Porch of the Caryatides, on the side of the Erechtheion, name with which it was designated the temple dedicated to Athena Polias (“Patroness of the City”) on the Acropolis of Athens in the V century B.C. With the term of Caryatides are called the sculpted female figures, serving as architectural support, taking the place of a column or a pillar, for the lintels of a building. The name derives from the women of Caryae, in Laconia, where a well-known temple of Artemis was located. With the attribute of Caryatid, the goddess was celebrated with dances of maidens, who, in their ecstatic dances held on their heads baskets of green reeds, thus representing a sort of dancing plants (Kerényi, 1958, p. 146-147).

[Fonte: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eretteo_%28tempio%29]