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Erechtheum
Ἐρέχθειον (in Greek)
General information
Type
Ancient Temple (Ancient Greek and Roman Period)
Church (Byzantine Period)
Palace (Frankish Period)
Residence of the Turkish commander's harem (Ottoman Period)
Architectural style
Ionic
Location
Athens, Greece
Current tenants
Museum
Construction started
421 BC[1]
Completed
406 BC;[1] (2430 years ago)
Owner
Greek government
Design and construction
Architect(s)
May have been Mnesikles
The Erechtheion[2] (/ɪˈrɛkθiən/, latinized as Erechtheum/ɪˈrɛkθiəm,ˌɛrɪkˈθiːəm/; Ancient Greek: Ἐρέχθειον, Greek: Ερέχθειο) or Temple of Athena Polias[3] is an ancient Greek Ionic temple on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens, which was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena.
The Ionic building, made to house the statue of Athena Polias, has in modern scholarship been called the Erechtheion (the sanctuary of Erechtheus or Poseidon) in the belief that it encompassed two buildings mentioned by the Greek-Roman geographer Pausanias: the Temple of Athena Polias and the Erechtheion.[4] However, whether the Erechtheion referred to by Pausanias and other sources is indeed the Ionic temple or an entirely different building has become a point of contention in recent decades, with various scholars ruling out that Athena and Erechtheus were worshipped in a single building.[5] Alternative suggested locations of the true Erechtheion include the structures on the Acropolis conventionally identified as the Arrephorion, the Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, the Sanctuary of Pandion, and the Dörpfeld foundations.[6] However, while there is no consensus among scholars on this issue, the building continues to be referred to as the Erechtheion by convention.
In the official decrees the Ionic building is referred to as "... το͂ νεὸ το͂ ἐμ πόλει ἐν ο͂ι τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἄγαλμα" (the temple on the Acropolis within which is the ancient statue).[7] In other instances it is referred to as the Temple of the Polias.[8] The joint cult of Athena and Poseidon-Erechtheus appears to have been established on the Acropolis at a very early period, and they were even worshipped in the same temple as may, according to the traditional view, be inferred from two passages in Homer and also from later Greek texts.[9] The extant building is the successor of several temples and buildings on the site. Its precise date of construction is unknown; it has traditionally been thought to have been built from c. 421–406 BC, but more recent scholarship favours a date in the 430s, when it could have been part of the programme of works instigated by Pericles.[10]
The Erechtheion is unique in the corpus of Greek temples in that its asymmetrical composition doesn't conform to the canon of Greek classical architecture. This is attributed either to the irregularity of the site[11] or to the evolving and complex nature of the cults which the building housed,[12] or it is conjectured to be the incomplete part of a larger symmetrical building.[13] Additionally, its post-classical history of change of use, damage, and spoliation has made it one of the more problematic sites in classical archaeology. The precise nature and location of the various religious and architectural elements within the building remain the subject of debate. The temple was nonetheless a seminal example of the classical Ionic style and was highly influential on later Hellenistic,[14] Roman,[15] and Greek Revival[16] architecture.
^ abLangmead, Donald; Garnaut, Christine (1 December 2001). Encyclopedia of Architectural and Engineering Feats. ABC-CLIO. pp. 110–112. ISBN 978-1-57607-112-0. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
^Travlos, 1971, p. 213
^Ancient Greek: Ναὸς τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Πολιάδος, Greek: Ναός της Αθηνάς Πολιάδος. An epithet it shares with the Old Temple of Athena.
^Pausanias 1.26.5, Pseudo-Plutarch, Decem Oratorum Vitae 2.843e. LSJ s.v. Ἐρεχθεύς A.
^See Kristian Jeppesen, Where Was the So-Called Erechtheion?, AJA, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Oct., 1979), pp. 381–394; Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, "Un oikèma appelé Érechtheion (Pausanias, I, 26, 5)", in P. Carlier and C. Lerouge-Cohen (ed.), Paysage et religion en Grèce antique. Mélanges offerts à Madeleine Jost, Paris, 2010, pp. 147–163.
^van Rookhuijzen, J.Z. (2021). "The Erechtheion on the Acropolis of Athens". Kernos. 34: 69–121.
^Not mentioned in Plutarch's list and the conventional date of the start of construction is after Perikles' death, however J.M Hurwitt, The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles 2004, p. 174 conjectures that the inception of the building dates to the 430s.
^W. B. Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Ancient Greece, London. 1950
^M. Korres "Recent Discoveries on the Acropolis," Acropolis Restoration: the CCAM Interventions, R. Economakis, ed., London and New York, pp. 175–179. 1994.
^W. Dörpfeld, H. Schleif, Erechtheion, Berlin, 1942. See also Dinsmoor 1932, pp. 314–326, Elderkin 1912, pp. 53–58; Hawes, The Riddle of the Erechtheum.
^Notably; Apollo Patroos
^Temple of Roma and Augustus, Hadrian's villa Tivoli
^Wilkins's Downing College, Inwood's St Pancras. Frank Salmon, The Erechtheion: An Overlooked Paradigm of the Greek Revival?, Cambridge, 2021, Accessed 17/10/2021
The Erechtheion (/ɪˈrɛkθiən/, latinized as Erechtheum /ɪˈrɛkθiəm, ˌɛrɪkˈθiːəm/; Ancient Greek: Ἐρέχθειον, Greek: Ερέχθειο) or Temple of Athena Polias...
site's most important ones, including the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. The Parthenon and the other buildings...
most-copied examples are those of the six figures of the Caryatid porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens. One of those original six figures, removed...
Athens to be presented to the wooden statue of Athena Polias in the Erechtheion, opposite the Parthenon. The main scene of the Parthenon frieze is believed...
of Cecrops is inherent in the reference in Nonnus' Dionysiaca to the Erechtheion lamp as "the lamp of Cecrops". Priests of the Erechtheum and the priestess...
substantial building foundations under the raised terrace between the Erechtheion and Parthenon in 1886 confirmed it. While it is uncontroversial that...
(Athens), 421–406 BCE Top: Kyanos frieze from Tiryns. Bottom: Frieze of the Erechtheion in (Athens), 4th BCE Frieze from Delphi incorporating lotuses with multiple...
the magnificent Erechtheion, containing three separate temples, one to Athena Polias, or the "Protectress of the State", the Erechtheion proper, or sanctuary...
century AD, an Ionic tetrastyle prostyle temple closely modelled on the Erechtheion's north porch, that was built to the north of the altar. The temple fell...
the typical Ionic dentil, is notable. The east and north halls of the Erechtheion, completed in 406 BCE, follow the same succession of elements. An innovative...
Ionic anta capitals as can be seen in the Ionic order temple of the Erechtheion (circa 410 BCE), are characteristically rectangular Ionic anta capitals...
site were constructed in the 5th century BCE, including the Propylaea, Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athena. The Temple is also commonly known as the Parthenon...
golden lamp asbestos lychnis, which the sculptor Callimachus made for the Erechtheion. In more recent centuries, asbestos was indeed used for this purpose...
reduced reverence for the city. Ancient monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Hephaisteion (Theseion) were converted into churches. As the...
priestesses of Athena, or plyntrídes, performed a cleansing ritual within the Erechtheion, a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon. Here Athena's statue was...
half the surviving Parthenon sculptures, as well as sculptures from the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia, sending them to Britain...
the Parthenon could have been a part of the temple known today as the Erechtheion. In 5th-century BC accounts of the building, the structure is simply...
excavation and restoration of the Acropolis, including efforts to restore the Erechtheion, the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia. As ephor...
writers. The alleged trident print on a rock and the sea well within the Erechtheion were witnessed by the geographer Pausanias while visiting Athens. In...
were lit from openings in the roof. A door of the Ionic Order at the Erechtheion (17 feet high and 7.5 feet wide at the top) retains many of its features...
Marbles), (447–438 BC) Propylaea Capital and column drum, (437–432 BC) Erechtheion A surviving column and architectural fittings, (420–415 BC) One of six...
Christian churches. A bronze candelabrum was made by Callimachus for the Erechtheion in Athens, to carry the lamp sacred to Athena. In this case it is possible...