A caryatid (in ancient Greek: , romanized: karyātis and in Greek: , plural: καρυάτιδες, romanized "Romanization (transliteration)") karyatide) [1]​ is a sculpted female figure, with the function of a column "Column (Architecture)") or pilaster, with an entablature resting on its head. The most typical example is the Portico of the Caryatids in the Erechtheon, one of the temples on the Acropolis of Athens.[2]​ In this way, all similar columns continue to have the same name.[1][3]​.

Its name is related to the ancient city of Carias "Carias (Laconia)") (Καρυές), in Laconia, where a festival was celebrated in a temple of Artemis.[4]​.

According to Servius, Caria was the daughter of a king of Laconia, she was loved by Dionysus, but she died suddenly in Carias and he metamorphosed her into a walnut tree. Artemis brought the news to the Laconians, who immediately erected a temple to Artemis Caryatid, from whom the caryatids, female statues used as columns, are named.[6]​.

On the other hand, a story by Vitruvius indicated that this city being an ally of the Persians during the Persian Wars, its inhabitants were exterminated by the other Greeks, its women were turned into slaves and condemned to carry the heaviest burdens. They are sculpted, instead of typically Greek columns, so that they are condemned for all eternity to support the weight of the temple.[7]​.

In 1550, Jean Goujon (architect and sculptor to King Henry II of France) carved caryatids in the Louvre, which support the musicians' platform in the hall of the Swiss guards (now called the Caryatids). Goujon had only known about the Erechtheum caryatids through inscriptions and had never seen the originals.

The Spanish writer Ramón Gómez de la Serna, who lived for several years in Buenos Aires (Argentina), wrote that he wanted for his death "all the caryatids in the city to cry."

One of the best-known assembly halls of the Dominican National Palace") bears the name of Las Caryatides, since it alternates white marble columns and beautiful semi-naked caryatids.

If the figure is male, it is called atlante "Atlante (column)") or telamon.

From a hieratic figure in Antiquity, the figure of the caryatid became extremely lascivious throughout the century, with the tightest drapes and very suggestive poses, etc. (see Wallace Source).