Many museums around the world
have countless Greek artefacts. However, the ones located within the British
Museum are the ones most wanted by Greece, since they contain artefacts from
the Parthenon. One statue which stands out is the lonely Caryatid. Her sisters
are located in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens. During the sacking of the
Parthenon, by Lord Elgin, she, together with countless statues and
archaeological artefacts were ‘stolen’ and eventually brought to Britain.
Caryatids are female figures serving
as supports. The most likely derivation of their name is from the young women
of Sparta who danced every year in honour of Artemis Karyatis ('Artemis of the
Walnut Tree'). This is one of six caryatids that held up the roof of the temple
on the Acropolis known as the Erechtheion. She wears a peplos, a simple tunic
pinned on each shoulder. Her hair is braided and falls in a thick rope down her
back. She probably held a sacrificial vessel in one of the missing hands.
The figure strongly resembles the
women of the east frieze of the Parthenon, which had just been completed when
work on the Erechtheion began. She carries an architectural capital like a
basket on her head. From the side, her burden seems to bear down upon her; the
weight is taken on the right leg, encased in perpendicular folds arranged like
the fluting of a column shaft. The other leg is flexed with the drapery moulded
to it.
Despite the British Museum
claiming that it is the best preserved Caryatid, the Greek side claims
otherwise, stating that the cleaning process resulted in the changing of the
colour of the statue. It is important that all the Parthenon artefacts should
eventually be sent back to Athens, where they belong, reuniting therefore the
whole Acropolis family.!
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