Literally, the caryatids are the maidens of Karyai, an ancient town of the Peloponnese where the goddess Artemis was worshipped. It comes as little surprises that these objects of femininity were chosen to shoulder the architectural burden of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens. They represent womanhood that is beautiful, strong and, in the case of one of them, stolen and taken to the darkness of a British Museum hall.