Erichthonius

Erichthonius: The Serpent-Child in Greek Mythology

Erichthonius was an early king of Athens, born from the earth when the seed of Hephaestus fell on the ground after his failed attempt to embrace Athena. The goddess raised him herself, and the story of how she hid him in a chest and the daughters of Cecrops opened it is one of the best-known tales of the Athenian Acropolis (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.6; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.13).

The Birth of Erichthonius

Pausanias says that men claimed Erichthonius had no human father, and that his parents were Hephaestus and Earth (Pausanias 1.2.6). Euripides likewise calls him earth-born (Ion 20–21, 267–268). Apollodorus gives the fuller account. Athena came to Hephaestus because she wanted weapons made. Hephaestus, who had been left by Aphrodite, fell in love with Athena and began to pursue her; she fled, and when he caught up with her, with much difficulty because he was lame, and tried to embrace her, she, a chaste virgin, would not yield, and he dropped his seed on her leg. In disgust she wiped it off with wool and threw it on the ground, and from the seed that fell on the ground Erichthonius was born (Library 3.14.6).

Hyginus gives a similar story, which he attributes to Euripides: Hephaestus, struck by Athena’s beauty, asked her to marry him and was refused; she hid in a place that was called the Hephaestium because of his love, he pursued her and tried to force himself on her, and when she pushed him away he spilled his seed on the ground. Athena, ashamed, threw dust over it with her foot, and from it the snake Erichthonius was born, who took his name from the earth and from their strife (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.13). So Athena and Hephaestus had no child together in the usual sense: the earth bore Erichthonius, and Athena was only his foster mother, who brought him up.

Athena and the Sacred Basket

According to Apollodorus, Athena brought Erichthonius up in secret from the other gods, wanting to make him immortal. She put him in a chest and gave it to Pandrosus, a daughter of Cecrops, forbidding her to open it. The sisters of Pandrosus opened it out of curiosity and saw a serpent coiled around the child. Some say they were destroyed by the serpent; others say that Athena’s anger drove them mad and that they threw themselves down from the Acropolis (Library 3.14.6). Pausanias names the sisters as Aglaurus and Herse, and says that Pandrosus obeyed Athena’s order, while the other two opened the chest and went mad when they saw Erichthonius (Pausanias 1.18.2).

Euripides tells a slightly different version: Athena set two serpents beside the child as guards and gave him in a chest to the daughters of Aglaurus, and the maidens who opened it died by leaping from the rock (Ion 20–26, 267–274). From this, he says, comes the custom among the Erechtheids of putting golden snakes on their children as a reminder of the old story (Ion 20–26, 1427–1431). In Hyginus the daughters are those of Erechtheus, the snake that was found in the chest took refuge beside the shield of Athena and was brought up by her; others said that Erichthonius was human with snakes for legs (Astronomica 2.13).

Erichthonius' Reign as King of Athens

Apollodorus says that Erichthonius, having been brought up by Athena in her precinct, expelled Amphictyon from the throne of Athens, set up the wooden image of Athena on the Acropolis, and founded the festival of the Panathenaea (Library 3.14.6). Pausanias also says that Amphictyon was driven out by Erichthonius (Pausanias 1.2.6). He married Praxithea, a Naiad nymph, and had a son, Pandion, who succeeded him; when Erichthonius died, he was buried in the same precinct of Athena (Library 3.14.6–7).

Hyginus adds that Erichthonius was the first to yoke four horses to a chariot, and the first to establish sacrifices to Minerva and a temple on the Athenian Acropolis. Jupiter admired his skill, and Hyginus, following Eratosthenes, says that he was placed in the sky as the constellation of the Charioteer, though he reports other candidates for the same constellation (Astronomica 2.13).

The Legacy of Erichthonius in Greek Mythology

Pausanias, describing the statue of Athena on the Acropolis, notes the serpent at her feet near the shield and says: “This serpent would be Erichthonius” (Pausanias 1.24.7). Homer, in the Iliad, speaks of Erechtheus, born of the grain-giving earth and reared by Athena, who set him in her rich temple at Athens, where the young Athenians honour him each year with bulls and rams (Iliad 2.546–551), a description that resembles the Erichthonius story (the Athenian king is called Erechtheus here).

He should not be confused with another Erichthonius in the Iliad, the son of Dardanus and king of the Dardanians, the richest of mortal men, who had three thousand mares and was the father of Tros (Iliad 20.219–230).

Erichthonius Sources

Apollodorus, Library 3.14.6–7; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.13; Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.2.6, 1.18.2, 1.24.7; Euripides, Ion 20–26, 267–274, 1427–1431; Homer, Iliad 2.546–551 and 20.219–230.

See Also: Athena, Hephaestus, Gaea, Cecrops, Aglaurus, Herse, Pandrosus, Pandion, Erechtheus, Athens