The Erechtheion is the mysterious shrine of the Acropolis. Useful information for tourists. Temple of the Erechtheion - one of the main temples of the Athenian acropolis Temple of Athena and Poseidon on the Acropolis
The rocky rock of the Acropolis, which dominates the center of Athens, is the largest and most majestic ancient Greek shrine, dedicated mainly to the patroness of the city, Athena.
The most important events of the ancient Hellenes are associated with this sacred place: the myths of ancient Athens, the largest religious holidays, the main cult events.
The temples of the Acropolis of Athens blend harmoniously with the natural surroundings and are unique masterpieces of ancient Greek architecture, expressing innovative styles and directions of correlation of classical art, they have had an indelible influence on the intellectual and artistic creativity of people for many centuries.
The Acropolis of the 5th century BC is the most accurate reflection of the splendor, power and wealth of Athens at its highest peak - the "golden age". In the form in which the Acropolis appears to us now, it was erected after its destruction by the Persians in 480 BC. NS. Then the Persians were finally defeated and the Athenians vowed to restore their shrines. The reconstruction of the Acropolis begins in 448 BC, after the Battle of Plataea, at the initiative of Pericles.
- Erechtheion temple
The Myth of Erechtheus: Erechtheus was the beloved and revered king of Athens. Athens was at enmity with the city of Eleusis, during the battle Erechtheus killed Eumollus, the leader of the Eleusinian army, and also the son of the sea god Poseidon himself. For this, the thunderer Zeus killed him with his lightning. The Athenians buried their beloved king and named the constellation - Charioteer after him. At the same place, the architect Mnesiklus erected a temple named after Erichtey.
This temple was built between 421 and 407 BC and contained the golden Kallimachou lamp. The construction of the Erechtheion did not stop even during the long Peloponnesian War.
The Erechtheion was the most sacred place of worship in Athens. The ancient inhabitants of Athens in this temple worshiped Athena, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Kekropos (the first Athenian king).
The entire history of the city was concentrated at this point and therefore the construction of the Erechtheon Temple began in this place:
♦ in this place a dispute broke out between Athena and Poseidon over the ownership of the city
♦ in the northern porch of the Erechtheion there is a hole where, according to legend, the sacred serpent Erechtonius lived
♦ here was the grave of Cecrops
The east porch has six Ionic columns, to the north there is a monumental entrance with a decorated gate, and on the south side there is a porch with six maidens, known as caryatids, who support the vault of the Erechtheion, now replaced by plaster copies. Five of the caryatids are in the new Acropolis Museum, one is in the British Museum.
The Erechtheion is another of the ancient temples - a monument of ancient Greek architecture. It is also part of the Athenian Acropolis ensemble and is located north of the Parthenon. It was built between 421 and 406 BC. The main distinguishing feature of the Erechtheion is the use of the Ionic order in architecture.
The word "Erechtheion" means "the temple of Erechtheus." This small temple of a very graceful and airy design was erected in honor of the supreme goddess Athena, god of the seas Poseidon and king Erechtheus, who ruled Athens at that time.
Temple architecture.
During the Nikiev Peace, another temple was erected on the Acropolis. Opposite the northern colonnade, the sunlit southern wall of the Erechtheion shines like a bright star. At the edge of the wall, six marble maidens support the ceiling. This is the famous "Portico of the Caryatids".
Caryatids are made in the form of girls wearing a burden on their heads. They are tall and slender, but absolutely all the same - their figures are deprived of the freedom inherent in the genius creations of the sculptor Phidias. It is in the monotony of sculptures that the viewer feels passivity and submission to external forces.
The Erechtheion is located exactly where the rock of the Acropolis drops sharply in the northwest direction. Due to the peculiarities of the relief, the portico on the north side is higher than on the east. The large north portico juts out further than the east one, and this balances the building and makes it picturesque and unique.
At the time of the work of the sculptor Phidias, Doric columns were widespread in ancient times, differing in their greater weight and monumentality of outlines. But already from the end of the 5th century BC, the Ionic order was preferred in Athens when building columns.
The cult significance of the temple.
The northern portico leads to the sanctuary of the goddess Athena, where a wooden statue was kept that supposedly fell from the sky. From the sanctuary of Athena, the door led into a small courtyard where one olive tree, the only one in the entire Acropolis, grew. It was at this place that Athena allegedly performed her miracle, and the tree is that very sacred olive.
The eastern portico led to the sanctuary of the god of the seas - Poseidon, where one could see three furrows, which supposedly were the trace of the trident of the Lord of the Water. The Erechtheion was built on the site where, according to ancient Greek mythology, there was a dispute between the goddess Athena and Poseidon.
It was in this temple that the most valuable cult relics of the entire city - the polis of Athens were kept:
- a wooden statue of the goddess Athena, which fell from the sky;
- statue of the god Hermes;
- a golden lamp made by Callimachus, which had a truly mystical ability to burn all the time, although oil was added to it only once a year.
History of the Erechtheion.
The history of the construction of the Erechtheion is interesting and in its own way dramatic. The beginning of its construction was laid in 421 BC, and the temple was completed in 406 BC, just on the eve of the collapse of the city - the city of Athens.
The Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC with the defeat of Athens, the destruction of the city walls and the harbor. However, the Greeks considered it a shrine of great importance for the entire Ancient Hellas, so the sanctuary and all its temples were not damaged.
In the first half of the 5th century BC, Athens remained the center of science and arts of Ancient Greece. The Hellenistic kings who followed Alexander considered themselves gods. They demanded that statues be erected in cities in their honor, at the foot of which sacrifices would be offered on holidays.
In the 2nd century BC, Ancient Greece was conquered by the Romans. The conquerors realized how much the Greek culture was higher than their own. A century later, the Roman government began to emphatically take care of the glorified sanctuaries. The Romans viewed the democratic past of Hellas as their own prehistory.
By the end of the 4th century AD, Greece was devastated by the warlike tribes of the Visigoths, which caused great damage to the cultural heritage of antiquity. So, they destroyed the bronze statue of Athena - the Warrior, simply melting it down like a piece of metal. However, the barbarians generally treated the buildings of the Athenian Acropolis with indifferent respect.
With the advent of the rule of Byzantium, the Erechtheion turned into a Christian temple, and this is what allowed this unique masterpiece of architecture to survive almost until the end of the 17th century. However, in 1687 the temple was seriously damaged during the siege of Athens by the Venetian troops.
Subsequently, the destroyed fragments were put in place, but since then the Erechtheion is just ruins, because there was no talk of a full restoration of the building. Of all the buildings, the best preserved portico is on the north side of the temple. It is by its luxurious decoration that one can judge the former splendor and majesty of the Erechtheion.
On the northern side of the Acropolis, near the Parthenon, is the ancient Greek temple Erechtheion. This outstanding monument is rightfully considered the pearl of ancient Greek architecture and one of the main temples of ancient Athens. It was built in 421-406 BC. and is dedicated to a whole galaxy of gods.
According to legend, the temple was built on the site of a dispute between Athena and Poseidon for power over Attica. The Erechtheion replaced an older temple that was on this site, but was destroyed during the Greco-Persian War. The construction was initiated by Pericles, although it was completed after his death. Perhaps the architect was the architect Mnesicles, but this fact has not been reliably confirmed.
The Erechtheion has no analogues in ancient Greek architecture. Made in the Ionian style, it has an asymmetrical layout, not only because of the unevenness of the ground on which it was built, but also because of the variety of sanctuaries connected in it. The temple had two main entrances - from the north and east, they were decorated with Ionic porticoes. The eastern part of the Erechtheion was dedicated to the goddess Athena, and the western part to Poseidon and King Erechtheus.
On the south side is the famous Pandroseion portico, named after the daughter of King Cecropus Pandrosa. Architrave is propped up by six marble statues of girls (caryatids) - this is the main attraction of the Erechtheion. Today all of them have been replaced with copies, while the originals are in museums. One of the caryatids is kept in the British Museum, and the rest are in the Acropolis Museum.
The entire structure was surrounded by a frieze with overhead figures, but it has not survived to this day. The found fragments are kept in the Acropolis Museum.
In ancient times, a salt spring beat in the temple, which, according to legend, Poseidon carved out of the rock with his trident, and in the open courtyard there was a sacred olive tree donated to the city by Athena. Once in the temple there was a wooden statue of Athena, which, according to legend, fell from the sky. The statue was made from a sacred olive tree. The Erechtheion also contained a golden lamp by Callimachus and a statue of Hermes. It also housed the altars of the god of crafts Hephaestus and the hero Booth.
The temple got its name in honor of the Athenian king Erechtheus. His grave was under the northern portico. And today you can see the grave of the first king of Attica Kekrop at the western facade of the temple.
Almost nothing is reliably known about the interior decoration of the temple, but it can be assumed that it impressed with its grandeur.
The temple underwent major changes in the 7th century, when it was converted into a Christian church. During the Ottoman Empire, the temple was used as the harem of the Turkish Sultan. The first serious restoration of the temple was carried out after Greece gained independence. Today the Erechtheion is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Acropolis of Athens.
And Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. Poseidon gave the Athenians a spring of water, and Athena an olive. The Athenians considered the gift of Athena more valuable and chose Athena. The temple is named after one of the first kings of Athens - Erechtheus, who sacrificed his daughter to the gods for the sake of Athens. His grave was located in the same temple. In the Erechtheion, the mythical king Kekrop, who was the founder of the city of Athens, was also buried.
Erechtheion was also conceived during the grandiose construction initiated by Pericles. However, due to the Peloponnesian war, construction began only in 421 BC. after the Nicene peace. It was then interrupted and resumed in 406 BC. architect Philokles.
The temple was badly damaged in 1827 when it was destroyed during the Greek battles for independence.
Erechtheion architecture
The internal structure of this wonderful temple is not known, because most of it was destroyed in the 7th century, when Erechtheion converted into a Christian church. The eastern gallery of the temple was decorated with six Ionic columns and led to that part of the temple, which was dedicated to Athena. Above the three-tiered Ionic architrave was a frieze of Eleusinian marble, on which there were reliefs of white marble. Unfortunately, the fragments that have survived are unable to help restore the overall picture they represented.
The marble cella contained a wooden statue of the goddess Athena, which was made from the sacred olive tree. The Athenians believed that this statue was not carved by a human, but by the divine hand of one of the Olympian gods, in order to honor the city of Cecrop. During the Panathenaic celebrations, this statue was dressed in peplos, a mantle that was woven by young priestesses, servants of the temple. In front of the statue of the goddess burned an unquenchable golden lamp, whose smoke rose high into the sky through the palm trunk.
The cella of the Temple of Athena did not communicate with the western part of the Erechtheion, dedicated to Poseidon and Erechtheus. This section of the temple was three meters lower than the part of the temple dedicated to Athena, and was divided into two parts.
In the eastern part, Poseidon and Erechtheus were worshiped, the altar of Hephaestus and the hero Wut was located here, and an underground passage went down, leading to the habitat of the sacred Acropolis snake, to which sacrifices were offered every year.
The western part of the temple was called the "mouth" and was identified with the Erechthean Sea, or the spring of water, which Poseidon knocked out during a dispute with Athena.
The northern portico of the temple consisted of four columns on the facade and two end columns, and was decorated with stucco molding. There was a hole on its ceiling, which was never repaired, because people believed that Zeus himself pierced it with a blow of his lightning. There was also a hole in the floor to which pilgrims brought libation gifts to Zeus.
Caryatids
The most original piece of architecture in the Erechtheion was the portico of the Caryatids. Caryatids are statues of six charming girls dancing ritual dances in honor of the goddess Artemis.
On their heads were baskets, decorated in the Ionic style, on which the roof of the portico rested. The girls were dressed in long tunic with folds that resembled the flutes of Ionic columns, and although they stood firmly on the stylobate, the bend of the right leg of each of the Caryatids betrays lightness and grace to the statues.
The arms of the statues have not been found. Probably, with one hand they supported their outfit, and with the other they held a certain religious symbol.
With their faces the Caryatids were turned towards the road along which the Panathenian processions took place.
Shrine of Pandrossa
This small temple was located west of the Erechtheion. On the quadrangular site, in addition to the temple itself, the altar of Zeus was located, and the holy olive tree, which was donated by Athena, grew.
Arrephorium
This is the building in which the Arrephors lived, virgins who took part in mysterious rituals. The building consisted of one hall and an entrance with two columns, between which there were piers.
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The Erechtheion Temple, located on the northern side of the Acropolis, is one of the main temples of ancient Athens. It was built in 421-406. BC NS. and is rightfully considered one of the most valuable architectural monuments in the Greek capital.
According to ancient Greek myth, the goddess Athena waged fierce disputes with Poseidon about who to rule and rule in Athens. In the very place where Poseidon struck with a trident in anger, and Pallas Athena showed the Athenians an olive tree, and the Erechtheion was built.
The olive tree at the western facade of the temple still grows today, however, it was planted not by the ancient Greek gods, but by restorers at the beginning of the 20th century.
Historians and researchers have had many questions about why the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena is called the Erechtheion, which in translation just means “the temple of Erechtheus”. The most popular legend tells that in ancient times a salt spring beat in the temple, which Poseidon carved out of the rock with his trident. In the temple itself was kept a wooden statue of Athena, which fell here from heaven, a golden lamp made by Callimachus, a statue of Hermes, as well as an altar of the god of crafts Hephaestus. Among other things, the mythical king of Athens Erechtheus was buried here, and the temple was named in his honor.
No traces of these valuable artifacts have remained, and it is not even known whether they actually existed, but to this day, at the western facade of the temple, you can see the grave of the first king of Attica Cecrop, the son of Erechtheus.
What to see
The Erechtheion is not like other ancient Greek temples - because of its small size and unusual asymmetry, it looks more like a residential building. The asymmetry of the building is associated primarily with the uneven relief of the earth, as well as with the abundance of sanctuaries that were located here in ancient times.
The temple itself was built in the Ionian style and had two main entrances, from the north and east, which were indicated by small porticos on Ionic columns. The doorway to the north portico is decorated with rosettes and other carved details, and today it is one of the best-preserved examples of the casing from the time of Pericles. The eastern part of the Erechtheion was dedicated to the goddess Pallas Athena, and the western part to Poseidon.
During the rule of Byzantium, a Christian prayer house was arranged in the Erechtheion, which stood until the 17th century in good condition... But in 1687, during the attack by the troops of Venice, the temple was badly damaged and since then has been in a ruined state.
Architrave is supported by caryatids - six marble female figures, each 2.10 m high, the main attraction of the Erechtheion. Today, all six caryatids have been replaced with exact copies, while the originals have been sent to museums. Five caryatids are kept in the Acropolis Museum and one in the British Museum.
The entire architectural structure was surrounded by a frieze with overhead figures, which has not survived to this day. The found fragments are also kept in the Acropolis Museum. Nothing has survived from the interior decoration of Echtereyion, so one can only guess how luxurious it was.
The Erechtheion is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is open to tourists.
Practical information
Address: Athens, Acropolis.
Working hours:
- in summer: from 8:00 to 20:00 (last entry at 19:30), on Fridays until 22:00;
- in winter (November 1 - March 31): Monday to Thursday - from 9:00 to 17:00, on Fridays - from 9:00 to 22:00, on weekends - from 9:00 to 20:00.
Entrance: a single ticket to visit the Acropolis - 20 EUR. Prices on the page are for September 2018.
