Allegorical Caryatid

A caryatid 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 Karyai, 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.女像柱（caryatid）是一类经雕刻制作的女性形象，作为建筑支撑结构替代圆柱或壁柱，以头顶承托额枋（entablature）。希腊语术语卡里亚蒂德（karyatides）的字面含义为“卡莱埃的少女”，卡莱埃是伯罗奔尼撒地区的一座古代城镇。卡莱埃曾建有一座供奉女神阿尔忒弥斯的知名神庙，该神庙以阿尔忒弥斯·卡里亚蒂斯（Artemis Karyatis）的形象敬奉这位女神：作为卡里亚蒂斯，她钟爱卡莱埃这座核桃树村落的舞蹈——那些卡里亚蒂德少女在狂喜的环舞中，以头顶盛放鲜芦苇的篮筐，仿若自身便是舞动的植株。