caryatid

From Middle French cariatide, from Latin caryatides, from Ancient Greek Καρυάτιδες (Karuátides), plural of Καρυᾶτις (Karuâtis, “a priestess of Artemis, female figures used as bearing-shafts”), from Καρυατίζω (Karuatízō, “dance the Karyatid festival dance”) from Καρύαι (Karúai, “a town in Laconia with a temple of Artemis and a festival”)

caryatid (plural caryatids or caryatides)

1. A sculpted female figure serving as an architectural element, used as a support for entablature.
   • 1901, Henry James, Flickerbridge:

     She wore on the top of her head an upright circular cap that made her resemble a caryatid disburdened, and on other parts of her person strange combinations of colours, stuffs, shapes, of metal, mineral and plant.

• telamon