Herse

Herse was a daughter of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, and the sister of Aglaurus and Pandrosus. She appears in two Athenian stories: the opening of the chest that held the baby Erichthonius, and her love affair with the god Hermes, who became the father of her son Cephalus. Her name is the Greek word for “dew”.

The Birth and Family of Herse

Herse was one of the daughters of Cecrops and his wife Agraulus, the daughter of Actaeus. The sisters were Agraulus (usually spelled Aglaurus), Herse and Pandrosus, and the family also included a son, Erysichthon, who died childless (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.2; Pausanias 1.2.6). Pausanias adds that Cecrops became king of the land of Attica after the death of his father-in-law Actaeus (Pausanias 1.2.6).

Herse and the Tale of the Sacred Basket

In the best-known Athenian story, Athena hid the baby Erichthonius in a chest and gave it to the daughters of Cecrops to guard, forbidding them to look inside. In Apollodorus, Athena entrusts the chest to Pandrosus, and her sisters open it out of curiosity. They see a serpent coiled around the child and, as some say, are destroyed by the serpent; according to others, Athena’s anger drives them mad and they throw themselves down from the Acropolis (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.6). Pausanias gives the same story in connection with the sanctuary of Aglaurus below the Acropolis. Pandrosus obeyed, but the other two, Aglaurus and Herse, opened the chest, went mad at the sight of Erichthonius, and threw themselves from the steepest part of the Acropolis (Pausanias 1.18.2).

In Ovid’s version it is Aglaurus alone who breaks the order. Pandrosus and Herse guard what they were given in good faith, and Aglaurus calls her frightened sisters and unties the knots of the basket; inside they see the child and a serpent stretched out beside him (Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.552–561). Ovid does not say that Herse died.

Herse and Hermes

In Ovid’s account, Hermes flew over Athens and saw the girls returning from the festival of Athena on the Acropolis, where they had carried sacred baskets on their heads. Herse was the most beautiful of them, and he came down to earth, arranged his hair and cloak, and went to the house of Cecrops (Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.708–736). The sisters had three bedrooms in the inner part of the house: Pandrosus the one on the right, Aglaurus the one on the left, and Herse the one in the middle (2.737–739). Aglaurus met the god first and asked his name and purpose. He told her that he was the son of Jupiter, and asked her to help him with Herse, her sister, and to be called aunt to his child (2.740–747).

Aglaurus demanded gold for her help. Athena, who remembered the secret Aglaurus had uncovered, sent Envy to infect her with jealousy of her sister’s good fortune, and Aglaurus sat in the doorway to bar the god (Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.748–817). Hermes struck the door open with his staff; Aglaurus tried to stand and could not, and she turned to stone (2.818–832). Ovid ends the episode there. He does not tell what became of Herse.

Cephalus

Apollodorus states the result of the union: Herse bore Cephalus to Hermes, and Dawn fell in love with him and carried him off. In Syria Dawn bore him a son, Tithonus (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.3). Apollodorus also knows a Cephalus who was the son of Deion and the husband of Procris, and whom Dawn likewise carried off (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.4); Pausanias too calls Cephalus the son of Deion (Pausanias 1.37.6). The two Cephaluses are not always kept apart in the ancient sources.

Herse Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.9.4, 3.14.2, 3.14.3 and 3.14.6; Pausanias 1.2.6, 1.18.2 and 1.37.6; Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.552–561 and 2.708–832.

See Also: Cecrops, Aglaurus, Erichthonius, Athena, Hermes, Pandrosus