Erechtheus

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Erechtheus

Erechtheus (??e??e??) in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
was the name of an archaic king of Athens

King of Athens

Before the Athenian democracy, the tyrants, and the archons, the city-state of Athens was ruled by monarch. Most of these are probably mythologyical or only semi-historical....
, the re-founder of the polis
Polis

A polis -- plural: poleis --is a city, a city-state and also citizenship and body of citizens. When used to describe Classical Athens and its contemporaries, polis is often translated as "city-state."...
and a double at Athens for Poseidon

Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, as "Poseidon Erechtheus". A mythic Erechtheus and an Erechtheus given a human genealogy and set in a historicizing context— if they ever were really distinguished by Athenians— were harmonized as one in Euripides

Euripides

Erichthonius of Athens

King Erichthonius was a mythological early ruler of ancient Athens, Greece. He was, according to some Greek mythology, autochthonous and raised by the goddess Athena....
is carried by a son of Erechtheus, but Plutarch

Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
conflated the two names in the myth of the begetting of Erechtheus.

Athenians thought of themselves as Erechtheidai, the "sons of Erechtheus".

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Erechtheus (??e??e??) in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

King of Athens

Poseidon

Euripides

Erichthonius of Athens

Plutarch

Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
's Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
(2. 547-48) he is the son of "grain-giving Earth", reared by Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
. The earth-born son was sired by Hephaestus

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
, whose semen Athena wiped from her thigh with a fillet of wool cast to earth, by which Gaia

Gaia

Gaia or Gaea most commonly refers to Gaia , the primal Greek goddess of the earth. But it may also refer to:...
was made pregnant.

In the contest for patronship of Athens between Poseidon and Athena, the salt spring on the Acropolis where Poseidon's trident struck was known as the sea of Erechtheus.

Erechtheus and the Erechtheum/Erechtheion

The central gods of the Athenian acropolis

Acropolis of Athens

The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis in the world. Although there are many other acropolises in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as The Acropolis without qualification....
were Poseidon Erechtheus and Athena Polias, "Athena patron-guardian of the city". The Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
(VII.81) already records that Athena returned to Athens and "entered the house of Erechtheus". The archaic joint temple built upon the spot that was identified as the Kekropion, the hero-grave of the mythic founder-king Cecrops

Cecrops

This name may refer to two Greek mythology King of Athens Athens:* Cecrops I* Cecrops IIIt more often refers to Cecrops I, who was the better known....
and the serpent that embodied his spirit was destroyed by the Persian forces in 480 BC, during the Greco-Persian wars

Greco-Persian Wars

For other Persian wars, see Roman-Persian Wars, Islamic conquest of Persia, Iraq war , and Military history of Iran.The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between several ancient Greece city-states and the Achaemenid Empire that started in 499 BC and lasted until 448 BC....
, and was replaced between 421 and 407 BCE by the famous present Erechtheum

Erechtheum

The Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens of Athens in Greece....
. Continuity of the site made sacred by the presence of Cecrops is inherent in the reference in Nonnus

Nonnus

Nonnus , was a Greek language epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, and probably lived at the end of the 4th or early 5th century....
' Dionysiaca to "Erechtheion lamp as "the lamp of Cecrops". Priests of the Erechtheum and the priestess of Athena jointly took part in the procession to Skira that inaugurated the Skira

Skira

The festival of the Skira or Skirophoria in the Attic calendar, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June....
festival near the end of the Athenian year. Their object was the temenos
Temenos

Temenos is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to basileus and anax, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct: The Pythian Games race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the ?e????? p??? t??e??? ?????da, the...
at Skiron of the hero-seer Skiros, who had aided Eumolpus in the war between Athens and Eleusis in which Erechtheus II, the hero-king, was both triumphant and died.

That Poseidon and Erechtheus were two names at Athens for the same figure (see below) was demonstrated in the cult at the Erechtheum, where there was a single altar, a single priest and sacxrifices were dedicated to Poseidon erechtheus, Walter Burkert observed, adding "An historian would say that a Homeric, pan-Hellenic name has been superimposed on an autochthonous, non-Greek name."

Erechtheus II, king of Athens

The second Erechtheus was given a historicizing genealogy as son and heir to King Pandion I

Pandion I

In Greek mythology, Pandion I was a legendary king of Athens, Greece, the son and heir to Erichthonius of Athens and his wife, the naiad Praxithea....
of Athens by Zeuxippe

Zeuxippe

In Greek mythology, Zeuxippe was the name of several women.*Zeuxippe was the mother of Eribotes and Butes by Teleon. She was the daughter of the river Eridanos ....
, this Pandion being son of Erichthonius. This later king Erechtheus may be distinguished as Erechtheus II. Erechtheus was father, by his wife Praxithea, of several daughters: Procris

Procris

In Greek mythology, Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. She married Cephalus#Cephalus the husband of Procris, the son of Deion....
, Creusa

Creusa

In Greek mythology, four people had the name Creusa ; the name means simply "princess"....
, Chthonia and Oreithyia

Oreithyia

In Greek mythology, Oreithyia was the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens, Greece and his wife, Praxithea. Her brothers were Cecrops, Pandorus, and Metion, and her sisters were Procris, Creusa, and Chthonia....
.

According to pseudo-Apollodorus, Erechtheus II had a twin brother named Butes

Butes

In Greek mythology, the name Butes referred to three different people.*An Argonauts, son of Teleon. Aphrodite's lover, a famous bee keeper and a Sicily king....
who married Erechtheus' daughter Chthonia, the "earth-born". Erechtheus and Butes divided the royal power possessed by Pandion, Erechtheus taking the physical rule but Butes taking the priesthood of Athena and Poseidon, this right being passed on to his descendants. This late origin myth

Origin myth

An origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation myth, which describes the creation of the world....
or aition justified and validated the descent of the hereditary priesthood.

The war with Eleusis

His reign was marked by the war between Athens and Eleusis, when the Eleusinians were commanded by Eumolpus

Eumolpus

In Greek mythology, Eumolpus was the son of Poseidon and Chione. According to Apollodorus, Chione, daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia, pregnant with Eumolpus by Poseidon, was frightened of her father's reaction so she threw the baby into the ocean....
, coming from Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
. . An oracle declared that Athens' survival depended on the death one of the three daughters of Erechtheus. Perhaps three unmarried daughters is meant. But in one version it is Chthonia who is sacrificed. In another both Protogeneia and Pandora, the two eldest, offer themselves up. In any case the remaining sisters, or at least some of them, are said to kill themselves. These unfortunate daughters of Erechtheus became the Hyacinthides upon their death.

In the following battle between the forces of Athens and Eleusis, Erechtheus won the battle and slew Eumolpus, but then himself fell, struck down by Poseidon's trident; according to fragments of Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias....
' tragedy Erechtheus.Poseidon avenged his son Eumolpus' death by driving him into the earth with blows of his trident,

The ending lines of Euripides' tragedy were recovered in 1965 from a papyrus fragment. They demonstrate for Walter Burkert that "the founding of the Erechtheum and the institution of the priestess of Athena coincide." Athena resolves the action by instructing Erichtheus' widow Praxithea

Praxithea

In Greek mythology, Praxithea or Pasithea was a name attributed to five women....
:

...and for your husband I command a shrine to be constructed in the middle of the city; he will be known for him who killed him, under the name of 'sacred Poseidon'; but among the citizens, when the sacrificial cattle are slaughtered, he shall also be called 'Erechtheus'. To you, however, since you have rebuilt the city's foundations, I grant the duty of bringing in the preliminary fire-sacrifices for the city, and to be called my priestess."

In the Athenian king-list, Xuthus

Xuthus

In Greek mythology, Xuthus was a son of Hellen and Orseis and founder of the Achaeans and Ionians nations. He had two sons by Creusa: Ionas and Achaeus, son of Xuthus and a daughter named Diomede....
, the son-in-law of Erechtheus, was asked to choose his successor from among his many sons and chose Cecrops II

Cecrops II

Cecrops II was the legendary or semi-legendary son of Pandion I and inherited the Athenian throne from his brother Erechtheus. He was succeeded by his son Pandion II ....
, named for the mythic founder-king Cecrops

Cecrops

This name may refer to two Greek mythology King of Athens Athens:* Cecrops I* Cecrops IIIt more often refers to Cecrops I, who was the better known....
. Thus Erechtheus is succeeded by Cecrops II, his brother, according to a fragment from the poet Castor but his son according to pseudo-Apollodorus (3.15.1).

Other sons of Erechtheus sometimes mentioned are Orneus, Metion

Metion

In Greek mythology, Metion was a son of King Erechtheus of Athens or of Eupalamus, son of King Erechtheus. His sons later drove King Pandion II out of Athens into exile....
, Pandorus

Pandorus

In Greek mythology, Pandorus was a son of Erichthonius II of Athens and Praxithea. Pandorus was also the sibling of Metion and Cecrops....
, Thespius

Thespius

Thespius was a legendary king of Thespiae, Boeotia. His life account is considered part of Greek mythology....
, and Eupalamus.