The Erechtheion incorporated the most important shrines and relics to the ancient Athenians, and proved to be one of the most enduring symbols of the Classical Era.
The Erechtheion was the final temple completed in Pericles’ ambitious building program on the Classical Athenian Acropolis. It was not your run-of-the-mill Greek temple, as it had a very complex plan whose function was to house sacred areas and the remnants of other temples that had been in use for a great many years. It celebrated Athena, Poseidon, Erechtheus, and Hephaestus.
Construction on the Erechtheion began in 420 B.C., during the Peace of Nikias. Upon its completion in 406 B.C., Athens had seen many political and military upheavals, and it was only three years later that Athens fell to Sparta at the end of the Peloponnesian War.
The Erechtheion, while not a typical Greek temple, is nonetheless a stunning visual example of the Ionic order. Its convoluted design is in no way busy or crude, and its lines are quite refined, standing up with the neighboring Parthenon very well. The temple was built on a rather uneven plot of land on the Acropolis, and its unique multilevel design was meant to work around this.
Within the temple complex, there were several sacred areas, including an older altar to Poseidon, one to Hephaestus, Athena’s sacred olive tree, the exact spot where Poseidon struck the Acropolis with his trident and a saltwater spring sprung forth, and the tomb of Kekrops. Between the foundations of the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, there is evidence of foundations of older temples. The Erechtheion seems to have been a temple that incorporated those shrines all in one convenient location.
The most notable element of the Erechtheion is it porches. The northwest porch is supported by six Ionic columns. The southwest porch, and perhaps the most recognizable feature of the entire temple, is supported by six female statues, and is known as the Caryatid Porch, or the Porch of the Maidens. Using female statues as columns was not a new or unused architectural element in Greek architecture, but it was not terribly common either. The exact purpose of using the Caryatids at the Erechtheion in not really understood.
As with other Ionic buildings, a sculptural frieze lined the outside of the temple. Notably, the sculptures were left white against a gray marble background, rather that being vibrantly painted, which was customary. But, according to ancient sources, colorful and ornate frescoes and sculptures would have decorated the interior of the temple.
The shell of the Erechtheion still stands on the Acropolis today, including the famous Caryatid porch. It endured spme damage during its construction (no doubt during Athens' turbulent war years), and had been vanadalized when it was converted into a Christian church in the 7th century, and when it was used as a harem during Ottoman occupation. The Erechtheion, in its heyday and along with the other buildings of Pericles' great Acropolis building campaign, stood as a testament to a period when Athens wielded political, artistic, military, and cultural influence over the civilized world, the likes of which would not be seen again until the Roman Empire.
Sources consulted:
Wycherley, R.E. The Stones of Athens. Princeton University Press, 1978.
"Erechtheion". Retrieved from http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture/erechtheion.html
