0389Erichthonius

0389Erichthonius_Rubens

Gallery
Ovid Met. 2.553-63
Apollodorus Library 3.14.6ff.

Peter Paul Rubens, "The Discovery of the Infant Erichthonius," ca. 1615, Liechtenstein Collection, Vaduz
(other hi-res)

Wolfgagn Stechow, "The Finding of Erichthonius," in Studies in Western Art, vol. 3 (Princeton UP 1963), 27 - 35.

Baroque painting with several nude figures, including an older woman, a child, and a figure from behind a balustrade

The son of Hephaestus, Erichthonius is discovered in a basket by the daughters of Cecrops, king of Athens. Athena had specified that Pandrosus not look inside the basket; Aglauros violates the command, and Erichthonius' birth comes to light. Herse (red robe) looks on. Is the old woman, who looks at you from the painting, Athena herself?
Classical authors differ on the circumstances of Erichthonius' conception: either Atthis conceived Hephaestus' child or Athena effectively spurned his unwelcome advances, resulting in partheno-genic conception on the soil of the Acropolis.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.