ER ECHTHE 'UM Lat., from Gk. 'EpIxeccov, 1:rtrnu Oa tcnildt I belonging to Ereenthens). A tell pli• uii the Acropolis of Athens, northwest if t e Parthenon. in were combined the sanctuaries of Athena Polias and Erechtheus. It also contained several other wonders, such as the 'salt sea' of Poseithut and the mark of his trio nt, near by was the sacred olive of At! eno, and apparently the tomb of Ceerops. Ow ;lig to those uses, the building. though of great beauty, departs widely from the ordinary type of Greek temple. It consists of a quadrangular main building, with porticoes on three sides. At the east the portico extends across the entire front of the temple, and its roof is supported by six Ionic eolunins. The north and south por ticoes are at the west end. and much smaller. 1 hat on the south is the Porch of the Caryatides, so called from the six female statues, somewhat larger than life, Which support the roof. The north porch is on a lower level than the east or south. and also contains Ionic columns, arranged like the statues, four in front and one on each side. There seem to have been no pediment sculptures. hut above the architrave was a frieze of dark marble, decorated with reliefs of white marble. Of these figures only fragments have been pn4erved. The west front had a gable sup ported by four columns. resting on a somewhat high wall, in ivill(•1 is a low door. During the
Roman period these c(ilumns were replaced by engaged columns between which were windows. The interior arrangements are still a matter of much dispute, due partly to the differences in level. and partly to alterations made when the building was transformed into a Byzantine winch. It seems clear that the shrine of Athena l'olias, with the sacred wooden image, was in the east end, and the Erechtheum proper in the west. The buildnig was erected toward the end of the fifth century and was not completed in n.c. 409, as is clear from the accounts of the building commission, which have been preserved. It seems to have suffered from fire in n.c. 400, and was probably still unfinished in B.C. 395. After its transformation into a church. it was again altered by the Turks into a dwelling-house, and during the Greek Revolution it was greatly damaged, and in 1852 an earthquake overthrew the columns of the western wall. For a full de scription of the Erechtheum in 1883, with bibli ography, consult. Fowler, in the Papers of the t au ricah School at Athens, vol. i. ( Boston, The later literature is in Frazer, Yau .sanias. ii. (London, 189S). Consult, also, /h akinalcr des Iaassischea .11i cr urns. s. v. 1;rech hcion 1`85) ; ilar ri on and V•rrall, ytholoya and dlentiments of ttclent I Miens (London, Is90).