Cecrops

Cecrops: The Mythical Founder of Athens in Greek Mythology

Cecrops was the first king of Attica in Greek mythology, a man born from the soil with a body that was part man and part serpent. He gave the land the name Cecropia, took Athena as witness of her gift of the olive when she and Poseidon competed for the land, and was succeeded by Cranaus.

The Birth and Nature of Cecrops

Apollodorus calls Cecrops “a son of the soil, with a body compounded of man and serpent”, and says that he was the first king of Attica, which had been called Acte before he renamed it Cecropia after himself (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.1). In Euripides’ Ion, a tapestry shows Cecrops coiling his serpent body beside his daughters (Euripides, Ion 1163–1164).

Pausanias gives a different picture of his rise: Actaeus was the first king of the country, and Cecrops, his son-in-law, received the kingdom when Actaeus died (Pausanias 1.2.6). Pausanias also distinguishes this Cecrops from a later Cecrops, a son of Erechtheus, who migrated to Euboea (Pausanias 1.5.3).

Cecrops’ Reign and the Founding of Athens

Strabo, citing the Athenian historian Philochorus, says that Cecrops first settled the people of Attica in twelve cities when the country was being raided from the sea by Carians and from the land by Boeotians; Theseus later united them into one city (Strabo 9.1.20). Pausanias says that Cecrops was the first to call Zeus the Supreme god, and that he would sacrifice no living thing, burning cakes on the altar instead (Pausanias 8.2.3).

Athena and Poseidon

In Apollodorus’ account, the gods wished to take cities as their own. Poseidon came to Attica first and struck the middle of the Acropolis with his trident, making a sea. Athena came after him, called on Cecrops to witness that she had taken possession, and planted an olive tree, which was still shown in the Pandrosium. When the two quarrelled over the land, Zeus separated them and appointed the twelve gods as judges, not Cecrops and Cranaus, as some say. They gave the country to Athena because Cecrops testified that she had planted the olive first. Athena named the city Athens after herself, and Poseidon, in anger, flooded the Thriasian plain and sank Attica under the sea (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.1). Herodotus also records the salt-water pool and the olive on the Acropolis (Herodotus 8.55).

The Family of Cecrops

Cecrops married Agraulus (or Aglaurus), the daughter of Actaeus. They had a son, Erysichthon, who died childless, and three daughters: Aglaurus, Herse and Pandrosus (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.2; Pausanias 1.2.6). Pausanias says Erysichthon died while his father was still alive, so he never became king.

The daughters have a part in the story of Erichthonius. Athena put the infant in a chest and gave it to Pandrosus, forbidding her to open it. Her sisters opened it out of curiosity and saw a serpent coiled around the child; in one version the serpent killed them, in another Athena drove them mad and they threw themselves from the Acropolis (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.6).

After Cecrops

When Cecrops died, Cranaus, who was also born of the soil, took the throne. In Cranaus’ time the flood of Deucalion is said to have happened, and Cranaus’ daughter Atthis gave her name to the country, which was called Attica (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.5; Pausanias 1.2.6). Amphictyon then deposed Cranaus, and Erichthonius in turn drove out Amphictyon (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.6).

The Legacy of Cecrops in Greek Mythology

The Athenians remembered Cecrops in their own name: Herodotus says that when Cecrops was king they were called Cecropidae, and that they took the name Athenians only under Erechtheus (Herodotus 8.44.2). One of the twelve settlements he founded was called Cecropia (Strabo 9.1.20). Pausanias saw a statue of a Cecrops among the eponymous heroes of the Athenian tribes in the Agora, though he could not say which of the two kings named Cecrops it honored (Pausanias 1.5.3).

Cecrops Sources

Apollodorus, Library 3.14.1–6; Pausanias 1.2.6, 1.5.3, 8.2.3; Strabo 9.1.20; Herodotus 8.44.2, 8.55; Euripides, Ion 1163–1164.

See Also: Athena, Poseidon, Erichthonius, Aglaurus, Herse, Pandrosus, Cranaus, Zeus