CLA204H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Davoch, Erechtheion, Golden Fleece
Document Summary
Several characters with the same name turn up in different generations of the earl kings. > probs because later greek mythographers tried to fill in gaps and fashion a coherent genealogy. > additions made in 6th and 5th centuries bc when athens became an important mili- tary power and cultural center. Stories of first kings are complicated and even self-contradictory. The athenians made 3 claims about their origins: > that they were descended from a mortal named cecrops. > that they were autochonous sprung from earth" like grasshoppers. > certain high officials wore golden grasshopper pins in their hair in celebration of this claim. > and that there were descended from athena (even though she was a virgin) The claim of autochthony and descent from cecrops are brought together in the story that cecrops simply sprang from the earth with the form of a snake beneath the waist and a man above.
