The Erechtheion is an ancient Greek temple constructed on the acropolis of Athens between 421 and 406 BCE in the Golden Age of the city in order to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena and generally glorify the great city at the height of its power and influence.

The Erechtheion is an ancient Greek temple constructed on the acropolis of Athens between 421 and 406 BCE in the Golden Age of the city in order to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena and generally glorify the great city at the height of its power and influence.
The Erechtheion has suffered a troubled history of misuse and neglect, but with its prominent position above the city and porch of six Caryatids, it remains one of the most distinctive buildings from antiquity.

The Erechtheion (or Erechtheum) is an ancient Greek temple constructed on the acropolis of Athens between 421 and 406 BCE in the Golden Age of the city in order to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena and generally glorify the great city at the height of its power and influence. The Erechtheion has suffered a troubled history of misuse and neglect, but with its prominent position above the city and porch of six Caryatids, it remains one of the most distinctive buildings from antiquity.

Erechtheion

The project to replace the damaged buildings of the acropolis following the Persian attack on the city in 480 BCE was begun in 447 BCE, instigated by Pericles, supervised by Pheidias, and funded by surplus from the war treasury of the Delian League. The results would include the Parthenon and new Propylaea on the Acropolis itself and an Odeion and the Temple of Hephaistos. The final piece to complete the magnificent complex of temples on the acropolis was the Erechtheion, begun in 421 BCE during the so-called Peace of Nikias. However, the project was interrupted by resumption of hostilities between Athens and Sparta (the Sicilian expedition), and the temple was not finally completed until 406 BCE under the supervision of the architect Philocles.

The Erechtheion, named after the demi-god Erechtheus, the mythical Athenian king, was conceived as a suitable structure to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena, which maintained its religious significance despite the arrival of the gigantic chryselephantine statue within the nearby Parthenon. The building also had other functions, though, notably as the shrine centre for other more ancient cults: to Erechtheus, his brother Boutes – the Ploughman, Pandrosos, the mythical first Athenian king Kekrops (or Cecrops) – half-man, half-snake, and the gods Hephaistos and Poseidon.

As with the other new buildings on the acropolis, the Erechtheion was built from Pentelic marble which came from the nearby Mt. Pentelicus and was celebrated for its pure white appearance and fine grain. It also contains traces of iron which over time have oxidised, giving the marble a soft honey colour, a quality particularly evident at sunrise and sunset.

 

Related Posts

500-Year-Old Treasure in the Namibian Desert: The Incredible Discovery of the Sunken Portuguese Ship Bom Jesus

The world of archaeology was shaken by an extraordinary discovery in the Namibian desert. The Portuguese ship Bom Jesus (Good Jesus), which sank 500 years ago, emerged…

Arizona’s Ancient Forests Frozen in Time – The 225-Million-Year-Old Petrified Tree Trunks

Nature amazes us every day with enthralling color palettes it scatters around us, carelessly, but perfectly. Be it the sunset sky, the leaves in autumn, or the…

The Clacton Spear: Humanity’s Oldest Weapon and the Dawn of Thought

In a quiet display case in the Natural History Museum of London lies a relic so humble, so unᴀssuming, that many pᴀss it by without notice. A…

The Benben Stone of the Black Pyramid: The Summit of Creation and the Soul of Light

Within the hushed halls of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo rests a relic unlike any other — a dark, polished pyramidion, its surface inscribed with hieroglyphs and…

The Sacred Birth: How the Ancient Egyptians Understood the Miracle of Life

On the sun-warmed walls of ancient temples, amid lines of hieroglyphs carved three thousand years ago, the story of life unfolds — not as myth, but as…

The Mystery of the One Sandal: The Hidden Symbolism of Tutankhamun’s Step Into Eternity

In the golden tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922 beneath the sands of the Valley of the Kings, every object seemed touched by divinity — each fragment…