Karyes in the context of "Caryatid"

⭐ In the context of Caryatids, the town of Karyes is most significantly connected to…

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⭐ Core Definition: Karyes

Karyes (Greek: Καρυές, before 1930: Αράχωβα - Arachova) is a village of the Peloponnese peninsula, which is located in the southern part of Greece. The Peloponnese is made up of a number of states and Karyes belongs to the state of Laconia in which Sparta is the capital. Karyes gets its official name from the word ‘walnut’ due to the village having many walnut trees and has been spelled a number of ways such as Karyes, Karyai, Karya, Caryes, Caryai and Caryae. It should not be confused with some other villages in Greece which go by the same name such as Caria of Asia Minor, Karyes, Mount Athos, Karyes, Pieria, Karya of Argos, and Karyes of Chios. Karyes also goes by the name of Arahova (not to be confused with Arahova of Boetia, Greece) which was thought to have originated from the Slavic word for walnut. The village of Karyes is the birthplace of the six caryatid maidens which are featured in architecture in the place of columns on the ancient and world famous Erectheion of the Athenian Acropolis.

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👉 Karyes in the context of Caryatid

A caryatid (/ˌkɛəriˈætɪd, ˌkær-/ KAIR-ee-AT-id, KARR-; Ancient Greek: Καρυᾶτις, romanizedKaruâtis; pl.Καρυάτιδες, Karuátides) 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 on the Peloponnese. Karyai had a 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".

An atlas or atlantid or telamon is a male version of a caryatid, i.e., a sculpted male statue serving as an architectural support.

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Karyes in the context of Caryateia

The Caryateia (Ancient Greek: Καρυάτεια) was an annual festival held at the ancient sanctuary of Artemis Caryatis in Karyes, Laconia, in honor of the goddess.

The festival had an agricultural character and was likely held before or after the summer harvest, as the faithful would seek to appease the goddess for a bountiful crop or to express their gratitude accordingly. During the festival, according to Pausanias: "Here, the maidens of the Lacedaemonians annually perform dances, and there is a local tradition of dancing...," where prominent maidens of Lacedaemon participated in the celebration as priestess-dancers of the goddess.These priestesses, with their beauty and stature, seem to have inspired the artists of the Classical period, who utilized the female figure type in art, particularly in architecture, which became widely known as Caryatids.

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