Greece 20: Athens - The Caryatids

 

When I went to the Acropolis I knew I would see the Parthenon.  I mean, you can see it all from all over the city, plus the two words go together to anyone who knows anything about classical Greece.

 

But I am embarrassed to admit I didn't know the Caryatids were there too.  They stand literally across the path from the Parthenon. I had seen photos of those statues all my life but somehow didn't realize they were even located in Athens.  Good grief.

The building is called the Erechtheion - although some scholars now think that name belonged to some other building, now gone.  It is believed there have been buildings on that site back to the Mycenean age (ca. 1200 BCE). 

The Erechtheion, if that is what it is, was a temple where Athena and Poseidon were worshipped together.  But it doesn't meet the classic structure of a Greek temple (look right across the trail to the Acropolis for a closer match).  And then there are the Caryatids (literally the Maidens), six young women holding up the roof of a porch.  Nothing like that anywhere else.

But I oversimplify.  The statues you see now are not the real Caryatids.  They are copies of the originals which stand in the Acropolis Museum.  Well, five of them do.  The sixth was taken off to the British Museum by Lord Elgin (more about him in the next installment).

In any case, the ladies are stunning.

Next stop: Athens - The Acropolis Museum