View source for Erichthonius (son of Hephaestus)

{{Short description|Legendary king of Athens}}
{{Other uses|Erichthonius}}
{{See also|Erechtheus}}
[[Image:Birth Erikhthonios Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2413 n2.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Birth of Erichthonius: [[Athena]] receives the baby Erichthonius from the hands of the earth mother [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], [[Attica|Attic]] red-figure [[stamnos]], 470–460 BC, [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]] (Inv. 2413)]]
In [[Greek mythology]], King '''Erichthonius''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|r|ɪ|k|ˈ|θ|oʊ|n|i|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|{{math|Ἐριχθόνιος}}|Erikhthónios}}) was a legendary early ruler of ancient [[Athens]]. According to some [[Greek mythology|myths]], he was [[Autochthon (ancient Greece)|autochthonous]] (born of the soil, or Earth) and adopted or raised by the goddess [[Athena]]. Early Greek texts do not distinguish between him and [[Erechtheus]],<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+2.546&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Erechtheus 2.546–551]</ref> 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 substrate|pre-Greek]] form *''Erekt{{sup|y}}eu-''. The connection of {{math|Ἐριχθόνιος}} with ἐρέχθω, "shake" is a late folk-etymology; other folk-etymologies include {{math|ἔριον}}, ''erion'', "wool" or {{math|ἔρις}}, ''eris'', "strife"+ {{math|χθών}} ''chthôn'', "earth".{{efn|Beekes (2009)<ref name=Beekes-2009/> {{math|Ἐριχθόνιος}}, suggested a [[pre-Greek]] proto-form *''Erekt<sup>y</sup>eu-''.<ref name=Beekes-2009>{{cite book |author-link=Robert S. P. Beekes |author=Beekes, S.P. |year=2009 |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |place=Leiden |publisher=Brill}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Robert Graves |author=Graves, R. |date=December 1988 |title=[[The Greek Myths]] |edition=unabridged |publisher=Moyer Bell |section=25 Athene's Nature and Deeds |ISBN=0-918825-80-6 |page=99}}</ref>
== Mythology ==
===Birth===
[[File:Athena Scorning the Advances of Hephaestus.jpg|thumb|''[[Athena]] Scorning the Advances of [[Hephaestus]]'', [[Paris Bordone]], between {{circa|1555~1560}}]]
According to the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', Athena visited the smith-god [[Hephaestus]] 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 ({{math|ἔριον}}, ''erion'') and flung it to the earth ({{math|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.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus) |author=pseudo-Apollodorus |year=1921 |title=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]] |trans-title=The Library |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.14.6 3.14.6] |via=Perseus, [[Tufts University|Tufts U.]] |lang=en |translator=Frazer, J.G. |translator-link=James George Frazer |place=Cambridge, MA / London, UK |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] / William Heinemann}}</ref>
Athena gave the box to the three daughters ([[Herse (Athenian princess)|Herse]], [[Aglaurus, daughter of Cecrops|Aglaurus]] and [[Pandrosus]]) of [[Cecrops I|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, Athens|Acropolis]]. 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 [[Kassandra, Chalkidiki|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]]. 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]], who had usurped the throne from [[Cranaus]] twelve years earlier, and became king of Athens.  He married [[Praxithea]], a [[naiad]], with whom he had a son, {{nobr|[[Pandion I]]}}. During this time, Athena frequently protected him.  He founded the [[Panathenaic Games|Panathenaic Festival]] in the honor of Athena, and set up a wooden statue of her on the Acropolis.  According to the [[Parian Chronicle]], he taught his people to yoke [[horse]]s and use them to pull [[chariot]]s, to smelt [[silver]], and to till the earth with a [[plough]].
It was said that Erichthonius was lame of his feet and that he consequently invented the [[quadriga]], or four-horse chariot, to get around more easily. He is said to have competed often as a chariot driver in games. [[Zeus]] 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 (constellation)|Auriga]]) after his death.
The snake is his symbol, and he is represented in the statue of Athena in the [[Parthenon]] as the snake hidden behind her shield. The most sacred building on the [[Acropolis of Athens]], the [[Erechtheum]], is dedicated to Erichthonius.{{dub|Erechtheus?|date=September 2024}}
Erichthonius was succeeded by his son Pandion&nbsp;I.
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== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px" caption="Erichthonius of Athens in art">
File:Erichthonius Released from His Basket LACMA 65.37.98.jpg|''Erichthonius Released from His Basket'' by [[Antonio Tempesta]] (1606)
File:Peter Paul Rubens - The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius - WGA20295.jpg|''The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] (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)
</gallery>
==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{reflist|25em}}
==Sources==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''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]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes, S. P.]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]]; ''[[The Greek Myths]]'', Moyer Bell Ltd; Unabridged edition (December 1988), {{ISBN|0-918825-80-6}}.
* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DE%3Aentry+group%3D6%3Aentry%3Derichthonius-bio-1 ''Erichthonius'']
==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|}}
== External links ==
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000552 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Erichthonius)]
{{Commons category| Erichthonius (Athens)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Autochthons of classical mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Gaia]]
[[Category:Children of Hephaestus]]
[[Category:Kings of Athens]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological people from Attica]]
[[Category:Deeds of Athena]]