DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0039
LEGENDARY HISTORY.
Cecropia, and its inhabitants Cecropidse.1 Further, Cecropis was not
only the name of one of the four original Attic tribes, but also of one of
the later ten.2 Cecrops was said to be an autochthon, or sprang from
the soil (yiyevijs), that is, he belonged to the primitive Attic race; to
symbolize which he was depicted as half man half snake.3 Hence he
was called Supvijs, or of a double nature, and by Ovid geminus.i Many
rationalistic explanations have been given of this epithet, as that he had
the understanding of a man and the strength of a dragon ; that it was
he who first instituted marriage, that from a good sovereign he became
a tyrant, &c.5 But ancient mythology was full of these double natures,
as the centaur, the satyr, the mermaid, &c. Images representing the
monstrous combination of the man-serpent still exist at Athens.
Cecrops was reputed to have been the founder not only of Athens,
but also of the Attic state, and to have distributed the population into
twelve cities or boroughs, namely, Cecropia, which he made his resi-
dence, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Deceleia, Eleusis, Aphydna, Thoricus,
Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, Phalerus.6 But Strabo, in the
same passage, remarks on the variations and uncertainty of Attic
history, and it is quite improbable that the whole of Attica should
have been subject to the founder of Athens. Thus we shall have to
recount further on a war between Athens and Eleusis; and it may be
doubted, as we have seen, whether even the plain immediately surround-
ing Athens formed part of her territory from the beginning. We must
content ourselves with assuming only that the division into twelve
demi had been effected before the time of Theseus.
As the founder of the state, Cecrops was also partly the founder of
its religion. He is said to have erected the first altar to Zeus
Hypatos (yiraTos)—dwelling on high, worshipped on mountain tops—
and to have forbidden living sacrifices to be offered to him; for which
1 Herod, viii. 44; Eurip. Suppl. 658;
Plin. H. N. vii. 194.
a Harpoer. in voc. Pollux, viii. c. 9,
s. 109, sq.
' at Ke^oi^ rjpws (ivat^i Ta ttjws Trobav
bpaKuvTihrf.—Aristoph. Yusp. 4&J,
Of. Eurip. Ion, 1163.
* Metain. ii. 555.
6 Demosth. Orat. Fun. p. 1398, Iieiske ;
Athen." xiii. l,&c. All the explanations are
given by Tzetzes, Chil. v. 18, 1. 637 sqq.
11 Strab. p. 397.
Cecropia, and its inhabitants Cecropidse.1 Further, Cecropis was not
only the name of one of the four original Attic tribes, but also of one of
the later ten.2 Cecrops was said to be an autochthon, or sprang from
the soil (yiyevijs), that is, he belonged to the primitive Attic race; to
symbolize which he was depicted as half man half snake.3 Hence he
was called Supvijs, or of a double nature, and by Ovid geminus.i Many
rationalistic explanations have been given of this epithet, as that he had
the understanding of a man and the strength of a dragon ; that it was
he who first instituted marriage, that from a good sovereign he became
a tyrant, &c.5 But ancient mythology was full of these double natures,
as the centaur, the satyr, the mermaid, &c. Images representing the
monstrous combination of the man-serpent still exist at Athens.
Cecrops was reputed to have been the founder not only of Athens,
but also of the Attic state, and to have distributed the population into
twelve cities or boroughs, namely, Cecropia, which he made his resi-
dence, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Deceleia, Eleusis, Aphydna, Thoricus,
Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, Phalerus.6 But Strabo, in the
same passage, remarks on the variations and uncertainty of Attic
history, and it is quite improbable that the whole of Attica should
have been subject to the founder of Athens. Thus we shall have to
recount further on a war between Athens and Eleusis; and it may be
doubted, as we have seen, whether even the plain immediately surround-
ing Athens formed part of her territory from the beginning. We must
content ourselves with assuming only that the division into twelve
demi had been effected before the time of Theseus.
As the founder of the state, Cecrops was also partly the founder of
its religion. He is said to have erected the first altar to Zeus
Hypatos (yiraTos)—dwelling on high, worshipped on mountain tops—
and to have forbidden living sacrifices to be offered to him; for which
1 Herod, viii. 44; Eurip. Suppl. 658;
Plin. H. N. vii. 194.
a Harpoer. in voc. Pollux, viii. c. 9,
s. 109, sq.
' at Ke^oi^ rjpws (ivat^i Ta ttjws Trobav
bpaKuvTihrf.—Aristoph. Yusp. 4&J,
Of. Eurip. Ion, 1163.
* Metain. ii. 555.
6 Demosth. Orat. Fun. p. 1398, Iieiske ;
Athen." xiii. l,&c. All the explanations are
given by Tzetzes, Chil. v. 18, 1. 637 sqq.
11 Strab. p. 397.