The Round Hall: The Birth of Erichthonios
Fragment of a neo-Attic relief representing the birth of Erichthonios. The scene shows Hephaestus with “pileus” and holding tongs in his hands, Gaia, the earth goddess, wearing a crown of olive leaves and ears, and one of the daughters of Cecrops, standing with a hand to her mouth. Gaia is portrayed in the act of offering to Athena her newborn son Erichthonius. Both characters are now missing.
This fragment, today inserted in the base of Galba’s statue, was found near Ostia where a famous Hephaisteion is documented; it dates from 50 BC to the 50 AD.
Source: Spinola G., Il Museo Pio Clementino, Vol. 2
The Myth
Erichthonios, the fifth mythical king of Athens, was son of Gaia and Hephaestus who loved Athena with unreciprocated love. Athena visited his workshop to ask him to make her some weapons, but on seeing her he lost all thought of his craft, afflicted with a fit of uncontrollable passion.
The virgin-goddess was determined not to submit and fled, but in spite of his lameness the god caught her and did his best to ravish her. In the struggle his semen fell on her thigh. Athena in disgust wiped it off with a scrap of wool, which she threw on the ground. Where it fell, Gaia produced a child and gave him to Athena, who called him Erichthonius (from either eris, strife, or erion, wool, and chthon, earth). She put him in a chest and entrusted it to the three daughters of Cecrops forbidding them to open it. The girls were naturally full of curiosity, and the chest was opened and the girls paid the price of their disobedience. Terrified by what they saw inside, either a snake coiled round the baby, or the baby himself formed as half-child and half-serpent, they went mad and flung themselves from the Acropolis on to the rocks below. Athena herself brought up the child on the Acropolis. When he reached manhood he became king of Athens
Source: March J., Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Roman marble bass-relief
Ca. 50 BC – 50 AD
From Ostia
Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Clementino, "Sala Rotonda" (Round Hall).
The Round Hall: The Birth of Erichthonios
Fragment of a neo-Attic relief representing the birth of Erichthonios. The scene shows Hephaestus with “pileus” and holding tongs in his hands, Gaia, the earth goddess, wearing a crown of olive leaves and ears, and one of the daughters of Cecrops, standing with a hand to her mouth. Gaia is portrayed in the act of offering to Athena her newborn son Erichthonius. Both characters are now missing.
This fragment, today inserted in the base of Galba’s statue, was found near Ostia where a famous Hephaisteion is documented; it dates from 50 BC to the 50 AD.
Source: Spinola G., Il Museo Pio Clementino, Vol. 2
The Myth
Erichthonios, the fifth mythical king of Athens, was son of Gaia and Hephaestus who loved Athena with unreciprocated love. Athena visited his workshop to ask him to make her some weapons, but on seeing her he lost all thought of his craft, afflicted with a fit of uncontrollable passion.
The virgin-goddess was determined not to submit and fled, but in spite of his lameness the god caught her and did his best to ravish her. In the struggle his semen fell on her thigh. Athena in disgust wiped it off with a scrap of wool, which she threw on the ground. Where it fell, Gaia produced a child and gave him to Athena, who called him Erichthonius (from either eris, strife, or erion, wool, and chthon, earth). She put him in a chest and entrusted it to the three daughters of Cecrops forbidding them to open it. The girls were naturally full of curiosity, and the chest was opened and the girls paid the price of their disobedience. Terrified by what they saw inside, either a snake coiled round the baby, or the baby himself formed as half-child and half-serpent, they went mad and flung themselves from the Acropolis on to the rocks below. Athena herself brought up the child on the Acropolis. When he reached manhood he became king of Athens
Source: March J., Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Roman marble bass-relief
Ca. 50 BC – 50 AD
From Ostia
Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Clementino, "Sala Rotonda" (Round Hall).