The Erechtheion

If the Parthenon is the embodiment of majesty, power and male beauty, the temple of Erechtheus is the incarnation of feminine grace and loveliness. For this reason, the decision to build the Erechtheion in elaborate Ionic order as the most striking contrast to the austere Doric of the temple of Athena, was a deliberate one.

The original temple, said to have been built by Erechtheus, was burnt by the Persians during their invasion of Attica in 480 BC. Its restoration was included in Pericles' ambitious building program, but on account of the Peloponnesian War, the work which began about 420 BC was not completed until 406 BC.

According to ancient Attic legend the temple was built on the exact spot where Athena and Poseidon disputed the mastery of Attica. It was dedicated to both deities and first became known during the period of Roman rule as the Erechtheion, from the altar consecrated to Erechtheus. Here stood the ancient altars and the palace of the early kings of Athens. One of the most famous was Erechtheus, to whom many memorable feats in the annals of Athens are attributed; this heroic monarch was deified, merged and identified with Poseidon. As the snake was the symbol both of the autochthonous Athenians and of eternal life on earth and in the underworld, images of this king showed his body ending in a serpent's tail.

The Erechtheion is 20 m. in length by 11.30 m. in breadth and built of Pentelic marble. As originally completed, it consisted of a rectangular cella with three porticoes (on the east, north and south; the usual Greek temple has only two) and a gabled roof; it is built on two levels so that the foundations of its south and east walls are about 3 m. above those on the north and west.

The principal part of the temple, the sanctuary of Athena Polias, is at the east and was entered through a Portico of six Ionic columns. Round the neck of these columns is a band of palmettes and flowers carved in relief with an egg and dart molding above, and an upper torus ornamented with a guilloche; in the eye of the volutes on each side of the sumptuously sculptured capital was a bronze rosette.

These columns stood on a stylobate of three steps, and with the antae of the cella formed the pronaos. Five of the columns with the architrave are still standing; the sixth, at the north angle, was removed by Lord Elgin. Against the rear wall stood the ancient olive-wood xoanon of Athena Polias, believed to have fallen from heaven.

A gold lamp with an amianthus lining and a chimney in the form of a bronze palm-tree burned night and day before the image of the goddess. The work of the celebrated Callimachus, it had an extremely slow-burning wick and was so ingeniously constructed that it needed oil only once a year. The cella was also the repository of precious trophies; the sword of Mardonius, Masistios' corselet of gold links and many other objects of historical and artistic value.

To the right of the sanctuary of Athena Polias a modern stairway leads down to the North Portico, 10.70 m. in length by 6.85 m. in breadth, formed of six columns enriched with sculptured bands of anthemion design just below the volutes, and with typical Attic-Ionic bases of torus, Scotia, and upper torus carved with a double guilloche, leading to the monumental north doorway which gave access to the western chambers. With its panelled ceiling studded with gilded bronze stars, its frieze of dark blue Eleusian marble with white figures in relief and, above all, its richly ornamented north doorway, it was of unparalleled beauty.

The superb doorway, frequently imitated in modern times, has suffered so much from the ravages of time and the barbarity of man that it is extremely difficult to visualize it in its pristine beauty. The lintel is broken, one of the consoles is of a different style and a later epoch, possibly Roman, and the palmettes on the cornice above the lintel are not of the same workmanship as those that decorate the cornice of the gable. Despite these changes the North Portico is still celebrated for the flawless perfection of its Ionic moldings.

In the center of the North Portico stood the Sacrificial Altar. In accordance with the sacred tradition of the times one of the panels of the roof, to the left of the great door, was left open to commemorate the path of Poseidon's thunderbolt on its flaming trajectory towards the Acropolis, and through a corresponding gap in the paving of the floor the marks made by his trident are visible in the rock foundation of a crypt below, from which an opening leads into the basement of the temple where the sacred serpent, guardian of the house, had its dwelling.

Behind the rear wall of the cella of Athena Polias was the Erechtheion proper, consisting of two western chambers. Here were three altars, one common to Poseidon and Erechtheus, another to Hephaistos and the third to the Athenian hero, Butes. According to Pausanias portraits of the Butad family, from which the priests of the cult were drawn, adorned the walls. Connected with this part of the temple was an ante-chamber probably hung with tapestries.

Beneath the ante-chamber was a depression hollowed in the rock where according to Attic legend, the Sea of Erechtheus, gushed forth under the impact of Poseidon's mighty trident. This was the miraculous cistern mentioned by Pausanias, from which whenever the south wind blew the sound of waves could be heard.

On the right of the great doorway of the North Portico is a small door leading down two steps to a court which contained the Pandroseion, precinct of Pandrosos, beautiful daughter of king Cecrops and first priestess of Athena. Here was Athena's sacred olive-tree, which at a touch of the goddess' spear sprang out of the rock and gave her victory over Poseidon. When it sprouted new leaves, after being burnt by the Persians, the citizens saw this as an auspicious omen for the future of the city. On this same spot an olive tree was planted to remind visitors of a legend so dear to the hearts of all Athenians.

When first built, the west end of the temple consisted of a base 3.70 m. high on which rose a row of Ionic columns joined by a wall which, reaching to a third of their height, closed the lower intercolumnation; the upper being closed by wooden grilles. When reconstructed after a fire during the period of Roman occupation the wall was built up to almost its full height, the wooden grilles removed, and the columns replaced by a row of half-columns with three windows between them.

To the south-west lies the sacred precinct of the Cecropeion with the Tomb of King Cecrops situated under the west wall of the South Portico. The tomb is spanned by a single block of marble, over 4 m. in length, reminiscent of the colossal lintel over the Tomb of Atreus at Mycenae. This portico, mentioned in the inscriptions of the temple as Portico before the Cecropeion, is the Portico of the Korai, or Maidens, commonly known as the Portico of the Caryatids (from Caryatis, epithet of Artemis, meaning of the Walnut tree.

The Laconians raised a temple to Artemis Caryatis in which statues of women served as columns, hence the name Caryatid by which such columns became known. This architectural motif, Ionian in origin, was initially employed in the Siphnian and Cnidian treasuries at Delphi). A small door at the rear opened to an awkward L-shaped stairway leading to the ante-chamber of the Erechtheion proper.

On a marble base, rising to a height of 1.80 m. and 4 m. in breadth, stand the six celebrated Caryatids, four in front and two in the rear, draped in the graceful Ionian peplos. These stately maidens, 2.30 m. in height, act as columns and carry on their heads, in the form of baskets decorated with the classic egg and dart design the capitals supporting the entablature. Behind the two figures standing in the rear are antae crowned by capitals decorated with a variety of ornaments. From its design and location before the Cecropeion, there can be little doubt that the South Portico was intended as the Mausoleum of Cecrops and that the Caryatids are not merely decorative figures but, on the contrary, represent temple virgins keeping watch over the tomb of the deified king.

A triumph of both architecture and sculpture, this portico is one of the finest jewels of Attic-Ionic art. The architect's masterly skill is manifest in his posing of the entablature which, despite its weight, rests lightly on the heads of the Caryatids; while the consummate art of the sculptor is apparent in the manner in which he reveals the strength latent in the lissome young bodies, so that far from succumbing beneath the mass of the superstructure, yet without sacrificing anything of their feminine grace, the maidens carry their load with effortless ease and dignity.

In the sixth century AD the Erechtheion was converted into use as a Christian church and the interior drastically transformed. At the east end of the temple the floor of the cella was lowered to the level of the western chambers, the entire edifice then divided into a nave and two aisles, the entrance blocked up and an apse, whose semi-circular outline may be traced in the paving, built in its place.

The monument was also damaged during Morosini's siege of the Turkish-held Acropolis in 1687 and was almost totally destroyed in 1826 (during the War of Independence) when a shell from a Turkish battery smashed through the roof, burying the garrison commander Gouras and his family beneath the ruins. By removing one of the Caryatids (the second on the left) Lord Elgin must also be held guilty of the further spoliation of the monument.

At a short distance west of the Erechtheion and close to the north wall of the Acropolis are the ruined foundations of two buildings of the fifth century BC. The larger housed the Arrhephoroi, (or Errhephoroi, from Ersephorai - dew bearers) four maidens between the ages of seven and eleven, chosen yearly from among the noblest families of Athens, while the smaller building adjoining it was a ballcourt where the girls played during their period of dedication to the goddess.

Being next in order of importance to the priestess of Athena, the Arrhephoroi were privileged above all other virgins; two of them shared the honor of beginning the sacred peplos (the state robe of Athena as Goddess of the City), woven and embroidered by the women of Attica and presented to her at the Panathenian festival. On the night of the mystic festival of the Arrhephoria, (fertilizing dew) held on the 12th of the month of Skirophorion June-July), each of the other two Arrhephoroi received from the priestess a covered basket; neither she who gave it nor they who received it had any knowledge of its contents. There have, of course, been many conjectures as to the nature of the contents.

It is thought they may have been phallic symbols and cakes of salt, to be thrown into the Sea of Erechtheus in commemoration of the birth of Aphrodite, invoking her rebirth and the revival of fertility. These they carried on their heads down a secret underground stairway into a natural grotto beside the temple of Aphrodite in the Gardens (situated on the south slope of the Acropolis), where they left them; in exchange they received other mysterious packages, and returning by the same route deposited them in the temple of Athena on the Acropolis.

To the west of the Acropolis and separated from it by a depression, rises the Hill of the Areopagus, a picturesque rocky height, surrounded by a double crown of glory, pagan and Christian.

The Council of the Areopagus, or Supreme Court, was, with the exception of the still more ancient Ephetae, the oldest Athenian court of justice. Founded in the reign of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, as a council of elders, its functions were both judicial and diplomatic. This venerable body consisted of life-members whose numbers were supplemented by the addition of ex-archons that had irreproachably served their term of office and had authority to hear all cases except those of homicide and wounding with intent; only the Ephetae was competent to try these latter cases.

Among the many reforms carried out by Solon (c. 560 BC) was the creation of lower courts of law to deal with minor offences; thus the Areopagites were left free to devote themselves exclusively to judging major crimes. Solon also transferred the greater part of the jurisdiction of the Ephetae to the Council of the Areopagus with the result that the powers of the latter body were greatly extended. In addition to being empowered to try cases of murder, malicious wounding, poisoning, arson, perjury, political corruption and treason, the Areopagus had full powers to examine the conduct of magistrates and to exercise a general censorship on religious and political affairs.

With the rapid advance of democracy the Council of the Areopagus came to be regarded as ultra-conservative and over-privileged and in 462 BC Ephialtes (Athenian statesman, friend and partisan of Pericles) deprived its members of their most prized prerogative of supervising the entire state administration. This measure was followed under Pericles by a further curtailment of the Council's privileges.

It is not known exactly how the seatings of the Areopagus were conducted, but the generally accepted belief is that the two litigants appearing before the court, the accuser and the accused, faced each other before the assembled judges. Each sat upon an unhewn stone, the accuser on the Stone of Resentment, the accused on the Stone of Outrage.

Many years later, in the spring of AD 54, Saint Paul the Apostle preached his famous sermon on the Unknown God (Acts of the Apostles XVII 2234) from the middle of the artificially-leveled summit of this historic hill and succeeded in converting Dionysius the Areopagite, who later became the first bishop of Athens.

At the foot of the hill at the north-east in an area enclosed by railings is a deep cavern, at the mouth of which are strewn huge boulders severed from the rocky mass of the hill by an earthquake. This gloomy cavern was the sanctuary of the Erinyes, but to appease them, and also because it was believed that the punishment of the wicked ensured the protection of the good. they were called Semnai (the honorable) and Eumenides (the kindly).

The origin of the name Areopagus is uncertain. It does not come however as is generally thought, and as Aeschylus believed, from Ares (Mars), but is probably derived from the Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance and malediction, whose worship was far older than that of the Olympian god.

From the summit of the Areopagus, lying in a valley to the west, can be seen an area in which part of one of the most populous and best-known quarters of the ancient city was built, the deme of Melite, where many prominent citizens had their residence. A considerable stretch of the main road from the Agora can also be seen, flanked by vestiges of shrines, houses, workshops, storehouses and other buildings dating from the beginning of the fifth century BC to Roman times.

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