. Their bodies are the architecture. They are the Caryatids of the Erechtheion, and they are easily the most famous sculptures ever asked to do a building’s job. How they ended up there is a story about war, betrayal, and how shame can become something beautiful.
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Lost & Found·3/7·1′
The place
Acropolis of Athens
The Caryatids — Maidens Who Bear the Heavens
The women of Caryae turned to stone
421-406 BCE (Erechtheion construction)Acropolis of Athens
Moral of the Story
“Beauty can transform punishment into grace. The Caryatids, meant to memorialize shame, became symbols of eternal strength and elegance.”
Characters
T
The Six CaryatidsT
The women of CaryaeA
Alkamenes (possible sculptor)Source
Vitruvius's De Architectura, Pausanias's Description of Greece, modern archaeological analysis