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the
Arrephoroi who were expected to follow her example when carrying the ritual objects to the sanctuary of Aphrodite. It has been suggested in scholarship that Pandrososâ obedience was acknowledged in the form of sacrifices; according to an old Attic law, whenever the sacrifice of a cow was made to Athena, it was necessary to sacrifice a ewe to Pandrosos as well, even outside of the time of the Arrephoria.
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she gives them. In the city not far from
Aphrodite-in-the-Gardens is an enclosed place with a natural entrance to an underground descent; this is where the virgin girls go down. They leave down there what they were carrying, and take another thing and bring it back covered up. They are then sent away, and other virgin girls are brought to the Acropolis instead of them.
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chest along with her sisters. Another version of the myth holds
Aglauros and Pandrosos as blameworthy, with Herse taking on the role of Pandrosos as the innocent sister. Yet another version tells the tale that Aglauros alone opened the chest, and that Pandrosos and Herse were spared Athena's wrath for dutifully following the goddessâ instructions.
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While
Pandrosos faithfully follows Athena's instructions, Aglauros and Herse are compelled by curiosity to open the chest, provoking Athena's wrath. The two disobedient sisters are driven mad when they see the contents of the chest (in some versions of the myth, they see Erechtheus being guarded by a
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In this context, the myth of the
Kekropidai served as a warning for the consequences of disobedience to the Arrephoroi who were forbidden to look into the chests that they were given to carry on their heads. Pandrosos, as the obedient daughter who obeyed Athena's commands, served as a role model for
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For a certain time the
Arrephoroi have their living from the Goddess: and when the festival comes round they have to perform certain ceremonies during the night. They carry on their heads what Athenaâs priestess gives them to carry, and neither she who gives it nor they who carry it know what it is
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The two disobedient daughters, Aglauros and Herse, were also acknowledged during the
Arrephoria. It is generally accepted that the Arrephoroi themselves represented the two unfaithful Kekropidai. The nighttime descent of the Arrephoroi could be taken as a symbolic reenactment of the scene in which
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There are several other versions of the myth of the
Kekropidai. They generally disagree with one another on the topic of which of the sisters carries the blame for opening the chest. In one version, all three sisters are equally culpable, and Pandrosos succumbs to the temptation to look inside the
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The name "Herse" also holds connotations of dew in the Greek. This has led to speculation among scholars that originally there were only two
Kekropidai and that Herse was a later addition to the myth, functioning essentially as a double of Pandrosos. The purpose of the creation of the character of
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during this time. The
Arrephoroi consisted of two young girls selected from Athens' aristocratic families by the Archon Basileus (king archon/magistrate). After being selected, these girls would live in a home on the Acropolis for the duration of a year in order to serve Athena; the end of their
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Herkeios (Zeus of the Court). The southeast corner A door in the lower storey of the western wall of the Erechtheion provided direct access between the Pandroseion and the Erechtheion's interior; yet another doorway also connected the Pandroseion to the north porch of the Erechtheion. In this
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The name "Pandrosos" carries the meaning of "all dew" or "all bedewed" in the Greek language (drosos, dew). For this reason, Pandrosos is at times called the "Dew Goddess" and the three Kekropidai together are sometimes referred to as the "Dew Sisters."
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Kekrops is thought to have been born from the soil of Athens itself, and possesses the head and torso of a man and the lower body of a snake. Beyond his status as Athensâ first king, he is known for judging the contest between
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manner, the Pandroseion could be considered an appendage of the larger Erechtheionâperhaps fittingly considering the manner in which the myth surrounding Pandrosos intertwines with the tale of the birth of Erechtheus.
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period of service would culminate in the Arrephoria where they would perform the initiation ritual that would signify their passage into the next stage of their lives.
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Herse would have been to bring the number of Kekropidai up to three so as to conform to the common trope of three sisters in Greek mythology (in keeping with the
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Evy Johanne Haland, "The Ritual Year of Athena: The Agricultural Cycle of the Olive, Girls' Rites of Passage, and Official Ideology,"
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that decided the naming and patronage of the city. However, following his death, Kekrops is not succeeded by his son, but rather by
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giant snake; in others, they see Erechtheus himself in the form of a snake), and hurl themselves off of the northern slope of the
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was a night festival that took place during the Greek month of Skiraphorion at the height of summer in the honor of Athena and
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Aglauros and Herse fling themselves from the Acropolis after viewing the contents of the chest that Athena gave to them.
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was a sanctuary dedicated to Pandrosos located on the north side of the Acropolis, just to the west of the
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The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present
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who died without producing an heir to the throne. In one account, Pandrosus was by
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H. A. Shapiro, "The Cult of Heroines: Kekrops' Daughters," 1995, in
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Finding of Erichthonius by Peter Paul Rubens (between 1632 and 1633)
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Pandrosus with her father Cecrops on the east pediment of the
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The finding of the infant Erichthonius by Cecrops's daughters
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16:"Pandrosos" redirects here. For the genus of beetle, see
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Worshipping Aphrodite: Art and Cult in Classical Athens
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Les Filles de CĂ©crops dĂ©couvrant l'enfant Ărichthonios
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239:(also known by the name Erichthonios), the child of
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