Extract

An Athenian hero connected with the Acropolis and its cults. It is possible that he was originally identical with *Erechtheus, the older attested name, a hypothesis strengthened by the lack of clear evidence for a separate cult. He is distinguished from his near homonym by the emphasis placed on his birth and infancy. *Hephaestus attempted to rape *Athena, but succeeded only in spilling his seed on her thigh; she wiped it off with a piece of wool (ἔριον), and dropped it on the ground, whereupon the Earth (see gaia/gē) conceived Erichthonius, after his birth handing him over to Athena—the last episode being a popular subject on red-figure vases. Athena shut the child in a chest or basket and in turn entrusted him to the daughters of Cecrops, who with disastrous results disobeyed her instructions not to look inside (see aglaurus; pandrosus). Almost certainly the myth relates to rituals performed on the Acropolis, in particular the *Arrhephoria.