The Érechthéion (in Greek old Ἐρέχθειον Erékhtheion , in Greek modern Ερέχθειο Eréchθio ) is an old Greek temple of Ionic order located on the Acropole of Athens, in the north of the Parthenon. It is the last monument set up on the Acropolis before the end of fifth century BC and it is famous for its at the same time elegant and unusual architecture. Its name, which means “that which shakes (S.E. the Earth)”, indicates the nickname Attique of Poséidon.

It replaces the antiquated temple of Athéna Polias which was between the Parthenon and the current site and which was destroyed by the Perses in 480 av. J. - C. at the time of the medic Guerres. It is located at the site of the primitive Acropolis and gathered some of the relics oldest and most crowned Athenians; it is at this place that the argument between Athéna and Poséidon took place which one can see the mark of his three-pronged fork on a rock. One found there also the Palladium, a statue of Athéna, devoted by Cécrops, the mythical king of the Attic, and which one believed that it had fallen from the sky; tombs of Crécrops and Érechthée; a vault dedicated to Pandrose, the girl of Crécrops; a salt water well and the olive-tree crowned, mythical gift of Athéna made with the population at the time of its argument with Poséidon.

Structure

Périclès, in its plans of installation of the Acropolis and after the Parthenon, to pay homage to the tradition, decided construction of a new building intended to gather the old relics.

The architect was perhaps Philoclès, but other sources quote Callicratès or Mnésiclès as project executors. But the tastes evolved/moved and the moral reinforcement of the city changed: the baroque succeeds the classicism, imposing simplicity makes place with refinement. It is the triumph of the Ionic order.

The need to preserve the crowned sites probably explains the complexity of the design. The temple is not dedicated to a particular divinity but consists of several sanctuaries. Three of these sanctuaries are dedicated to Athéna, Poséidon and Zeus. It is supposed that the two other sanctuaries are dedicated to Cécrops and Érechthée, both legendary Athenian kings. Érechthéion is composed of a principal body, gantries north and south and several appendices. The principal body consists of four parts which represent only half of a preliminary draft which was never completed.

Largest, in the East, concealed with an ionic gantry is a . Northern side, there is another large porch with columns and in the South there is the famous gantry of the Caryatides where six statues of draped young girls are used as columns supporting the Entablement.

These women are the citizens of the town of Caryatid (city of the Peloponnese). The city having collaborated with the Persian invader, the Athenians declare the war to him and sell his wives like slaves. So that serf of example, these statues are carved in the marble to point out the fate of those which will collaborate.

The temple is built on a slope, so that the sides north and west are located approximately 3 meters lower than the southern parts and east.

(to be supplemented)

Intact Érechthéion was described extensively by Pausanias.

History