Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, King Erichthonius (; ) was a legendary early ruler of ancient

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. According to some

myths Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, he was

autochthonous Autochthon, autochthons or autochthonous may refer to: Nature * Autochthon (geology), a sediment or rock that can be found at its site of formation or deposition * Autochthon (nature), or landrace, an indigenous animal or plant * Autochthonou ...

(born of the soil, or Earth) and adopted or raised by the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

. Early Greek texts do not distinguish between him and

Erechtheus Erechtheus (; ) in Greek mythology was a king of Athens, the founder of the ''polis'' and, in his role as god, attached to Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus". The name Erichthonius is carried by a son of Erechtheus, but Plutarch conflated the tw ...

, his grandson, but by the fourth century BC, during Classical times, they are distinct figures.

Etymology

Erichthonius of uncertain etymology is possibly related to a

pre-Greek The pre-Greek substrate (or substratum) consists of the unknown pre-Greek language or languages (either Pre-Indo-European or other Indo-European languages) spoken in prehistoric Greece prior to the emergence of the Proto-Greek language in the r ...

form *''Erekteu-''. The connection of Ἐριχθόνιος with ἐρέχθω, "shake" is a late folk-etymology; other folk-etymologies include ἔριον, ''erion'', "wool" or ἔρις, ''eris'', "strife"+ χθών ''chthôn'', "earth".

Mythology

Birth

Athena Scorning the Advances of Hephaestus

According to the '' Bibliotheca'', Athena visited the smith-god

Hephaestus Hephaestus ( , ; wikt:Hephaestus#Alternative forms, eight spellings; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985: III.2. ...

to request some weapons, but Hephaestus was so overcome by desire that he tried to seduce her in his workshop. Determined to maintain her virginity, Athena fled, pursued by Hephaestus. He caught Athena and tried to rape her, but she fought him off. During the struggle, his semen fell on her thigh, and Athena, in disgust, wiped it away with a scrap of wool (ἔριον, ''erion'') and flung it to the earth (χθών, ''chthôn''). As she fled, Erichthonius was born from the semen that fell to the earth. Athena, wishing to raise the child in secret, placed him in a small box and then made sure no one would ever find out by giving him away. Athena gave the box to the three daughters ( Herse, Aglaurus and Pandrosus) of Cecrops, the king of Athens, and warned them never to look inside. Pandrosus obeyed, but Herse and Aglaurus were overcome with curiosity and opened the box, containing the infant and future-king, Erichthonius ("troubles born from the earth," following another etymology). (Sources are unclear regarding how many sisters participated.) The sisters were terrified by what they saw in the box: Either a snake coiled around an infant, or an infant that was half-human and half-serpent. They went insane and threw themselves off the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

. Other accounts state that the snake killed them. An alternative version of the story is that Athena left the box with the daughters of Cecrops while she went to fetch a limestone mountain from the Pallene peninsula to use in the Acropolis. While she was away, Aglaurus and Herse opened the box. A crow saw them open the box, and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain she was carrying which became

Mount Lycabettus Mount Lycabettus (), also known as Lycabettos, Lykabettos or Lykavittos (, ), is a Cretaceous limestone hill in the Greek capital Athens. At 277 meters (908 feet) above sea level, its summit is the highest point in Central Athens and pine tree ...

. As in the first version, Herse and Aglaurus went insane and threw themselves to their deaths off a cliff.

Reign

When he grew up, Erichthonius drove out

Amphictyon Amphictyon or Amphiktyon (; ), in Greek mythology, was a king of Thermopylae and later Athens. In one account, he was the ruler of Locris.Pseudo-Scymnus, Pseudo-Scymnos, ''Circuit de la terre'587 ff./ref> Etymology The name of Amphictyon is a ba ...

, who had usurped the throne from

Cranaus In Greek mythology, Cranaus or Kranaos (;Ancient Greek: Κραναός) was the second Kings of Athens, King of Athens, succeeding Cecrops I, Cecrops I. Family Cranaus married Pedias, a Spartan woman and daughter of Mynes (mythology), Mynes, with ...

twelve years earlier, and became king of Athens. He married

Praxithea In Greek mythology, Praxithea (; Ancient Greek: Πραξιθέα) was a name attributed to five women. * Praxithea, a Naiad nymph. She married Erichthonius of Athens and by him had a son named Pandion I. Praxithea's sister Zeuxippe married her n ...

, a

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

, with whom he had a son, . During this time, Athena frequently protected him. He founded the Panathenaic Festival in the honor of Athena, and set up a wooden statue of her on the Acropolis. According to the

Parian Chronicle The Parian Chronicle or Parian Marble (, Mar. Par.) is a Greek chronology, covering the years from 1582 BC to 299 BC, inscribed on a stele. Found on the island of Paros in two sections, and sold in Smyrna in the early 17th century to an ...

, he taught his people to yoke

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s and use them to pull

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

s, to smelt

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and to till the earth with a

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

. It was said that Erichthonius was lame of his feet and that he consequently invented the

quadriga A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in classical antiquity and the Roman Empire. The word derives from the Latin , a contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. In Latin the word is almos ...

, or four-horse chariot, to get around more easily. He is said to have competed often as a chariot driver in games.

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

was said to have been so impressed with his skill that he raised him to the heavens to become the constellation of the Charioteer ( Auriga) after his death. The snake is his symbol, and he is represented in the statue of Athena in the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

as the snake hidden behind her shield. The most sacred building on the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

, the

Erechtheum The Erechtheion (, Latinisation of names, latinized as Erechtheum ; , ) or Temple of Athena Polias is an Classical Greece, ancient Greek Ionic order, Ionic Ancient Greek temple, temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens, Acropolis, Athe ...

, is dedicated to Erichthonius. Erichthonius was succeeded by his son Pandion I.

Gallery

File:Erichthonius Released from His Basket LACMA 65.37.98.jpg, ''Erichthonius Released from His Basket'' by

Antonio Tempesta Antonio Tempesta, also called il Tempestino (1555 – 5 August 1630), was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Roman Baroque, Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp. Much of his work depicts major ba ...

(1606) File:Peter Paul Rubens - The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius - WGA20295.jpg, ''The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius'' by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

(circa 1615) File:Jacob-jordaens-erichtonius.jpg, ''The finding of the infant Erichthonius by Cecrops's daughters'' by Jacob Jordaens (1617) File:Willem van Herp Erichthonius.jpg, ''The finding of the infant Erichthonius by Cecrops's daughters'' by Willem van Herp (circa 1650)) File:Pierre, Jean-Baptiste Marie - Mercury, Herse and Aglauros - 1763.jpg, ''Mercury, Herse and Aglauros'' by Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre (1763)

Footnotes

References

Sources

Apollodorus Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A ...

, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Beekes, S. P., ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009. * Graves, Robert; ''

The Greek Myths ''The Greek Myths'' (1955) is a mythography, a compendium of Greek mythology, with comments and analyses, by the poet and writer Robert Graves. Many editions of the book separate it into two volumes. Abridged editions of the work contain only ...

'', Moyer Bell Ltd; Unabridged edition (December 1988), . *

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA.,

; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Smith, William; ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', London (1873)
''Erichthonius''

External links

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Erichthonius)
{{Authority control Autochthons of classical mythology Children of Gaia Children of Hephaestus Kings of Athens Kings in Greek mythology Mythological people from Attica Deeds of Athena