DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15098#0069
55
by quoting the remarks of Visconti.3 " I conjecture/' he observes,
" that the God sitting near iEsculapius was Neptune, and that
his son Theseus occupied the second place ; in fact this figure
is without a beard, and seems to look affectionately at the former.
The two sitting figures of women, which follow, probably repre-
sent two sisters, as the group of the opposite side represents two
brothers." (It will be seen by reference to the description of Plate
I. that there is good reason to believe that the two personages
there represented are not the two Dioscuri ; there is not therefore
the analogy supposed by Visconti.) " These sisters are two daugh-
ters of Cecrops, Aglauros and Pandrosos, both honoured with
temples in the Acropolis, and regarded by the Athenians as
divinities.4 Pandrosos has a veil on her head ; and this peculiarity
confirms the conjecture which I have just advanced ; for on an
Athenian bas-relief, published in the Archseographia Worsleyana,
which I have formerly seen and explained, and on which the three
daughters of Cecrops are represented together with their father,
one of them only is veiled.5
" A boy, naked, and having his head bound with a cord or stro-
phium, is leaning on the knees of the deified heroine ; this is with-
out doubt Erechtheus, the son of Vulcan and the Earth,6 intrusted
by Minerva to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops, and
more particularly to Pandrosos, who alone did not violate, by an
indiscreet curiosity, the secret of the goddess.7 This group, of
3 Memoire, p. 59.
4 Herodot. b. viii. c. 53. Pausan. b. i. c. 18. 27. Meurs. Cecrop. c. 22, 28. in vol. iv.
of Gronovius's Thesaurus.
5 Archaeog. Worsley. vol. i. p. 19, 22; where my explanation of this sculpture,
written in Italian, is inserted.
6 Erechtheus or Erichthonius passed for one of the founders of the Panathena3a;
the festival was afterwards renewed by Theseus. Meurs. Panath. c. 3.
7 Other mythologists supposed that Minerva had only trusted Erichthonius to two of
the daughters of Cecrops, Aglauros and Pandrosos; and the artist had probably
followed this tradition (Fulgent. Mytholog. b. ii. c. 14).
by quoting the remarks of Visconti.3 " I conjecture/' he observes,
" that the God sitting near iEsculapius was Neptune, and that
his son Theseus occupied the second place ; in fact this figure
is without a beard, and seems to look affectionately at the former.
The two sitting figures of women, which follow, probably repre-
sent two sisters, as the group of the opposite side represents two
brothers." (It will be seen by reference to the description of Plate
I. that there is good reason to believe that the two personages
there represented are not the two Dioscuri ; there is not therefore
the analogy supposed by Visconti.) " These sisters are two daugh-
ters of Cecrops, Aglauros and Pandrosos, both honoured with
temples in the Acropolis, and regarded by the Athenians as
divinities.4 Pandrosos has a veil on her head ; and this peculiarity
confirms the conjecture which I have just advanced ; for on an
Athenian bas-relief, published in the Archseographia Worsleyana,
which I have formerly seen and explained, and on which the three
daughters of Cecrops are represented together with their father,
one of them only is veiled.5
" A boy, naked, and having his head bound with a cord or stro-
phium, is leaning on the knees of the deified heroine ; this is with-
out doubt Erechtheus, the son of Vulcan and the Earth,6 intrusted
by Minerva to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops, and
more particularly to Pandrosos, who alone did not violate, by an
indiscreet curiosity, the secret of the goddess.7 This group, of
3 Memoire, p. 59.
4 Herodot. b. viii. c. 53. Pausan. b. i. c. 18. 27. Meurs. Cecrop. c. 22, 28. in vol. iv.
of Gronovius's Thesaurus.
5 Archaeog. Worsley. vol. i. p. 19, 22; where my explanation of this sculpture,
written in Italian, is inserted.
6 Erechtheus or Erichthonius passed for one of the founders of the Panathena3a;
the festival was afterwards renewed by Theseus. Meurs. Panath. c. 3.
7 Other mythologists supposed that Minerva had only trusted Erichthonius to two of
the daughters of Cecrops, Aglauros and Pandrosos; and the artist had probably
followed this tradition (Fulgent. Mytholog. b. ii. c. 14).