Scroll I. Attica
subject heading(s): Erikhthonios; Erekhtheus; epi (+ dative case) ‘in
responsiveness to’
The myth of the hero Erikhthonios, as mentioned here at 1.14.6, was
already mentioned at 1.2.5, where Pausanias reported that Erikhthonios
was born, so they say, not of anthrōpoi ‘humans’ but from Mother Earth
or Gē/Gaia, and that his father was the divine smith Hephaistos.
Pausanias keeps Erikhthonios distinct from Erekhtheus, who is described
at 1.5.3 as the grandson of Erikhthonios. In Homeric poetry, however,
Erikhthonios is not distinct from Erekhtheus, and it is the second of
the two names that refers to the hero who was born of Mother Earth.
There is a reference to the hero cult of this Erekhtheus
in Iliad 2.547, where he is
described as a prototypical human: the goddess Earth gave birth to him
and the goddess Athena ‘nursed’ him (548 threpse). In this context,
Erekhtheus is pictured as a cult hero who is worshipped by the Athenians
in a festive setting of seasonally recurring sacrifices. The link
between Athena and this cult hero Erekhtheus is reflected also in
another Homeric reference,
at Odyssey 7.78–81. As I argue
in HC 1§138, the figure of this cult hero underwent a mitosis. The one
figure with one name becomes two figures with two names. In the
evolution of Athenian myths and rituals, the name Erikhthonios displaced
the name Erekhtheus in occupying the older role of the prototypical
human conceived by the goddess Earth, while the name Erekhtheus was
reassigned to the newer role of a dynastic grandson of Erikhthonios. In
terms of this pattern of displacement and reassignment, as we see most
clearly from the narrative of “Apollodorus”
(Library 3.187–189),
Erikhthonios now became the name of the prototypical human who was
begotten by the god Hephaistos, born of the goddess Earth, and ‘nursed’
by the goddess Athena (3.189 etrephen). Here at 1.14.6, Pausanias says
cryptically that he knows a myth about a relationship between
Erikhthonios and Athena. One way to describe such a relationship, I
suggest, is to say that Erikhthonios is the son that Athena “never” had.
And here is how I would explain the scare quotes that envelop my wording
“never” in referring to a myth about any relationship between
Erikhthonios and Athena. As we see from several sources, including the
text of “Apollodorus” as already cited, there was a myth that told how
Hephaistos had tried to have sex with Athena, but his semen fell on the
ground instead and thus impregnated Earth. The myth is analyzed most
perceptively by Douglas Frame (2009:461–462), who shows that earlier
versions of such a myth could have pictured Athena herself as a Mother
Goddess in her own right, so that she could have been once upon a time
not only the wet nurse but also the mother of Erekhtheus as the
earthling hero of the Athenians. In terms of such an analysis,
Erikhthonios eventually displaced Erekhtheus as the prototypical
earthling hero, though the sacred space that housed the myths and
rituals concerning Erikhthonios and the goddess Athena Poliás
continued to be defined by the name Erekhtheus, as we see from the
context of the reference made by Pausanias at 1.26.5 to this space as
the Erekhtheion or Erechtheum. There will be more to say about
Erikhthonios as a cult hero in the comment on Pausanias 1.24.7, but for
now I confine myself to a brief remark about what I think is the
relevant syntax of the preposition epi (+ dative case) here in
Pausanias 1.14.6. This syntax is linked with contexts of hero cult,
where the spirits of dead heroes require some kind of response from the
living who worship them. I analyze such contexts in PH 121 = 4§7; also
in H24H 8a §10, where I translate epi as ‘in compensation for’. But I
now experiment with a new translation, ‘in responsiveness to’, in order
to convey the idea that an act or even a thought of compensation by the
worshipper is actually required by the spirit of the dead hero who is
being worshipped. By being responsive to the requirements of the heroes
that they worship, worshippers can take full responsibility for them.
