Caryatides or Carya'Tis

The city of Carya in Arcadia sided with the Persians after the battle of Thermopylae, in consequence of which the victorious Greeks destroyed the city, slew the men, and made the women slaves. Praxiteles, to perpetuate their disgrace, employed figures of Caryan women and Persian men in architecture to support the entablature. The figures of the women are in Greek costumes. A single figure is called a Caryatid. Architecture in which figures of women are used in the place of columns is called Caryatic Order. The male figures are called Telamones or Atlantes.