The Erechtheion Temple in Athens: history, myths and interesting facts

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Each stone in sunny Greece can tell its story to an indifferent listener. Myths, legends and heroes are firmly intertwined in this beautiful ancient country.

Capital of Greece

Tourists visiting Greece do not disregard its beautiful capital - Athens. The ancient city impresses with its subtle beauty, white sand beaches and architectural monuments, which everyone read about in their school years.

The city, named after the goddess of wisdom, Athena, proudly carried the banner of enlightenment and justice not only to the Greeks, but to all the peoples of the Mediterranean. Athens in its long history has known the shame of destruction, periods of decline and unprecedented prosperity. It seems that the goddess herself patronized him and each time carefully lifted him from his knees. Many consider Athens a symbol of Greek culture, its song.

Modern Athens

Tourists note that Athens has managed to combine all the best in modern civilization with the cultural heritage of their ancestors. The city lives and breathes with full breastfeeding. From the side, Athens is a completely modern city. Highways, cafes, restaurants, bars and discos. In himthere is everything to captivate the tourist. But if you are even a little interested in the history of the city, it will generously open its treasury for you.

Sights of Athens

Athens is not without reason proud of its history. Walking, seeing the sights of the city, you can endlessly. The Acropolis is considered the true jewel of Athens. Twenty-five centuries of the history of this majestic structure will be revealed to the eyes of a curious tourist.

Acropolis

The Acropolis is the most replicated historical monument in Greece. Its power amazes people to this day. It is rather difficult to imagine that this monumental structure was conceived, designed and built by the hands of ordinary people. Although the Greeks never considered themselves ordinary people. Everyone will tell you a legend about kinship with the gods. Now this monument is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Acropolis itself is built on a hill, the height of which is one hundred and fifty-six meters. Unfortunately, not all of its buildings and ancient temples have survived to this day. But even the preserved monuments give an idea of the unprecedented beauty of this place.

Today you can see only a few monuments of Greek culture. At the entrance you will be greeted by the majestic gates of the Propylaea. On the slopes of the Acropolis, you can see two dilapidated ancient theaters. The Temple of the Parthenon, dedicated to the patroness of Athens, during its heyday, thrilled the hearts of the worshipers of the goddess. The main decoration of the Acropolis was the Erechtheion temple. Historians and archaeologists still consider it the most amazing and non-trivial monument of ancient Greece.

What is the Erechtheion?

This question is often asked by tourists, and the residents of the city know the answer for sure. The Erechtheion Temple was an amazing fusion of several Greek cults. According to historical facts, the Greeks built their temples and sanctuaries for one of the figures of the pantheon of gods. The most revered were Athena and Zeus. Monumental churches were built in their honor, colorful celebrations and processions were held.

Ancient architects, creating the Acropolis, the Erechtheion temple made it the main treasure. Even now it is the best preserved of all presented on the hill. Its value to scientists lies in the fact that the Erechtheion temple was not intended to be visited by ordinary people. Only clergymen had the right to enter there, and inside the temple there were three sanctuaries dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and King Erechtheus.

Erechtheion: description of the temple

The combination of several cults in itself made the temple unique in its kind. Neither before nor after the Hellenes built such monumental structures.

At the site of the construction of the sanctuary, there was previously another temple, completely destroyed and burned by the Persians during the Greco-Persian war. By order of the great Pericles, the foundation of a new temple complex was laid on this site. The construction itself began after the death of Pericles and, according to some sources, lasted more than fifteen years. architectThe temple is considered to be the Greek Mnesicles. Although historians cannot reach a unanimous opinion on this issue. The architect had to show all his talents to design and build this marvel of architectural thought.

The soil on which the Erechtheion temple stands has significant elevation differences. Therefore, the structure is located on several levels at once. This ingenious find of Mnesicles fit perfectly into the concept of the temple complex - serving several religious cults.

During the construction, the Hellenes used snow-white Pentelei marble and dark stone for finishing the frieze. Sunlight very successfully illuminated the amazing marble carvings surrounding the facade of the temple. The architect applied completely new solutions to the colonnade of the temple. According to the tradition of the Greeks, the temples were decorated on all sides with massive columns. During the construction of the Erechtheion, this tradition was abandoned. It was surrounded on three sides by the most beautiful porticoes, each differing from the other in its style and size. Some scholars suggest that a fourth portico also existed. But archaeologists have not found evidence of this.

What did the temple look like?

Now it is quite difficult to imagine how the temple looked after immediately after the completion of construction. Although authoritative historians in scientific circles claim that the Erechtheion temple was never completed. They believe that during the construction process, the original plan was changed and simplified several times. Due to the protracted Peloponnesian War, the Greeks were in a hurry to complete the costly construction and left somepart of the sanctuary in an unfinished form. Despite these assumptions, our contemporaries managed to make his description. The plan of the Erechtheion temple has been recreated in sufficient detail.

The total area of the temple is almost three hundred square meters. And this is without taking into account the porticos framing the sanctuary! The temple was divided into three wings, each of which had a separate roof and was dedicated to its deity.

The eastern part belonged entirely to Pallas Athena, the guardian of the ancient city. Six columns adjoined its facade, the height of which was about six and a half meters. In this part of the Erechtheion temple there was a most beautiful statue of the goddess, illuminated day and night by the light of a golden lamp. It should be noted that this lamp itself is of considerable interest to scientists. Its creator, Callimachus, invented a special design that allowed the lamp to be topped up with oil only once a year. This amount was enough for exactly three hundred and sixty-five days.

The north wing could be entered through the main door of the temple. The entrance was framed by four ornate marble columns.

The west wing was flanked by four semi-columns, overlooking a magnificent frescoed façade. The entire facade was decorated around the perimeter with marble carvings depicting three Attic deities. The four high window openings perfectly matched the proportions of the west wing and complemented this magnificent ensemble.

The Erechtheion adjoined the southern part of the temple, perfectly preserved to our daysdays portico Pandroseion. It was named in honor of one of the daughters of Kekrops, a half-man, half-snake. The townspeople revered him as the founder of Athens. The portico was devoid of columns, supported by four graceful sculptures of caryatid girls. The caryatids of the Erechtheion temple were an innovative technique in world architecture. For the first time in history, the Greeks used sculpture to support load-bearing structures. Subsequently, this technique began to be used in their works by architects around the world. Caryatids still amaze tourists with their magnificent workmanship: every feature of the face and garment is carved from white marble with the greatest craftsmanship and authenticity.

Now there are exact copies of these sculptures on the Acropolis. The originals can be seen in the Acropolis Museum. There are also fragments of bas-reliefs from the facade of the Erechtheion temple. One of the caryatids was secretly taken by an English lord to his homeland and is now on display at the British Museum.

There were shrines in all parts of the temple. The main ones were dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus. War trophies and relics, strictly revered by the Athenians, were kept on the territory of the Erechtheion.

Legends and myths of the ancient sanctuary

What was actually the famous Erechtheion temple in Athens? History has carefully presented the closely intertwined legends.

According to one of them, the temple was built on the site of a dispute between Athena and Poseidon. The two deities were arguing about who would patronize the beautiful city. For a long time they could not resolve this issue. The townspeople suggested that the obstinate gods makegift to the city. The one whose gift will be most useful will be recognized as the patron of the city. Poseidon split the hill with a trident blow, and brought down a stream of sea water on the city. Athena, in turn, grew an olive tree, which later became a symbol of Greece. The townspeople gave primacy to the goddess of wisdom, and in honor of this dispute, the Erechtheion temple was erected. The Hellenes still show tourists one of the walls of the building, on which there was a deep mark from the trident of the god of the seas.

King Erechtheus occupies a special place in Greek history. Under his domineering hand, Athens achieved the highest prosperity, and the cult of the goddess gained unprecedented influence on the territory of Greece. After the death of the legendary Erechtheus, they buried on the territory of the temple and created a sanctuary.

It was believed that inside the Erechtheion temple there is a cave where the snake of the goddess Athena lived. The priestesses of the cult always watched the mood of this serpent. If he refused the brought food, then the city was promised serious trouble. According to some Greek myths, the serpent was the embodiment of the legendary king.

Inside the temple there is a well with s alt water. The Greeks say that it was this water that poured out of the rock during the dispute between Poseidon and Athena. This well was especially guarded and revered by the worshipers of Poseidon. It was believed that until the water in the well dried up, Athens would receive the patronage not only of her goddess, but also of the controversial Poseidon. All this, of course, amusing legends. But scientists still cannot explain the origin of s alty sea water on the high hill of the Acropolis. It has been subjected to various studies and laboratory analyses. It is proved that this is really sea water, which could not have ended up in the well. Moreover, the water level actually always remains the same.

Destruction of the Erechtheion Temple

The decline of the Hellenic civilization practically destroyed this amazing architectural monument. Until the seventeenth century, it was subjected to only minor destruction, but the barbaric actions of the Venetians changed its appearance beyond recognition.

For many years, Christian priests performed rituals in the temple, and the Turks who came later turned it into a harem for the Sultan's wives.

Despite this, archaeologists managed to find a lot of valuable artifacts during excavations, which are now on display for tourists in the Acropolis Museum.

Greece has given the world the greatest monuments of architecture, which tourists from all over the world seek to see. The Acropolis is recognized as the most beautiful heritage of Greece, the Erechtheion temple has become the rarest pearl that serves as the best decoration of this monument of Hellenic civilization.