DOI chapter:
Divison D: The Acropolis, from the Propylaea to the statue of Athene Lemnia
DOI chapter:Section XX
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0659
SEC. XX
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
485
1. The History of the Building.—It must be distinctly under-
stood that for the present we deal only with the restored post-
Periclean Erechtheion : we reserve till later the interesting question
of the function of the original temple and its relation to the
Parthenon.
The official name of the temple does not seem to have been
Erechtheion ; probably it was so called in popular usage, and
justly so, as we shall later see, as the principal cult there carried
on was that of Erechtheus, not of Athene. In one inscription
it is officially described as “the temple on the citadel in which is
the ancient image.”
The Erechtheion was not rebuilt at once—a striking fact the
significance of which will be later seen. Pericles lived to finish
the Parthenon, the Propylaea, and probably the temple of Athene
Nike \ he, we can scarcely doubt, planned the restoration of the
Erechtheion, but died before it was finished. Pericles died
429 B.C. ; from two important inscriptions it is certainly known
that the Erechtheion was still unfinished twenty years later.
These are-
(1) The Chandler inscription, now in the British Museum.
(2) The Rhangabe inscription.
For the present only the Chandler inscription120 will be noted ;
the Rhangabe inscription is reserved till we come to the sculptural
decorations.
The Chandler inscription is dated exactly by the archonship
of Diokles, 409-408 B.C. It begins as follows :—“ The overseers
of the temple on the citadel in which is the ancient image, Brosu
. . . es of Kephissia’; Chariades of Agraulai, Diokles of Kephissia ;
the architect was Philokles of Acharnae, the scribe Etearchos of
Kudathenaion. They wrote up the works of the temple, in the
state they received them, according to the decree of the people,
which Epigenes brought forward, those that were completely
finished and those half done in the archonship of Diokles, the
tribe of Cecropis holding the prytany in the council in which
Nikophanes of Marathon was the scribe. Of the temple we
took over the following in a half-finished condition (then follows
a long enumeration) . . . ; the following we took over unwrought
and unchannelled (f.e., columns) . . . ; the following completely
finished, but not yet set up in place.” The inscription is, of
course, of the first importance from the point of view of ancient
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
485
1. The History of the Building.—It must be distinctly under-
stood that for the present we deal only with the restored post-
Periclean Erechtheion : we reserve till later the interesting question
of the function of the original temple and its relation to the
Parthenon.
The official name of the temple does not seem to have been
Erechtheion ; probably it was so called in popular usage, and
justly so, as we shall later see, as the principal cult there carried
on was that of Erechtheus, not of Athene. In one inscription
it is officially described as “the temple on the citadel in which is
the ancient image.”
The Erechtheion was not rebuilt at once—a striking fact the
significance of which will be later seen. Pericles lived to finish
the Parthenon, the Propylaea, and probably the temple of Athene
Nike \ he, we can scarcely doubt, planned the restoration of the
Erechtheion, but died before it was finished. Pericles died
429 B.C. ; from two important inscriptions it is certainly known
that the Erechtheion was still unfinished twenty years later.
These are-
(1) The Chandler inscription, now in the British Museum.
(2) The Rhangabe inscription.
For the present only the Chandler inscription120 will be noted ;
the Rhangabe inscription is reserved till we come to the sculptural
decorations.
The Chandler inscription is dated exactly by the archonship
of Diokles, 409-408 B.C. It begins as follows :—“ The overseers
of the temple on the citadel in which is the ancient image, Brosu
. . . es of Kephissia’; Chariades of Agraulai, Diokles of Kephissia ;
the architect was Philokles of Acharnae, the scribe Etearchos of
Kudathenaion. They wrote up the works of the temple, in the
state they received them, according to the decree of the people,
which Epigenes brought forward, those that were completely
finished and those half done in the archonship of Diokles, the
tribe of Cecropis holding the prytany in the council in which
Nikophanes of Marathon was the scribe. Of the temple we
took over the following in a half-finished condition (then follows
a long enumeration) . . . ; the following we took over unwrought
and unchannelled (f.e., columns) . . . ; the following completely
finished, but not yet set up in place.” The inscription is, of
course, of the first importance from the point of view of ancient