caryatid

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caryatid a stone carving of a draped female figure, used as a pillar to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building. The name comes (in the mid 16th century) via French and Italian from Latin caryatides from Greek karuatides, plural of karuatis ‘priestess of Artemis at Caryae’, from Karuai (Caryae) in Laconia.

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