Erechtheion. Karyatid. Kore F

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 15004

Artist

Alcamenes and his circle

Category

Architectural sculpture

Period

Classical Period

Date

420-415 BC

Dimensions

Height: 2.318 m

Material

Marble from Penteli

Location

First Floor, West

Description
Bibliography

One of the six Korai -known as Karyatids- that supported the roof of the south porch of the Erechtheion, instead of columns. She was found in fragments during the excavations conducted in 1837 near the temple's south wall. In 1846 the statue fragments were mended save her feet and restored. The lowest part of the Kore was filled in with a piece worked by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Andreoli. This piece has been removed and today the original fragments have been put in their place. From the Kore missing are the biggest part of the head along with the neck, her arms from the shoulders, the pelvis and thighs.

The Kore stood with her right leg bent slightly to the side and her left firmly planted on the ground carrying this way her body weight. She is draped in a belted chiton with a rich overfold. Over her back fell her himation which was fastened on her shoulders. As we know from ancient copies, she would have held the edge of her himation with her left hand on her side, whereas in her right, she would have had a phiale.

The Korai that decorated the south porch of the Erechtheion, stood on a low base (podium) arranged in a Π-shaped layout facing the way to the Acropolis, along which passed the procession of the Panathenaic festival. The vertical folds of their garments resemble column fluting and the peculiar capitals in the shape of baskets on their heads, concentrated the roof's weight and directed it downwards.

Replacing the columns with female statues was a common Greek architectural practice since the Archaic period. These statues are called merely Korai in the building inscriptions of the temple. The term Karyatids has been handed down to us by Vitruvius who tells the story of the women from Karyes in Laconia in the Peloponnese that were punished by the other Greeks and were thus obliged to carry on their heads the weight of their clothes and jewellery as their city had supported the Persians. However, according to Lucian, the women from Karyes were famous for their dance in honour of the goddess Artemis, which they performed with ceremonial baskets on their heads.

Many interpretations of the Korai have been put forward in modern times: Kekrops' daughters, Arrhephoroi or young women that participate in the Panathenaic procession. The most convincing however is, that they were part of an above-the-ground monument over the grave of the mythical Kekrops, the Kekropeion, which was located directly below. They were the choephoroi, the libation bearers that honored the dead hero-king pouring offerings with the phialai that they held in their hands.

Five of the Karyatids, Korai A, B, D, E, and F are in Greece while the sixth, Kore C, is in the British Museum in London, after it was detached in 1804 by Thomas Bruce, lord of Elgin. In 1979 the Korai were removed from the monument so that they would be protected from air pollution and were transferred in the old Acropolis Museum. They were replaced in the Erechtheion by copies made of synthetic stone. Since 2009 the Korai are displayed in the Acropolis Museum.

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