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MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
MYTHOLOGY & MONUMENTSOF
ANCIENT ATHENSBEING A TRANSLATION OF A PORTION OF THE'ATTICA' OF PAD SAN I ASBY
MARGARET
DE
G.
VERRALL
WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAY AND ARCH/EOLOGICAL COMMENTARYliY
JANEMYTHS OF THE'
E.
HARRISONIN
AUTHOR OFODYSSF.V,'
INTRODUCTORY STUDIES
GREEK
ART,' ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
Hondoti
MACMILLAN ANDAND NEW YORKI
CO.
890
All rights reserved
TO
THOSE
WHO HAVE TAUGHT MEI
DEDICATE
THIS BOOKJ. E.
H.
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDAPagexlvi, line
31
For23
'
StamatovurzV read'
'
Stamatovuw?.''
Page
cxxxviii, lineline
For
tradition
and coinage' read
tradition
and cu Itus.'
Page 441,
20
'I believe him to be the symbol of Poseidon's spring.
This idea was suggested tosupport ofJahrbiich.it
me by
Mr. Cecil Smith.in
The argumentsin
in
will
be stated by him
a paper shortly to appear
the
Page 444 and passim
For
'
Cephu^us' read the
earlier
form
'
Cephims.'
Page 517,
line
10
After 'do' read 'so.'
NOTE
i.
The map
of Athens
is
taken in part from Dr. Baumgarten'salterations
Rund-
gang durch Athen, but with many
and additions;
;
the plan
of the Dipylon from the Guide Joanne, Athhtes
the plan of the theatre
from Baumeister's Denkmdler, but with the addition of the orchestra.
NOTE
2.
Inscriptions are facsimiled only
when
they appear in the plates.
PREFACEI
HAVE
tried
by the
titleis,
chosen to express the exact purportfirst
of
my
book.
Its object
and foremost,I
to elucidate the
Mythology of Athens, and with this intent its Monuments, taking Pausanias as a guide.
have examined
I am anxious to make this clear, because to produce an adequate archaeological edition even of one book of Pausanias would have been in some respects beyond my scope. Such
an
archaeologicalat
commentary wouldonce
demand
a
scholar
who should bepetence, atfirst
philologist, topographer, epigraphist,
architect, as well as mythologist
hand,
is
and mythographist. My comconfined to the last two branches ofbeen ratherown.
classical learning.
My
work
as regards the other departments has
to weigh the opinions of others than to originate
my
The
Commentary
is
addressed, not to the professional archaeologist,I
but to the student, whose needs mind. On the other hand, inventure to hope the specialistcriticism.
have constantly borne inthe
Mythological Essay
I
may
find material
worthy of his
As
regards this Essay,
I
have
laid special stress
on threenovel to
points, the first of
which:
at least
may be somewhat
the English readerFirst, I
have dealt specially with vase-paintings asall,
sources.
The
study of vase-paintings at
so long seriously pursued
ii
PREFACEis
by (ierman archaeologists,their study as sourcesis
new among
us.
Even abroad
in its infancy.
We
are accustomed to
turn to the pages of epic poets and tragedians as evidence for the date of a myth ; we make little use of the contemporary
and sometimes
prior sources of art,
and
specially ceramography.is,
The
myth has not appeared on a vase-painting of the fifth century B.C., to conclude offhand that the myth was not current at the time. To employtheir evidence atall, the mythologist must have a thorough of ceramography in general, of the principles of knowledge typography, and the conditions under which it developed.
use of vase-paintings as sources It does not do, because a difficulties.
I
admit, beset with
All
this
is
not learnt in a day.is
To employanyscientific
a vase
hap-
hazard as an illustration
for
purpose often
worse than
useless.
problemssions
in the mythologist's
In the matter of suggestion, in raising mind which from literary ver-
might
scientific value.
never have occurred, lies, I think, their chief This I hope to have abundantly shown in
the myths of Triptolemos, of Procne
and Philomela, of Prokris
and Kephalos.I have tried, in dealing with literary sources, to with the greatest care early and late versions, and distinguish to disentangle the often almost hopelessly intricate web that
Second,
In our logographers and Latin -poets have woven for us. or our Smith a myth is given in its final form, Lempriere always as a connected story, with occasional references toties
Homer, Sophocles, Ovid, Hyginus, as if they were all authoriof equal value and contemporaneous date. No attempt is made to arrive at primitive form and trace its development, to formulate and eliminate constantly -recurring factors, tocontaminatio," to trace in the modification of myth either the political purpose of the statesman or the personal tendency of a Euripides or a Pindar. In fact, mythology is treated as if it were a crystallised form, almostdetect
Roman
"
PREFACEa dogma, instead of the mostgrowths.vital
in
and
pliable
of
human
Third, I have tried everywhere to get at, where possible, the cult as the explanation of the legend. My belief is that in many, even in the large majority of cases ritual practiceI hope to misunderstood explains the elaboration of myth. have given salient instances of this in the myths of Erich-
thonios,
stories therise,
of Aletis, and of Kephalos. Some of the loveliest Greeks have left us will be seen to have taken their
and, I
not in poetic imagination, but in primitive, often savage, In this matter in think, always practical ritual.
regarding the myth-making Greek as a practical savage rather I follow, quam longo intervallo, than a poet or philosopher in the steps of Eusebius, Lobeck, Mannhardt, and Mr. Andrew
Lang.first,
The nomina numina methodbecauseI
I;
have utterly discarded
and second, because, philologist whatever partial success may await it in the future, a method That I so long over- driven may well lie by for a time.to
am no
have been unable, except for occasional illustration, to apply my examination of cults the comparative method is matter
of deep regret to me,conviction.I
and
is
due
to lack of time, not lack of
may perhaps be allowed to ask that my present be only taken as prolegomena to a more systematic attemptsstudy.
have attempted the examination of Athenian local cults only. It may surprise some that in an essay on such a subject no place is given to Athene. The reason is simply thisI
Athene was not the object of a merely local cult, as Cecrops was. She reigned at Athens as one of the orthodox Olympianhierarchy nay, more, there is constant and abundant evidence of her forcible propagandist entrance, of her suppression of Poseidon, her affiliation of Erechtheus. Any examination of
be of
Athene's mythology would include the Homeric system, and far wider scope than the analysis of a local cult. Athene
iv
PREFACEmentionedin
isis
her place on the Acropolis, just as Dionysos
treated of in his templesrule throughout has
My
been
and theatre, Asklepios in his hieron. to examine the stranger gods
only as they occur in the text of Pausanias, and to reserve all thorough investigation of local mythology for the Essay. In this matter of the distinction between popular local cults with theirendless diversity and the orthodox and ultimately dominant Olympian hierarchy I should be ungrateful if I did not acknow-
ledge"
my
Studies,
a
deep debt to Sir Charles LyalPs fascinating Asiatic book that shows a marvellous insight into the"
tangled jungle
of classic polytheism.
The
twelve orthodox
Olympian gods have so imposed themselves upon our modern imagination that it is perhaps only those who, like Sir CharlescanLyall in India, have watched mythology in the making realise a classical world peopled, not by the stately
whoand
plastic figures of Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Apollo, Athene, and Hephaistos, but by a motley gathering of demi-gods and deifiedsaints,
how
household gods, tribal gods, local gods, and can note these live on as an undercurrent even after the regular
hierarchy, with its fixed attributes and definite departments, has been superimposed by some dominant system. With respect to the Commentary, my definitely mythological
purpose
will,
I
hope, explain
some apparent
inconsistencies.
My
aim has been
to discuss in full detail every topographical
point that could bear
upon mythology, and, for the sake of completeness, to touch, but very briefly, on such non-mythological monuments as were either noted by Pausanias or certainly existed in his day.
Many
points,
which
at first
may
seemto
irrelevant to
my
purpose, turn out on closer examination
have a definite mythological significance.
For example,
the circuit of the Thucydidean walls and the precinct of the Pelasgikon might seem to be purely topographical ; but their limits once understood, a flood of light is thrown on the significance of the Areopagus cults
and the double legend of the
PREFACE
V
The " Enneakrounos episode " might seem grave of CEdipus. mere matter of contention for topographer and linguisticscholar; but, sever the Enneakrounos from the Areopagus, and we rob the Eleusinion of half its meaning, and make mere nonsense of one form of the legend of Oreithyia. So,
What has mythology to do with the with sculpture. the human family groups of the Hagia lovely grave reliefs, that the very form This as I have tried to show Trias ?again,
and grouping of those figures that seem merely human has its root and ground in mythology.I had intended to devote a chapter to the bibliography of the subject. Space has failed me, and happily the appearance of two important works on the subject renders such a labour
superfluous.
If the student will supply himself with the
second
of E. Hiibner's Bibliographic der Klassaugmented ischen Alterthumswissenschaft (Berlin, 1889), which has justedition
appeared, he will have before him the whole apparatus of his Specially valuable will be the historical summary of subject.the progress of classical studies in ancient times, dealing, as it does, with matters such as the scholia on the various authors, thelexicographers,
and
editions of fragments, lexicons,fully noted.
All the Byzantine scholarship. and remoter authors are care-
Moreoveralist
a greatis
Englishin
student
merit in the eyes of the given of all foreign academies,all
institutes, etc.,
and
full
reference to
monographs appearinglist
the various periodicals issued by them. ment devoted to the fine arts a complete
In the departis given of
books and monographs, not only on architecture, sculpture, and painting, but on figured mythology, vase-paintings, terracottas,
and the
like.
In the department of mythology
I
have
only one important addition to make. J. Toepffer's Attische Genealogie appeared just too late for me to avail myself of his I am glad to find that in the one or two investigations.
vi
PREFACE
matters in which, since going to press, I have been able to refer to his book, our views on some mythological points agree. I can only regret that I was unable to support these views,
which
I
could only hazard asat
plausible conjecture,
by thehis
vast stores of learning
his
command.it
I
commend
book
especially to students, because
carries the investigation
a step farther than my limits allowed, and by a scrutiny of the lineage of sacred families links mythology and history.
For those who desire a more detailed guide, Iwangreatfast
Miiller'sis
Handbuch der
KlassiscJien Alterthumsunssemchaft
now
approaching completeness.
The
section by Dr.
Lolling
on the " Topographic von Athen " reached me midway in my The sections on " Nachwork, and to it I am much indebted.klassische Litteratur" "
and on
"
Griechische und Lateinische
So much of- our Lexicographic of Athenian antiquities, both as regards mythology knowledge and topography, is based on the various lexicons of Harposhould also be consulted.cration,
Hesychius, Suidas, the author of the Etymologicum the like, themselves compilers from earlier authorities, that some notion of the sources from which they
Magnum, and
borrowed and of
their
mutual relation
is
necessary to their just
In the Handbuch will also be found appreciation as authorities. full information as to the life, works, and personal tendency ofto
the various mythographers, such as Apollodorus and Hyginus, whom constant reference is made.It is by a thorough acquaintance with the ancient bibliography of the subject that we come to our fullest appreciation of Pausanias himself. To the student who has lamented the
of such writers as Polemon and Heliodorus, who is wearied and confused by the vague and often palpably ignorant and second-hand statements of scholiasts and lexicographers,loss
our
own
periegetes,
whose guide-book has been preservedI
in
its entirety,
and who was an eye-witness of what he describes,say advisedly eye-witness,
comes
as a veritable godsend.
PREFACEthough certain modernasI
vi l
critics
seem
to hold that Pausanias was,
J.
C. Scaliger said,
"
omniumallxii.
(iraeculorum mendacissimum."
have read carefully
the attacks
upon
my
author by Dr.
Wilamowitz (Hermes,
346) and
by Dr. A.
Kalkmann
The controversy is one which (Pausanias der Periegef, 1886). can only fairly be waged in relation to the whole periegesis,and thereforeIis
beside
my
province.
bound, however, to record my own conviction that " the narrative of Pausanias is no instance of Reise Romantik,"feel
but the careful, conscientious, and in some parts amusing and (mite original narrative of a bona-fide traveller. If Pausanias didread his Polemon before he started, and when he got back to his study in Asia Minor posted up his notes by the help of thelast
mythological handbook, what educated man would do less ? Moreover, was the second century A. n. an age of exact and minute reference to authorities? In those days, when the
weekly papers were not,free
all
the learning of the past was the
and happy hunting-ground of the original writer of the present. Even to-day, which of us, in writing our reminiscencesof Athens, not for the specialist but for the general educated public, might not permissibly refresh our memories by a glanceat our
fess precisely
Murray or our Baedeker ? who would be extreme to conwhat ignorance or haste had left unnoted on the
spot, or
how many?isit
linesif,
were written
in to veil a discreditable
mental lacunathe same,
And
nearly two thousand years ago, he didpillory
any reason why we should
Pausanias
" before the literary world, and call him a Dutzendmensch ohne " In the face of recent excavations, which everyOriginalitat ?
where, save in the most
trivial details,
confirm the narrative ofis
Pausanias, such criticism proves nothing but that there vast amount of energy and learned ingenuity out of work.
a
Setting controversy aside, a word must be said as to the This is best undercharacter of the narrative of Pausanias.
stood by remembering the date at which he wrote. Born, probably, during the last years of Hadrian's rule, he lived
during the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-160 A.D.) and part of that of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.) i.e., his whole lifefalls
during the quiet times of the good emperors. These were days of peace for Greece, and of a certain wellHadrian, assured, if somewhat stagnant, material prosperity.
as
we
shall constantly see, tried to revive for
Athens her fadedones,
glory.libraries,all
He
restored
old temples,
built
new
erected
supplied anew gymnasia, the outside apparatus of a vigorous city life, but he could not stay the progress of that death which is from within.baths, watercourses.
He
Accordingly this prosperous period of the reign of Hadrian has the irony of a magnificence purely external. Greece endured to the full the last ignominy of greatness, she becamethe fashion of the vulgar. Pausanias, of course, did not feel the pathos of this situation. Perhaps no contemporary thinker
could have stood sufficiently aloof to see Neo-Attic revival.
how hollow wasto feel
this
Anyhow, Pausanias was not the manissues of things;
these larger
he was essentially an antiquarian, and onlypatriot.
by parenthesis either politician andas
Such a man
is,
expect, diligent always in the collection of facts, curious in inquiry into recondite detail, prolix often in narration, intelligent
we might
sometimes with that depressing form ofis
intellect
to
which
all
things are interesting, which
rather than their significance,all
hungry for facts against whose mental horizon
things are ranged in a somewhat dreary level of flatness, unrelieved by the perspective of a personal point of view. With respect, however, to two of his characteristics Pausanias
not only a man characteristic of his times, but he also betrays a personal bias. As these two characteristics influence considerably the way in which I propose to treat his narrative, Iis
must note them
distinctly.
PREFACEFirst,
ix
Pausanias,in
when
politics
engage him,translator
is
distinctlylast
imperial
tone.
An anonymous
of the
century hits the mark, I think, when he says that Pausanias " " in every consummate accuracy and diligence has, with part of Greece, given an account of "the mutations of
empires
and the
illustrious
transactionsleads
of
kings."
This
imperial bias of Pausanias
him
into
wearisome andif
well-nigh interminable digressions.if
If Pyrrhus,casually,
Attains,is
Antigonus areat
mentioned
ever so
Pausanias
We tangent into pages of eulogistic narration. must do him the justice to say he returns to his startingpoint ; but the mythologist, after following the migrations ofoff
a
the Gauls over half a continent or the adventures of Ptolemy
through aever,
lifetime, retraces his steps
jaded and weary.his
Whenfor
therefore,
Pausanias
thus
indulgesI
love
the
"illustrious transactions
of kings,"
have decided to omit
the digression entirely, or, if interesting in connection with the context, briefly to note its contents. I am aware that this
my
proceeding will be viewed by many with suspicion, but from point of view it is, I think, justifiable. My object inbringing this book of Pausanias before the general reader is not in the least to make him known as a writer, it is rather that
to us
he may help to make Athens and the Athenian people known ; hence, when he digresses to tell the fortunes of foreignershis storyit.
and barbarians, because
is
no longer serviceable
to
myto
purpose,
I
omit or curtail
Thus
far I
may seem, thoughslight
I will
have but
reverence for
strictly
perhaps to some reader to ask popular utility an author with so?
my author. " Why select
not impugn his veracity, It may occurfor
purposes of
little
toall
recommendif
him
Why
follow this old-world cicerone at
his foot-
steps are halting
and devious?"
I
answer
in the first place
that the intellectual shortcomings of Pausanias constitute also in a sense his peculiar merit. A more able man might often
X
PREFACE
have been a less trustworthy guide. Jf we arc conscious, on the one hand, that in the view taken by Pausanias of the
monuments
of Greece there
is
a certain want of perspective,
a lack of grouping, an inability to see the relative proportion of things, we feel at least that we get our facts undistorted bythe
of a powerful personality, untinged by any colourof formative theory. ing But Pausanias has another peculiar and positive merit
medium
which
makes himhis
for
my
purpose abias.
desirable
guide.
I
meanworst
marked antiquarian
In this matter, as in others, we have Pausanias at his in the Attica. It is unfortunate that on the mostportionof his
difficult
work he hadill
to
try
his
'prentice
hand
;
he
is
manifestly
at
ease,
and oppressed by the
burden of impending material, nor has he yet quite felt his in the Attica, as Still, way to his own proper manner.throughout, be his faults and shortcomings what they may, with his heart is in Pausanias we feel that for us mythologists the right place for that which is archaic, quaint, obsolete,;
whether
in
art
or custom, he cherishes
a special affection.
When
a priest will tell him a half-forgotten local legend or divulge a secret ceremony, when he lights upon a rude shapeless
xoanon, the object of some lingering barbarian culthis
these are
age of scepticism will always cherish and admire the rude symbols of a primitive faith ; an urbane
happy moments.effete
An
and
civilisation
delights to contemplate the customs of
the rustic barbarian.
We
cannot
call
Pausanias a sceptic, he
everywhere expresses a reverent belief in his country's gods and heroes ; but his faith is not simple and spontaneous, it is ofthe protesting, deprecating, consciously conservative sort. When we become interested in the gods, when we study the minutiaeof their worship
and recount
their variant legends, the days of
loveart.
and
So it is also with and gone. Pausanias loves to linger over the strange images wroughtfear are long since over
PREFACE
xi
that
by Daedalus and his fellows, and yet we somehow feel it is not he is attracted by their real inherent merit, by theirstraight simplicity, their direct truth, their plain unconsciousness,
it is because they are odd, grotesque, and out of the because they serve as material for recondite exposition. way, The motives, however, of the antiquarian curiosity concern
rather
us
little,
the fact
is
all-important.
In our quest of knowledge
concerning the
mind of Greece
it is
above
all
things necessary
we should study the beginnings of their religious thought, get as near to the fountain-head as we may. Early art, early custom betrays itself with a na'ive and childlike unconsciousit utters itself ness ; as yet it knows and fears not the critic in its own mother tongue touched with the lingering clearly;
provincialism that is soon to be silenced by the growing habit Therefore the record of primitive of cosmopolitan speech. the description of archaic works of art in which custom,constantly diligent, is for us supremely valuable. I shall follow and even outstrip his guidance. I shall pass with scant notice all temples, buildings, statues of the decadence, be they ever so showy and spacious ; I shall
Pausanias
is
In this matter
be sparinglet
in
details of
those discuss
them
Roman architecture and to whom they are dear
topography but wher-
ever Pausanias stops to tell some early legend, or to describe the rude image of some primitive faith, we will stop with him. Because my object is not all Hellas, but, so far as it can beseparated, Athens only, I shall stop longest where the shrineis
some indigenous Attic worship, but no early cult shall pass Athens welcomed within her hospitable walls many a foreign cult whatever she received we shall not disallow.of
unnoticed.
;
The task before me The record we have tolost.
is
touched with inevitable sadness.is
read
the record of what
we have
That
loss,
realised.
He
but for Pausanias, we should never have and he only gives us the real live picture of
what the
art of ancient
Athens was.
Even
the well-furnished
XI i
PREFACE
scholar pictures the Acropolis as a stately hill approached by the Propylaea, crowned by the austere beauty of the Parthenon, and adds to his picture perhaps the reclassical
membrance of some mannercolourless
of Erechtheion, a vision of marble, of awe, restraint, severe selection. Only Pausanias tells him of the colour and life, the realism, the
quaintness, the forest of votive statues, the gold, the ivory, the bronze, the paintings on the walls, the golden lamps, the brazentree, the strange old Hermes hidden in myrtle leaves, the ancient stone on which Silenus sat, the smoke-grimed
palm
images of Athene, Diitrephes all pierced with arrows, Kleoitas with his silver nails, the heroes peeping from the Trojan horse,
Anacreon singing in his cups ; all these, if we would picture and not our own imaginations, we must learn of, and learn of from Pausanias.the truth
But if the record of our loss is a sad one, of sober joy ; it is the record also of what in these latter days we have refound. little
it
hasit
its
meed
if
be even a
The
translation of the text of Pausanias
is
throughout bythere,
Mrs. Verrall.
Her
responsibility begins
and ends
and
with the appended critical notes. But though she is answerable for no mistakes in the Archaeological Commentary or Introductory Essay, I should like to say here how much I oweto her for her constant kindness in the tedious
and arduousalso to Mr.
task of revising proofs
and
verifying references,
and
Verrall for his frequent aid in the discussion of difficulties oftextual interpretation, a mattersafely disregard.
which archaeology can never
vexed question of the spelling of proper names, the general principle adopted has been that of retainingto the
With regard
the
more
familiar Latin forms in the case of the betterit
known
names, but using the Greek spelling wherever
could be used
PREFACEwithout a shock to literary associations.It
xiil
seemed equally
But where so inappropriate to write Korinth and Asclepius. uncertain a standard has been adopted as the presumed familiarity
of the reader, there will be
many
disputable decisions,
and the only inconsistency I have endeavoured to avoid has been that of spelling the same name in various ways.In the matter of illustrations,I
owe
special thanks to Mr.
Kabbadias, General Ephor of Antiquities at Athens, for his most kind permission to reproduce the coloured plan of theAcropolis immediately after its appearance, and opportunity of thanking him for the constantaffordedI
take this
facilities
he
me
for
study
while
at
Athens.
Professor
Percy
Gardner has kindly allowed me to make free use of the numismatic commentary which, conjointly with Dr. ImhoofBlumner, he has published in the Hellenic Journal ; and the Council of the Hellenic Society have allowed the reproductionof the numismatic and several other plates. My frequent obligations to foreign and other publications are, I hope, fully stated in the notes. I am indebted to many friends for the original
photographs, which they have either made expressly for this book or allowed me to make use of; to Mr. Peveril Turnbullfor the illustrations
pp. 108, 228, 347, 367, 387, 389, 405, unwearied help given me at Athens in the reproducing and verification of inscriptions ; to Mr. J. S. Section xii. also owes Furley for the views on pp. 19 and 20.
on
and 416, and
for his
to
him the
beautiful view of the Epidaurus theatre (p. 294)
and the general views on pp. 272 and 286, and to Mr. I have only to Elsey Smith those on pp. 272, 277, and 284.regret that,
owing to the unavoidable reduction of
size,
these
views give but an inadequate notion of the clearness and detail of the originals. The same should be said of the views, kindly
taken for
me this spring by Mr. Walter Leaf (pp. 349, 354, and of the south-west side of the Acropolis, the Pelasgian 404),
xiv
PREFACE
and the precinct of Artemis Brauronia, of which are of special value, as they represent the result of recent excavations.wall near the Propylaea,all
Finally, to Dr.
Dorpfeld
I
owe a double
debt.
During the
spring of 1888 I had the privilege of attending his lectures at Athens on the Dionysiac theatre, the " Theseion " and Pnyx, and the successive temples at Eleusis. Up to that time the
tasteful necessityits
study of topography had been to me a weary and most disthen, and not till then, I began to realise ;closeI
and intimate
relation
to
my own
special
study,
saw with constantly increasing clearness that the juxtaposition of shrines and cults must be a constantfactorin the interpretation of
and
both
ritual
and myth.
With
a
rare
generosity
Dr.
Dorpfeldas yet
has allowed
me
to
make
use of
many
of his
unpublished views,
which are
acknowledged lastly, has, with the most patient kindness, gone through the whole of my proofs, a task, I must fear, rendered trebly irksome by aforeign idiom, the unscientific nature of
in their place in the
Commentary, and
my
book, and the
This revision has not heavy pressure of professional duties. saved me from numbers of minor topographical and archionly tectural blunders, but has added many important suggestions,
which areprintedas
in part incorporated in
the
Commentary,
in
part
addenda
to
the various sections.
On
one im-
portant point only respecting the newly discovered temple on the Acropolis I have felt obliged to maintain an opiniondirectly contrary to his.I
can only say that
it is
this portion
of
my book I send For my double
forth with the greatest misgiving.
debt
I
can
offer
to Dr.
Dorpfeld no ade-
quate thanks.
JANE
E.
HARRISON.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSTHE MYTHOLOGY OF ATHENIAN LOCAL CULTSFIG.1.
I'AGE
Amasis vaseTerra-cottaCylix:
:
Athene and Poseidon Bibliothequc Nationale, Paris)(. .
xxvii..\.\viii
2. 3.4. 5. 6. 7.8.
Birth of Erich thonios (Berlin Museum) : Birth of Erichthonios (Berlin Museum) Amphora Erichthonios in the chest (British Museum):
Terra-cotta Dionysos on mule (Berlin Museum) Vase: Satyr swinging maiden (Berlin Museum):
Relief: Entrance of Dionysos (Louvre) Hieron vase Starting of Triptolemos (British:
.... .... ...... . . . ..
xxixxxxiixxxviiixliv
xlv1
9.
Kalpis
:
Starting of Triptolemos (British:
Museum) Museum)
liii Vase: Triptolemos in Egypt (Hermitage) Ixv Hieron cylix Eos pursues Kephalos (Xeuburg) 12. Hieron cylix (exterior) Ixvi Hunting scene (Neuburg) Ixvii Eos pursues Kephalos at sunrise (British Museum) 13. Blacas krater Ixix Death of Prokris (British Museum) 14. Vase Boreas and Oreithyia (Central Museum, Athens) Ixxvii 15. Delos akroterion Ixxix 16. Cylix Phineus, Harpies, Zetes, and Kalais (Wiirzburg) xciii 17. Cylix: Aedonaia and Itys (Munich Museum) 1 8. Cylix xciv Procne, Philomela, and Itys (Louvre) Themis and /Egeus (Berlin) c 19. Cylix 20. Hieron cylix ci Aithra and Theseus (Hermitage) 21. Bas-relief: Scenes from life of Hippothoon (Villa Pamfili, Rome) cviii 22. Triptolemos starting in presence of Keleos and Hippothoon (Girgenti) cix cxii 23. Chachrylion vase Exploits of Theseus (Florence) 24. Hieron cylix Exploits of Theseus (Louvre) cxiii (a) obverse, (b) reverse cxv 25. Cylix: Exploits of Theseus (British Museum) 26. Chachrylion cylix (centre) Theseus and Ariadne (British Museum) cxxii cxxiii Theseus and Minotaur (Louvre) 27. Rayet vase 28. Terra-cotta relief Ariadne with clue (Corneto Museum) cxxiv Krater (obverse) cxxv Theseus and the Minotaur (Acropolis Museum) 29. Krater (reverse) and Minotaur 30. Spectators at contest of Theseus
10.11.
:
:
:
..... .... ...... ..
.
.
lii
.
.
.
.
:
:
:
:
.... .... ........
:
.
.
.
.
.
:
.
.
.
:
:
:
.... ..... .
:
:
:
31.
cxxvi (Acropolis Museum) cxxviii Franpois vase Landing scene (Florence) cxxviii Chorus after slaying of Minotaur (Florence) 32. Frai^ois vase 33. Kalpis Athene and Theseus, Dionysos and Ariadne (Berlin Museum) cxxx:
........ .....
.
:
:
xvi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
34.
Cup (a) Children Museum):
Sleeping Ariadne deserted (Corneto Museum) Theseus and Antiope (British Museum) 36. Chachrylion cylix Theseus, Peirithoos, and Centaurs (Vienna) 37. Vase35.
..........of Theseus;
PAGEcxx.xi
(b]
Theseus nnd Athene (Vienna. . .
Cylix
:
cxxxii
:
38. 39.
Amphora: Under-world (Munich)Fragment of vase Lower Italy vase Plan of Athens::
40.
...... .... ......... . .
:
.
exxxixcxlcxlvicxlviiiclii
Under-world (Carlsruhe) Death of Hippolytus (British Museum)
.
.
To face page
i
DIVISION A1. 2.
3.
4.5.
6.7. 8.
Plan of Agora at Athens, with adjacent buildings View of remains of Dipylon Portion of wall of Themistocles Vase with head of Akratos (Glasgow Museum) Remains of Stoa of Attalos " Stoa of the Giants " Terra-cotta akroterion Eos and Kephalos (Berlin Bas-relief Apollo Patroos Areopagus from south-east. .
:
9.
Metroon (Central Museum, Athens)
Cybele relief (Berlin) Cybele relief (Hermitage, St. Petersburg) 12. Eirene and Ploutos (Glyptothek, Munich) Eirene and Ploutos 13. Coin10.11.:
14. 15. 16.17.1 8.
Fragment of
Road:
Ploutos (Central Museum, Athens) between Areopagus and Hill of the Nymphschild: .
19.
20.
Harmodios and Aristogeiton (Naples Museum) Harmodios and Aristogeiton Coin Harmodios and Aristogeiton Panathenaic amphora Vase Harmodios and Aristogeiton (Wiirzburg) Hydria Kallirrhoe (British Museum): :
....... ........12 .........19 .........41 ...... ......... ..... ..... ........ ... .......83.
To face page 57 8
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
:
Museum).
.
.
20 2635
.
.
.
.
.
.
45 47 48 66 67 688r
.
.
78
.
.
.
82
:
21.22.
Site of the Eleusinion, south of the
Areopagus
Eleusinian assembly (Hermitage) 23. Votive relief: Sacrifice of pig to Demeter and Persephone 24. Head of Eubouleus (Central Museum, Athens) 25. Theseion, from the north-east:
Vase
.... ..... .... ..... ...... .
84 91
.102105
94 99
.
26.
Hermes term
.
.
.
Battle of Greeks and Amazons Vase: Theseus and Amphitrite (Louvre) 29. North side of Acropolis Dioscuri 30. Coin27. 28.. ..
....... ......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.113 .130135 148
.
.
.
.
.151153 153 154 156 157 158 159 168
:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Dioscuri (Old Metropolitan Church, Athens) 32. Terra-cotta: Votive twins (Archaeological Society's Museum, Athens) 33. Vase: Initiation of Dioscuri (British Museum) 34. Relief: Dioscuri (Rome)31. Attic calendar:
.
.
.....
.
.
Theoxenia (British Museum) 36. Bas-relief: Theoxenia (Louvre) 37. Meidias vase Rape of Leukippidae (British Museum) Bouzygos 38. Attic festival calendar35.
Lekythos
:
:
:
....... .......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.161
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xvil
7.7.97'
OF ILLUSTRATIONSPAGE
FTG.
27.
View of various:
stages, etc.,
showing also the two temples and286 287 288289 293 294 295 296 300301 302 303..
28.
fragment of polygonal orchestra wall Dance of Maenads (Berlin Museum) Cylix by Hieron 29. (a) Dance of Maenads (b] Preparation of chorus Sacrifice of goat (British Museum) 30. Archaic plate;:
........
.
.
.
.
Dionysiac altar 32. Plan of theatre of Epidaurus, showing circular orchestra31...
33.34.
35.36.37.
theatre of Epidaurus Coin of Athens Theatre of Dionysos Plan of south side of Acropolis:
View of
Ruins of Asklepieion boundary wall with inscriptive Asklepieion, and Acropolis rock behind Entrance to well 38.
View showing
39. 40. 41.
Interior of well of Asklepios Coin of Epidaurus Asklepios: : :
....... ...... ....... ......... .... ......... ......... . .
.
.
.
.
.291
.
stone,
ruins
of
.
.
.
.
.
.
Coin of Epidaurus Asklepios in shrine 42. Bas-relief from Epidaurus Asklepios (Central Museum, Athens). . . .
.319 .319.
320
Asklepios, with Eleusinian deities (Athens) Asklepios. 44. Coin of Athens 45. Sacrifice to Asklepios (Athens) 46. Asklepios, with sons and daughters 47. South side of Acropolis, showing Asklepieion, Stoa of Eumenes, and Odeion of Herodes Atticus 48. Acropolis (west and south-west slope)43.:
49.
Coin
:
Aphrodite Pandemos
....... ...... ....... ......... . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.321 .321322 323
32933'
.
.
.
.
.
333
DIVISION D1.
Plan of the Acropolis after the excavations (1885-1889) To face page 343 Facade Nikias monument ^45:
2. 3.
Relief: (a) Pyrrhic dance (!>} Spectators (Acropolis Museum) South-west corner of Acropolis (1889), showing Turkish walls bottom corner) foundations of Xikias monument (right-hand;
4. 5.
6.7.
8.
9.
General view of Propylaea Plan of Propylaea the dotted portions were projected only View of Pelasgian wall behind Propylaea View of Propylaea, showing double anta Temple of Nike Apteros, from the south-east Nike fastening a trophy (Acropolis Museum);
....... ..........
.
347 349 350 352
and.
.
.
.
.
10. 11.12. 13.14.
Nike and cow (Acropolis Museum) Nike and Athene crowning athlete (Acropolis Museum):
15. 16. 17. 18.
Pinakotheke Chiaramonti relief Charites (Vatican) Coin of Athens Charites Hecateion (Marienbad) Charites and Hecate (Prague) Designs from robe on figure in Hecateion (Hermannstadt):
Sosias vase (Berlin
.......... ..... ........ ....... ........
.... .... ........
.31543S7 362 363 365 367 368 37^ 376 378 379381
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Museum)
384
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSFIG.
19. 20.
21.
22.23. 24.
25.26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.32.
Propylaea (cast portico) 385 Stone with Hermolycus inscription 387 Basis of statue of Athene Hygicia 389 Bohn's diagram of Hygieia basis and adjacent stones 390 Athene Hygieia (Central Museum, Athens) 392 Coin of Laodicea Tauric Artemis 397 Artemis (a) interior (/>) exterior (Museum of ArchaeologiCylix cal Society, Athens) .401 Brauronian bear (Acropolis Museum) 403 Foundations excavated within the precinct of Artemis Brauronia 404 Blocks of basis by Strongylion 405.
:
Marble vase Athene and Marsyas (Central Museum, Athens) Coin of Athens Theseus and Minotaur: :
Facsimile of
Ge
Ge Karpophoros and Konon::
Contest of Athene and Poseidon 33. Coin of Athens Athene and Poseidon' 34. Coin of Athens Athene and Poseidon voting (Smyrna) 35. Terra-cotta Zeus Polieus (?) 36. Coin of Athens::
37.38. 39.
Hydria:
Ox
in shrine (Berlin):
Birth of Athene (British Museum) Black-figured vase Red-figured vase: Birth of Athene (British Museum)
East pediment 41. East pediment 42. Selene riding adapted from a vase40.;
43.44.
West pediment:
(Nointel
45. 46. 47.48. 49. 50.
Vase: Contest of Athene and Poseidon (Hermitage) Coin of Athens Athene Epidaurus statuette Athene (Central Museum, Athens) Varvakeion statuette Athene Parthenos (Central Museum) Coins of Athens.
Lenormant
statuette (Central
Cylix: Birth of Pandora (British Museum) 51. Strangford shield (British Museum) 52. Medallion: Head of Athene Parthenos (Hermitage)53. 54.
Amphora
:
Sacrifice to
55.56.57. 58.
Bourgon vase (British Museum) Coin of Athens Athene Polias Bronze Athene Polias (Acropolis Museum, Athens) Palladion (Hermitage) Cylix by Hieron Sacrifice in presence of Parthenos Fragment of vase:.
........ ...... ...... ..... ...... ...... ....... ..... ....... ..... ...... ....... .......... .......... ...... ........ ......... ..... ..... ...... ....... ........ .
PAGE
:
;
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
inscription
409 410 415422 422 423 424 428 432 433 436
inscriptions
.
.
.
.
.416.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
437 438442 442 443 447 448 449 450 453 454 457 458 459 459 460
Anonymous)
.
.
.
.
.
.441
.
.
:
.
.
:
.
.
Museum)
.
.
.
Athene Polias (Berlin Museum)
.
.
:
:
Museum)
.
.
59. East end of Parthenon in Turkish times 60. Parthenon, from the east 61. Interior of Parthenon, looking east 62. Plan of the Parthenon 63. South-west corner of foundations of Cimon's Parthenon, as shown by the excavations (April 1888)
..... ..... ........ ...... .........
.
(British.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.46r462 463 463 464
64. 65. 66.
and Amazon (Naples) Seated Athene, by Endoios (Acropolis Museum)Relief: Fallen giant
....... ......
.
468 476 479
Erechthcion from the east, before excavations
.
.
.483
xx
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
67. 68. 69. 70.71. 72.73.
North porch of Erechthcion Erechtheion, from Stuart's drawing
74.75.
76. 77.
78.79. 80.
Plan of the Erechtheion Doorway to the north porch of the Erechtheion Archaic terra-cotta Seated Athene Ruins of old Athene temple Erechtheion from the west Parthenon from the north-west South-west corner of the Pandroseion Site of excavations to north of Erechtheion Votive relief to Athene (Acropolis Museum) Archaic statue (Acropolis Museum) Coin of Athens Theseus raising the rock Coin of Athens Theseus driving the bull " Coin of Athens Athene " Promachos: ; . . .. . .
:
....... ...... ........ .... ...... ....... .... ...... ......
PAGE
.
484 486 487 494 495 497 498
.
.
.512 .518519 520 522 522 523
.
:
:
..... ...... ..
DIVISION E1.
2.3.
Plan of Dipylon and Street of Tombs To face pagi Plan of north wall and slope of Acropolis Caves of Apollo and Pan, seen from the"05os HroXe/jLatos Caves of Apollo and Pan.
4.5.
Statuette of
Pan: :
........Museum, Athens)(Louvre).
.
.
.
(Archaeological
6.7. 8.
Thasos Thasos
reliefrelief
Apollo and
Nymphs
Hermes and Charites (Louvre) Nymphs and Charites and worshipper (Naples Museum) relief: Hermes and Nymphs in cave of Pan Megara.
.....
.
Museum)9. 10.
Pan and Nymphs dancingArchandrosrelief (Central
11. 12.
13. 14.
15. 16.17.1 8.
Pan and woman figure (Acropolis Museum, Athens) View of Areopagus, showing cleft of Eumenides Eumenides relief (Argos Museum) Inscribed corona (Central Museum, Athens) Street of Tombs, showing family grave of Dexileos.
.......... ........ ......Museum). . .
(Berlin
Street of
Tombs
Grave
relief
of Dexileos
Stele of Aristion
19.
Lekythos
:
20.21.
Charon
stele
Siren on pillar (British (Hagia Trias):
22.23.
Attic lekythos Attic lekythos
Charon
:
Entaphia (Archaeological Museum, Athens)
Grave relief (Berlin Museum) 24. Timokles relief (Sparta Museum) 25. Hegeso relief (Hagia Trias) 26. Leukothea relief (Villa Albani)
...... .... ......... ........ .... ....... ..... ....... ...... ....... .......Museum)(Berlin
Museum)
.
THE MYTHOLOGY OF ATHENIAN LOCAL CULTSthat,
well aware as any modern mythologist dealing with Attic genealogies, his material was of In speaking of the parentage of questionable authenticity.
PAUSANIAS was himself asin
"The Eleusis (i. 38, 7) he goes to the root of the difficulty. " ancient Eleusinians," he says, when they have nothing to go upon for their genealogies, think it well to invent freshones,
and
especially
in
descenttradition.
of gods was
The the genealogies of heroes." of course matter for more reverent
In recounting such genealogies as were related to him, Pausanias exercised a for us unfortunate discrimination. He ends his account of the wrestling of Theseus and Kerkyonwith
Such are, according to my view, the most noteworthy things to be seen and heard of among the Athenians, and from the outset in my discourse I have selected from many matters what seemed to me to be appropriate to history." We should have preferred to be ourselves the judges " of what was appropriate," but we must take our author as we find him. His account of the earliest Attic kings will be found in Book 2, 6 (p. 6). My genealogical table is based on the account of Pausanias, but supplemented when needful by details from Hellanicus, Apollodorus, etc., which will be noted in their place. For convenience it is given in full on page xxii., and taken section by section in thethis:
remark
"
i.
text.
XX11
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTSTABLE OF ATTIC GENEALOGYKolainos
PorphyrionOgyges
Actacns
Erysichthon
llerse
Agraulos
Pandrosos
KranaosI
Atthis
= Amphictyon
...IIephaistos
=
I
Athene
i ,,
(Ge
ERICI1THONIOS = PraxithcaPandion
= XeuxippeProcne
= TcrcusItys
Philomela
Butes
Cecrops II
Pandion IIChthoniaProkris
= Kephalosl
Oreithyia
Boreas
Omens
I
Zetes
Kalais
ChioneI
Menestheus
= (i)Theseus(i)
Aithra, (2)
Medea
Lykos
Nisos
Pallas
Ariadne, (2) Ilippolyte, (3) Phaedral
Hippolytus(?)
I
Staphylos
(?)
Oinopion
Akamas Demophoon
OF ANCIENT A 7 'HENS
TABLE OF ATTIC GENEALOGYKolainos,P.,i.
(SEC.
I.)
3i.
1.
Porphyrion,
P.,
14.
Ogygcs, Hellanicus, Fr. 62.
ActaeusAgraulos
= CECROPS
Erysichthon
Herse
Agraulos
Pandrosos
KranaosI
Alt/us = Ainphictyon
Hephaistos
=
(-j
Athene,
ERICHTHONIOS
In treating of mythological genealogies, it is of the utmost importance to distinguish between actual mythological personalities names about whom popular legends have i.e.,gathered,
and with whose and names which are
traditions ritual practice is associated in fact mere mythological dummies,
put in either to account for the name of a place or to weld In the genealogy just together the actual personalities. given the dummy names are printed in italics ; they canvery briefly be despatched before the actual personalities are discussed in detail. Often, as will be seen, the real mytho-
xxiv
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTSpersonage of one local cult becomes the
logicalIt
dummy name
of another.
genealogies as
has been usual to speak of the complex mythological due to the ingenuity of Alexandrian or
Athenian grammarians. The Bibliotheca of. the Athenian Apollodorus, who lived in the second century B.C., is one of the main sources of Attic genealogy but it must never be forgotten that, except where the grammarian is;
obviously patching up some rent in mythological continuity, his material is gathered from local tradition. The two
Kolainos and Porphyrion, are good Pausanias was actually at Myrrhinus he saw a statue to Kolainian Artemis, and he learnt that Kolainos was the name of a king who, according to the tradition of the people at Myrrhinus, ruled at Athens beplacedfirst,
names
instances.
When
Cecrops, and he there makes the general remark that was the opinion of many of the demes that there were So with Porphyrion in kings at Athens before Cecrops. the Athenian deme called Athmoneus ; Pausanias says, in describing the shrine of Aphrodite Ourania (p. 112), "the story is current that it was Porphyrion, who reigned before Actaeus, who founded the sanctuary of Aphrodite Ourania in the deme Athmoneus." This was one of several instances where legends in the demes are quite different from versions current in Athens. Small wonder if they were. Athens eventually gets the supremacy her local hero Cecrops must henceforth begin the line, with perhaps allowance made for Actaeus, but only that Cecrops may have a wife of kingly descent. Athens might reign supreme,foreit;
but she could not Myrrhinus Kolainos.
forget Porphyrion or but Pausanias troubled to tell no doubt many another deme quietly cherished the us, remembrance of many another local hero. They dared not interfere with the orthodox genealogy after the civilised Cecrops ; they could only seek a place for their heroes in the dark ages before. And here it should be noted that though Porphyrion and Kolainos are printed in italics as dummy names, it is not to be supposed they were so in their own local cults it is only in Athenian genealogy that
make Athmoneus
Had
;
OF ANCIENT A THENSIt is the same with Ogyges ; in his they are shadow kings. reign tradition said the great flood came, but here is an
obvious interpolation of Thessalian legend. The mythological sense recognised that Ogyges and the flood story were not Attic, for though Hellanicus carefully dates him at 1796before the
a long interval elapsed indigenous king Cecrops. With Cecrops according to Apollodorus, first king of Athens he is a person in the real live mythology of Athens beginsB.C.,it
is
universally
allowed thatthereally
coming
of
;
art as well as in literary tradition. Cecrops gave his name not only to
one of the four original Attic tribes, but also to one of the later twelve ; to him, as to some earlier Theseus, the consolidation of the State wasattributed.
and
He numbered the people, established marriage, erected an altar to Zeus Hypatos, and forbade the sacrifice of living things. He was to the Athenians their firstfirst
civilised
man.
Tradition
connected him closely with two
great events in Attic history1.
2.
The The
strife
of Athene and Poseidon.
birth of Erichthonios.
The legend of a strife between two gods for a favoured city was not confined to Athens. Hera and Poseidon, Pausanias tells (ii. 15, 5), contended for Argos. The ancient dwellers inArgos, Phoroneus, Cephisus and Asterion were, like old King Cecrops, arbitrators in the strife ; they, like Cecrops, adjudgedthe prize to the goddess, and Poseidon in his vengeance took away their water from the city. The manner of the strife at Athens is always the same the rival gods show their o^eia, their tokens it is only the manner of arbitration that differs sometimes it is Cecrops, sometimes the Athenians who decide;
;
;
by vote, later, probably, when the Olympian system got the The upper hand, it is the twelve orthodox Olympian gods. a queer crooked rise of such a story seems easy enough olive tree, too strangely shaped to be quite of natural growth, and near to it a brackish spring and an odd mark on a rock that might be a trident these, with the rival worships of Athene and Poseidon, were enough material in a myth-making:
;
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTSage.Iit
One
point, however, deserves notice
;
there
is,
so far as
know, no trace of the myth earlier than Herodotus. not have been one of those invented, or at
Mayleast
the
Had emphasized, quite late to exalt the glory of Athene? myth been popular in early days, it could scarcely have escaped representation in black and early red-figured days it is at least remarkable that the only representation we have(p.
;
442);
is
of very late Attic work.to forbidits
There
is
nothing in the
art
representation in the earliest myth the figures of Athene and Poseidon were ready to hand, the combat scheme abundantly prepared. On a fine black-
nature of the
figured vase in the Cabinet des Medailles of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris (fig. i) Athene and Poseidon appear to-
of warfare.troversy
gether, but after a fashion that does not suggest the thought Poseidon (PO^EIAON) holds his trident; a con-
The
but if it exists it is strictly peaceable. " Amasis made signed with the potter's name ; the length of Poseime" (A/VWI* MEPOIE^EN) runs down don's trident. Athene (A0ENAIA), full armed, uplifts heris
possible,
vase
is
left
hand. The vase is of the very finest and most delicate black-figured style, and may probably be dated about the end of the sixth century. Archaic art, which delighted to tell the strange story of Athene's birth, knew nothing of the second actin the
drama, the contest for Athens. Cecrops was connected with the strife as arbitrator, but the link is a loose one. The event was placed probably by late grammarians in his reign with a view to providing it with an His connection with the birth of Erichthonios is early date. far more intimate and vital. The whole legend is of the utmost interest, because it affords a most curious and satisfactoryinstance of aetiological myth-making of a special kind, of a legend that has arisen out of a ritual practice, the original
meaning of which had become obscured. Apollodorus (iii. Erichthonios 14, 6) tells the story in full. Briefly it was this. was said by some to be the son of Atthis and Kranaos, by others of Athene and Hephaistos. According to this the more prevalent form, Hephaistos loved Athene, but Athene, maiden goddess as she was, rejected him. Gaia (the earth), in place of Athene, became the mother of the child of
OF ANCIENT A THENS
When the child was grown to be Hephaistos, Erichthonios. a boy, Gaia delivered him up to the tendance of Athene. Athene placed him in a chest or wicker basket, and gave him to the three daughters of Cecrops Herse, Agraulos, Pandrososwith orders not to open the chest. The two sisters, Herse and Agraulos, overcome by curiosity, opened the Some chest, and saw the child with a snake coiled about him.
FIG.
I.
AMASIS VASE
:
ATHENE AND
I'OSEIDON (BIBLIOTHEQfE NATIONALE, 1'AKIS).
said
the
they were destroyed by the snake, others that, fearing wrath of Athene, they cast themselves down from theis
Acropolis.It
at
factorsearth,chest.
easily
once apparent that the story the birth of separable
is
the
composed of two child from the
and the quite
The
eponymous
distinct factor of the opening of the of the birth is easily understood. The story hero of the Athenians was Erichthonios, who,
.MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTSlater, was no other than Poseidon himself: were Erechtheidae, but also autochthonous hence Erich thonios must be earth-born. At the same time, it was necessary, when the worship of Athene became dominant, that he should be linked in the closest mannerit
will
be seen
the Athenians
;
any notion worshipped
with the goddess. The Greek mind did not lend itself to of immaculate conception. Hephaistos wasin
conjunction with Athene, therefore his fatherfewestdifficulties.
hood
offered
But
in
days when Athene
FIG.
2.
TERRA-COTTA: BIRTH OF ERICHTHONIOS (BERLIN MUSEUM).
into her ultimate aspect of Parthenos, it all these necessary that she should resist marriage conflicting interests were reconciled by the motherhood of
had was
developed
;
This satisfactory version of the story was, I imagine, The only recently formulated when Euripides wrote his Ion. persistence with which he makes his characters recite the creed has the flavour of recent conviction (Eur., /