Caryatis

In ancient Greek religion Artemis Caryatis ["Diana Caryatis", noted in Servius scholium on Virgil's "Eclogue" viii.30.] was an epithet of Artemis that was derived from the city of Karyae in Laconia; there an archaic open-air "temenos" was dedicated to Carya, the "Lady of the Nut-Tree", whose priestesses were called the "caryatidai". Carya was a virgin who had been transformed into a nit-tree for her unchastity (with Dionysus) or to prevent her rape. [Sarah Iles Johnston, "Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece." (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1999:227. ] The particular form of veneration of Artemis at Caryae suggests that in pre-classical ritual Carya was goddess of the nut tree who was later assimilated into the Olympian goddess Artemis. Pausanias noted that each year women performed a dance called the "caryatis" at a festival in honor of Artemis Caryatis called the "Caryateia". [The festival is attested by Hesychius, "s.v." "Caryai".]

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External links

* [http://messagenet.com/myths/ppt/Caryatis_1.html Stewart, Michael. "People, Places Things: Caryatis" Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Caryatis.html LacusCurtius.com: Caryatis, Caryatides]