CECROPS, traditionally the first king of Attica (Pausanias ix. 33). He was said to have divided the inhabitants into 12 communities, to have instituted the laws of marriage and property and a new form of worship. The introduction of bloodless sacri fice, the burial of the dead and the invention of writing were also attributed to him. He is said to have acted as umpire during the dispute of Poseidon and Athena for the possession of Attica. As one of the autochthones (q.v.) of Attica, Cecrops is represented as human in the upper part of his body, while the lower part is ' shaped like a dragon. Miss J. E. Harrison (in Classical Review, Jan. 1895) endeavours to show that Cecrops is the husband of Athena, identical with the snake-like Zeus Soter or Sosipolis, and the father of Erechtheus-Erichthonius.