DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5309#0039
GECROPS AND HIS THREE DAUGHTERS.
One of the most renowned spots in the ancient city of Athens is the rock, or preci-
pice, which is seen on one side of the Acropolis, and known under the name of Long
Stones, MacrcB petrce, called likewise the Cecropian1 stones, because thence the three
daughters of King Cecrops threw themselves down in a fit of madness. Minerva hav-
ing intrusted those Princesses with the care of a chest, in which she had concealed the
two-shaped Ericthonius, and strictly enjoined them never to look into it ; the elder
sister, as Ovid2 tells us, could not refrain from indulging her curiosity ; but the chest
was no sooner open, than all three were seized with a frantic transport, which occasi-
oned their dreadful catastrophe. In that place the famous cave is still extant, where
the Athenians raised a sluine to Pan, at the time of the Persian war and the victory
of Marathon, as a token of public gratitude ; for, when the barbarians first landed in
Greece, that Arcadian Deity is said to have himself brought the intelligence to the
people of Athens. Mythologists have recorded the amorous adventure, which Creusa,
daughter of Erectheus, had in that very cavern with Apollo, by whom she had a boy
called Ion : it is from him the Ionians derived their name. Now, we have every reason
to think, that the cave in question is the subject of the very valuable bass-relief, a
faithful copy of which appears in the print before us. Many circumstances concur to
strengthen our opinion. Euripides;' in the tragedy of Ion, bestows the epithet of roof-
forming on the Mocra-, or the long stones : it is precisely what we observe in our
marble ; since the cavern excavated in the rock naturally forms a kind of roof. There
is besides, in the middle, an altar cut out of the stone, which cannot but be the same,
that was erected in honour of the God of Arcadia, as mentioned by Euripides in the
quoted tragedy,4 where Creusa, relating what happened to her in the cavern, addresses
the following words to the old man :
" Do'st thou know the Cecropian stones which we term the Marne, and the cavern
towards the north ?"
The old man answers—
" I know them : where the cell of Pan is, and hard by the altars."
It is evident that the artist, to identify the place of his subject, has figured Pan
seated on the adjoining cliff, with his flute of seven-pipes in the left hand, and the
drinking- horn in the right.
Convinced as we are that the place represented is the cavern of Pan in the northern
part of the Acropolis, exhibiting the rocks or long stones, called likewise Cecropian,
from the death of Cecrops' daughters, we cannot entertain the least doubt respecting
the four figures of a size above the human, and appertaining to heroic personages.
These must be the figures of Cecrops, who gave the name to the rock, and of his
three daughters, Herse, Aglauros, and Pandrosos, who rendered it famous by their
fatal end. In all the historical and fabulous records, no subject can be found that will
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One of the most renowned spots in the ancient city of Athens is the rock, or preci-
pice, which is seen on one side of the Acropolis, and known under the name of Long
Stones, MacrcB petrce, called likewise the Cecropian1 stones, because thence the three
daughters of King Cecrops threw themselves down in a fit of madness. Minerva hav-
ing intrusted those Princesses with the care of a chest, in which she had concealed the
two-shaped Ericthonius, and strictly enjoined them never to look into it ; the elder
sister, as Ovid2 tells us, could not refrain from indulging her curiosity ; but the chest
was no sooner open, than all three were seized with a frantic transport, which occasi-
oned their dreadful catastrophe. In that place the famous cave is still extant, where
the Athenians raised a sluine to Pan, at the time of the Persian war and the victory
of Marathon, as a token of public gratitude ; for, when the barbarians first landed in
Greece, that Arcadian Deity is said to have himself brought the intelligence to the
people of Athens. Mythologists have recorded the amorous adventure, which Creusa,
daughter of Erectheus, had in that very cavern with Apollo, by whom she had a boy
called Ion : it is from him the Ionians derived their name. Now, we have every reason
to think, that the cave in question is the subject of the very valuable bass-relief, a
faithful copy of which appears in the print before us. Many circumstances concur to
strengthen our opinion. Euripides;' in the tragedy of Ion, bestows the epithet of roof-
forming on the Mocra-, or the long stones : it is precisely what we observe in our
marble ; since the cavern excavated in the rock naturally forms a kind of roof. There
is besides, in the middle, an altar cut out of the stone, which cannot but be the same,
that was erected in honour of the God of Arcadia, as mentioned by Euripides in the
quoted tragedy,4 where Creusa, relating what happened to her in the cavern, addresses
the following words to the old man :
" Do'st thou know the Cecropian stones which we term the Marne, and the cavern
towards the north ?"
The old man answers—
" I know them : where the cell of Pan is, and hard by the altars."
It is evident that the artist, to identify the place of his subject, has figured Pan
seated on the adjoining cliff, with his flute of seven-pipes in the left hand, and the
drinking- horn in the right.
Convinced as we are that the place represented is the cavern of Pan in the northern
part of the Acropolis, exhibiting the rocks or long stones, called likewise Cecropian,
from the death of Cecrops' daughters, we cannot entertain the least doubt respecting
the four figures of a size above the human, and appertaining to heroic personages.
These must be the figures of Cecrops, who gave the name to the rock, and of his
three daughters, Herse, Aglauros, and Pandrosos, who rendered it famous by their
fatal end. In all the historical and fabulous records, no subject can be found that will
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