CARYTES, in Antiquity, a festival in honour of Diana, surnamed Caryatis, held at Caryum, a city of Laconia. The chief ceremony consisted of a dance said to have been invented by Castor and Pollux, and performed by the virgins of the place. During Xerxes's invasion, the Laconians not daring to appear and celebrate the customary solemnity, the neighbouring swains, in order to avoid incurring the anger of the goddess by such an intermission, are said to have assembled and sung pastorals or bucolisons, which is supposed to have been the origin of bucolic poetry.