(^550) THE GREEK SAGAS: GREEK LOCAL LEGENDS
as Guardian of the City) and Erechtheus.^3 In it were sacred objects associated
with the earliest stages of Athenian religion, including the wooden statue of
Athena, the tomb of Erechtheus, and the salt spring produced by the blow of
Poseidon's trident in his contest with Athena, which was known as "the sea
of Erechtheus." In this "sea" were the marks of Poseidon's trident where he
struck the earth, and linked to the sanctuary was the olive tree produced by
Athena. The temple took the name by which it is generally known, Erechtheum,
from Erechtheus-Poseidon; but in antiquity it was known officially as "the tem-
ple in which is the ancient statue."
Thus the Erechtheum and its neighboring shrines were closely bound up
with the most ancient myths of Athens. It was built upon the Acropolis, the site
of the Mycenaean fortress of Athens, and so it linked Athenians to the earliest
stages of their city's history. Athena, the great Olympian protectress of the city,
here was associated with both her rival Poseidon and her predecessor, the
chthonic divinity Erechtheus. Her triumph in the struggle for the honor of pro-
tecting the city was visible nearby in the sculptures of the west pediment of the
Parthenon.
Erechtheus was important in the mythology of Athens. He successfully de-
fended Athens in her earliest war, the attack of the Eleusinians led by the Thra-
cian Eumolpus, who was a son of Poseidon and ancestor of the hereditary priests
of Eleusis. With the approval of his wife, Praxithea, Erechtheus sacrificed one
- Wooden statue of Athena Polias 4. Sacred olive tree
- Tomb of Erechtheus 5. Zeus' thunderbolt
- Salt spring 6. Porch of the maidens (caryatids)
Figure 23.2. Plan of the Erechtheum (After W. B. Dinsmoor)