Erichtonius or Erichthonius ( dr. Greek Ἐριχθόνιος ) - a character of ancient Greek mythology [1] . Mentioned in the Iliad (II 547) and Odyssey (VII 81) as Erechteus . The king of Athens , whom Gaia (earth) gave birth to from the spilled seed of Hephaestus . The son of Hephaestus without a mother [2] or Hephaestus and Gaia [3] . Raised by Athena , who handed the baby in a closed box to the daughters of Kekrops - Gers , Aglavra and Pandros . She forbade the girls to look in the box, since Erichtonius was entwined with a snake (or had a snake in his lower half). The princes violated this ban and opened the box. Aglavra and Gerza for this were struck by madness and committed suicide by throwing themselves from an acropolis rock (option: they were strangled by a snake). After that, Athena herself raised him in her temple.
Having matured, Erichtonius expelled from the country of Amfiktion and reigned in Athens. He was married to the mollusk of Praxifei , had a son Pandion . He was buried by his son on the sacred site of the temple of Athens.
Athena gave him at birth in the ring a drop of Gorgon blood (two drops of life and death) [4] . He was depicted in the form of a snake near Athena [5] . Invented the quadriga [6] . His tomb in the temple of Athena Polyada [7] . He became the constellation of the charioteer [8] .
Bibliography
- Kovaleva I.I. Erichtonius: the myth of the structure of Panathenaeus // Bulletin of Ancient History. 2004. No. 4. P.129-136.
Notes
- ↑ Myths of the peoples of the world. M., 1991-92. In 2 t. T. 2. S.667
- ↑ Ovid. Metamorphoses II 758; Gigin. Myths 158
- ↑ Nonn. Acts of Dionysus XLI 62
- ↑ Euripides. Ion 1003
- ↑ Pausanias. Description of Hellas I 24, 7
- ↑ Virgil. Georgics III 113
- ↑ Clement. Protreptic 45, 1
- ↑ Pseudo-Eratosthenes. Disaster 13; Gigin. Astronomy II 13, 1-2
| Predecessor: Amfiktion | Mythical kings of Athens and Attica 1487 - 1437 | Successor: Pandion I |