Erichthonius & Ion

Kekrops

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 187

Erikhthonios [king of Athens], according to some, was the son of

Hephaistos and Kranaus’ daughter Atthis, while others say his

parents were Hephaistos and Athene, in the following manner.

Athene went to Hephaistos because she wanted to make some

weapons. But he, deserted by Aphrodite, let himself become

aroused by Athene, and started chasing her as she ran from him.

When he caught up with her with much effort (for he was lame), he

tried to enter her, but she, being the model of virginal self-control,

would not let him; so as he ejaculated, his semen fell on her leg. In

revulsion Athene wiped it off with some wool, which she threw on the

ground. And as she was fleeing and the semen fell to the earth,

Erikhthonios came into being.

Hyginus, Fabulae 166 :

When Vulcanus [Hephaistos] had made golden [thrones or sandals]

for Jove [Zeus] and for the other gods, he made one of adamant [for

Juno or Hera], and as soon as she sat down she suddenly found

herself hanging in the air. When Vulcanus [Hephaistos] was

summoned to free his mother whom he had bound, in anger because

he had been thrown from Heaven, he denied that he had a mother.

When Father Liber [Dionysos] had brought him back drunk to the

council of the gods, he could not refuse this filial duty. Then he

obtained freedom of choice from Jove [Zeus], to gain whatever he

sought from them. Therefore Neptunus [Poseidon], because he was

hostile to Minerva [Athena], urged Vulcanus [Hephaistos] to ask for

Minerva [Athena] in marriage. This was granted, but Minerva

[Athena], when he entered her chamber, defended her virginity with

arms. As they struggled, some of his seed fell to earth, and from it a

boy was born, the lower part of whose body was snake-formed. They

named him Erichthonius, because eris in Greek means ‘strife’, and

chthon means ‘earth’. When Minerva [Athena] was secretly caring for

him, she gave him in a chest to Aglaurus, Pandrosus, and Herse,

daughters of Cecrops, to guard. A crow gave the secrete away when

the girls opened the chest, and they, driven made by Minerva

[Athena], threw themselves into the sea.

Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 13 :

Euripides [Greek tragedian C5th B.C.] gives the following account of

his [Erichthonios’] birth. Volcanus [Hephaistos], inflamed by Minerva’s

[Athene’s] beauty, begged her to marry him, but was refused. She hid

herself in the place called Hephaestius [sanctuary in Athens?], on

account of the love of Volcanus. They say that Volcanus

[Hephaistos], following her there, tried to force her, and when, full of

passion he tried to embrace her, he was repulsed, and some of his

seed fell to the ground. Minverva [Athene], overcome by shame, with

her foot spread dust over it. From this the snake Erichthonius was

born, who derives his name from the earth and their struggle."

460 B.C, Munich Painter 2413

440 B.C, Codrus Painter Oinanthe Painter, British Museum

Erichthonius

410 B.C.

Erichtonius

Kadmos Painter

Calyx Krater

Hermes wearing

petasus & holding

Keryreion

Hephaestus

Apollo

Nike

Aphrodite

ינשוף עם זר

Neils, Jenifer & Oakley, J. H., 2003, Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images

of Childhood from the Classical Past, Hanover, New Hampshire: 208.

Euripides, Ion, 237 ff.

מעיד מראך אך ,את מי יודע איני :איון

.גבירתי ,אציל שטבעך ,מידותיך על

ההופעה לפי לשפוט נוכל לרוב

.לא או מלידה יחש רם מישהו אם

נעצמו עיניך ,אותי מדהים זה ,הו

ניגר דמע האצילה לחיֵך ועל

.המקודש ]אפולו [ לֹוקסיאס ]מקדש[ בזבול כשהבחנת

?כזאת למבוכה מביאך מה ,גבירתי

,האל נוה את רואים כשהם שמחים כולם

?זולגות הדמעות מעיניך למה אז

לכך אותך הכשיר נאה חינוך ,נָכרי :קראוסה

.לדמעותי בתמהון לב ששמת

בזכרוני העלה אפולון מקדש

,מזמן אירע אשר דבר בדיקנות

.פה הייתי כי אם הוסחה ודעתי

!אלים אלימות הו !נשים ייסוֵרי הו

כשאבדון ,דין לתבוע ממי ?מה אז

?החזקים עוולות עקב לנו צפוי

?גבירתי ,תמיר כה לצער הסיבה מה :איון

הזה בענין אך .חץ יריתי .כלום לא :קראוסה

.כך על לחשוב חדל אתה וגם ,אשתוק

ומי ?לכאן הגעת מאיפה ?את מי אך :איון

?לכנותך עלי שם באיזה ?אביך

,אבי הוא וארכתיאוס ,קראוסה שמי :קראוסה

.הולדתי מחוז היא האתונאים עיר

דגולים וכה עירך היא מהוללת כה :איון

!גבירתי ,מפעים הדבר !אבותיך הם

.יותר לא אך ,נכרי ,מזל לי יש בכך :קראוסה

....בסיפור יש אמת האם ,האלים חי :איון

?בסקרנות שואל אתה מה על ,נכרי :קראוסה

?מהקרקע נולד אביך אבי האם :איון

.הועיל לא זה לי אבל ,אריכתוניוס ,כן :קראוסה

?מעפר הרימוהו אתנה וידי :איון

.אמו הייתה לא הן ,בתולה בזרועות ,כן :קראוסה

...שמציירים כפי הפקידה אותו והיא :איון

.אותו לראות ואסרה ,קקרופס בנות ביד :קראוסה

.האלה של התיבה את פתחו והן :איון

.נשפך דמן המדרון סלעי על לכן :קראוסה

?ריק שקר או האמת זה ?היתר אך ,טוב :איון

.פנאי לי חסר לא הן ?שואל אתה מה על :קראוסה

.אביך בידי נזבחו אחיותיך אם :איון

.אותן לשחוט העז הוא הארץ עבור :קראוסה

?ניצלת בלבד את אחיותיך בין ואיך :איון

.אימי בזרועות תינוקת אז הייתי :קראוסה

?באדמה נבלע אביך אכן האם :איון

.אותו הרגה הים אל של קלשון הלמות :קראוסה

?הארוכים הצוקים שמו והמקום :איון

!מה דבר לי הזכרת ?שואל אתה למה :קראוסה

.מכבדים אפולו ברֵקי המקום את :איון

.שראיתיו חבל ,כבוד איזה ,כבוד :קראוסה

:551 – 546טורים , (קטלוג הספינות), 2שיר , הומרוס

,העיר הבנויה לתפָארה, אלה היושבים באתונה

,גידלתואשר אתנה , הנדיב ארכתיאוסארץ

–ואמו הארץ הפורה –המרעים זיאוסבתו של

,חמד היכל שלה בהיכלה באתונה ותושיבהו

אשר שם לו יקריבו כל זאטוטי אתונה

..פרים בני בקר ועיזים לתקופת כל שנה ושנה

45 – 44' ח, 189' ז, 2' ספר ה הרודוטוס

?אך למה את שונאת מה שהאל אוהב :איון

.למערה ולי יש סוד מביש. זה כלום: קראוסה

?למי מהאתונאים נישאת גבירתי :איון

. נָכריההוא בא מארץ . אין הוא אזרח: קראוסה

.זה מישהו אציל בודאי? ומיהו :איון

.איולוס, זיאוסאביו הוא בנו של , קסותוס: קראוסה

......?נשא אתונאית כמוך נָכריואיך :איון

זה בתהליך קרקופס של חלקו ומה אתונה העיר פטרונית אתנה נעשתה כיצד

:III, 24. 1 הספריה ,מאפולודורוס למדים

"Cecrops, a son of the soil (autochton), with a body compounded

of man and serpent, was the first king of Attica, and the country

which was formerly called Acte [ על שמלך אקטאיוס של הבת שם על

קקרופס של ואשתו קקרופס לפני אתיקה ] he named Cecropia after

himself. In his time they say, the gods resolved to take possession

of cities in which each of them should receive his own peculiar

worship. So Poseidon was the first that came to Attica, and with a

blow of his trident on the middle of the Acropolis, he produced a

sea which they now call Erechtheis. After him came Athena, and

having called on Cecrops to witness her act of taking possession,

she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the Pandrosium.

But when the two strove for possession of the country, Zeus

parted them and appointed arbiters, not as some have affirmed,

Cecrops and Cranaus, nor yet Erysichton but the twelve gods.

And in accordance with their verdict the country was adjudged to

Athena, because Cecrops bore witness that she had been the first

to plant the olive. Athena, therefore called the city Athens after

herself, and Poseidon is hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and

laid Attica under the sea.

עיר ,אוגוסטינוס ידי על מסופרת (ס"לפה 116 – 27) Varro של הגירסה

:9 ,18 האלוהים

“Now the name of Athens is certainly derived from Minerva, who is

called Athena in Greek. Varro gives the following explanation of

the reason why the city was so called. An olive tree suddenly

appeared and in another spot water gushed [פרצו] out, and these

portents [ נס ,פלא ] so alarmed the king that he sent to Delphic Apollo

to inquire their meanings and to ask what action he should take.

Apollo answered that the olive signified Minerva and the water stood

for Neptune, and that it rested with the citizens to decide from which

of the two deities thus symbolized their city should, for preference,

take its name. On receipt of the oracle, Cecrops called an assembly

of all the citizens, male and female, to vote on the question; for at

that time and in that part of the world the custom was that women

as well as men should take part in deliberation [התייעצות] on matters

of state. Now when the matter was put before the multitude

the men voted for Neptune, the women for Minerva; and ,[ההמונים]

as it happened, the women outnumbered the men by one; and so

the victory went to Minerva.

Then Neptune was furious, and devastated the Athenian territory by

floods of sea-water, for it is quite easy for demons to spread waters

about on any scale at their pleasure [ רצונם פי על ]. To appease his

wrath [ לפייסו כדי ], according to the same authority, the women

suffered a threefold punishment: They were never to have the vote

again; their children were never to take their mother’s name; and no

one was ever to call them ‘Athenian women’. And so that the great

city, the mother or nurse of liberal studies and of so many great

philosophers, the greatest glory and renown of Greece, was fooled

by the demons, and received its name of Athens as a result of a

dispute between two of its deities, a male and a female, and from

the victory of the female conqueror, being in greater dread [ ,פחד

of Neptune’s waters than of Minerva’s arms. In fact, the [אימה

victorious Minerva was vanquished [ניצחה] in the persons of the

women who were punished in this way; and the goddess did not

come to the aid of the women who had voted for her. Though they

had lost their voting rights and their sons where debarred [ נשללו

from taking their mother’s name, Minerva could at least have [מהם

ensured them the right to be called ‘Athenian women’, and to be

rewarded by bearing the name of the goddess to whom their votes

had brought victory over the male divinity…”