Submitted by Cath Parnell on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 13:28
The history of Athens and its many monuments is endlessly exciting for visitors and you don't need to be in the city itself to get a taste of its glorious past. Wander around London, admire a few buildings, have a short visit to the British Museum and then finish your day with a trip to the cinema and you will feel like you've been to transported to ancient Greece. So here are 10 points of call for experiencing your very own "Athens day" in London.
A Caryatid (‘maiden of Karyai’, an ancient town in Peloponnese) is an architectural element in form of female statue whose function is to support on its head an entablature (superstructure of mouldings and bands).
On the Acropolis of Athens, 6 marble Caryatids formed the southern porch of the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erechthonios. None of the Caryatids went destroyed or lost; today 5 of them are in the New Acropolis Museum of Athens and 1, which stood second from the left on the front of the porch, is in the British Museum of London.
Caryatids are usually used as an architectural support, in place of a column. They are mainly in the form of a female figure supporting a building usually with their head. Most have braided hair and draped robe. Their name comes from the young women of Sparta who danced around the Temple of Artemis.
The Greek term karyatides means 'maidens of Karyae', an ancient Peloponnesian town where there was a famous temple dedicated to goddess Artemis. The best known caryatids were the six figures of Caryatid Porch of the Erechthenion on the Acropolis at Athens. The Romans also copied the caryatids. Those can be seen in the Pantheon in Rome and Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli.
This is one of a pair of Herms (female figures whose lower body tapers into a column or plinth) from the Augustan age, made in marble. It was found in the Horti Maecenatiani.
