This caryatid is one of six elegant female figures who supported the roof of the south porch of the Erechtheion (figures who do the work of columns—carrying a roof—are called caryatids).
What are female statues called?
A Venus figurine
is any Upper Palaeolithic statuette portraying a woman, usually carved in the round.
What is a column styled like a woman’s figure called?
Caryatid
, in classical architecture, draped female figure used instead of a column as a support.
What was the Erechtheion used for?
The Erechtheion was named after the demi-god Erechtheus (Cartwright). The primary function for the Erechtheion was
to to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena
, but also served other purposes as discussed below (Cartwright).
What are caryatids and Herms?
Atlas: male caryatid. Herm:
A squared stone pillar with a carved head on top
(typically of Hermes), used in ancient Greece as a boundary marker or a signpost.
What are female Greek statues called?
Kore (Greek: κόρη “maiden”; plural korai)
is the modern term given to a type of free-standing ancient Greek sculpture of the Archaic period depicting female figures, always of a young age.
Who brought Galatea to life?
The Roman poet Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, Book X, relates that Pygmalion, a sculptor, makes an ivory statue representing his ideal of womanhood and then falls in love with his own creation, which he names Galatea;
the goddess Venus
brings the statue to life in answer to his prayer.
What are the 3 types of columns?
The three major classical orders are
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian
. The orders describe the form and decoration of Greek and later Roman columns, and continue to be widely used in architecture today. The Doric order is the simplest and shortest, with no decorative foot, vertical fluting, and a flared capital.
What is the most decorative Greek order?
The Corinthian order
is the most elaborated of the Greek orders, characterized by a slender fluted column having an ornate capital decorated with two rows of acanthus leaves and four scrolls. The shaft of the Corinthian order has 24 flutes.
What is a column base called?
PLINTH
.
an
architectural support or base (as for a column or statue)
What makes the Erechtheion unique?
The Erechtheion is an intricate temple. … The temple is unusual in that it
incorporates two porches (prostaseis); one at the northwest corner which is supported by tall Ionic columns
, and one at the south-west corner which is supported by six massive female statues, the famous Caryatids.
What makes the Erechtheion strange?
The Erechtheion is often described as ‘unusual’ or ‘complex’ and this is because of
its multifaceted purpose
. The site is sacred ground and said to be the burial place of two important characters.
What’s inside the Erechtheion?
Inside the entrance are
altars
, one to Poseidon, on which in obedience to an oracle they sacrifice also to Erekhtheus, the second to the hero Boutes, and the third to Hephaistos . . . here is also inside–the building is double–sea-water in a cistern.
What is a male caryatid called?
A Caryatid is a female figure used as an architectural support in place of a pillar. The male equivalent is
an Atlantes
, and these too are covered on this page – though the female is much the more common.
When a supporting architectural column is carved in the form of a man?
In European architectural sculpture,
an atlas (also known as an atlant, or atlante or atlantid; plural atlantes)
is a support sculpted in the form of a man, which may take the place of a column, a pier or a pilaster.
What is a Greek kore?
A kore (pl. korai) is
a standing Archaic stone statue (typically in marble or limestone)
of a draped, unmarried female figure. Usually these statues were life-size. With the development of the korai, Greek sculpture started to become more “monumental” (Whitley 198).
