Caryatides

(kā-re-at'e-deez.) (Arch.) Columns or pillars shaped like the bodies of females (Fig. 142). They were first erected as trophies, and were intended to represent the women of the city of Caryæ, in Arcadia, who Fig. 142. CARYATIDES, BY JEAN GOUJON. (In the Louvre, France.) were taken captive by the A then i ans after the men had been slain for joining the Persians after the battle of Thermopylæ;-male figures of similar character are called Persians. [s. 149]