ERECH. 180 ERFURT. sions and its commercial | heated e flour- ■Susiana,
- i a (Lon-
- and the histories of Assyria and
Babylonia. ER ECHTHE'TIM: (Lat., from Gk. 'Ep4x9aov, longing to Erechtheus). lis of Athens, northwest m, in which were combined the ua Polias and Erechtheus. i several other wonders, such as
- Poseidon and the mark of his
it, while near bj wa tcred olive of d apparently the tomb of Cecrops. Ow- ing to these uses, the building, though of great iparts widely from the ordinary type of Greek temple. It consists of a quadrangular main building, with porticoes on three sides. At ist the portico extends across the entire front of the temple, and its roof is supported by six Ionic columns. The north and south por- ticoes are at the west end • and much smaller. That on the south is the Porch of the Caryatides, so called from the six female statues, somewhat i than life, which support the roof. The north porch is on a lower level than the east or south, and als ntains Ionic columns, arranged like thi , tour in front and one on each side. rhere seem to have been no. pediment ures, but above the architrave was a frieze of dark marble, decorated with reliefs of white marble. 0) these figures onlj fragments have been preserved. The west front had a gable sup- ported by lour columns, resting on a somewhat, high wall, in which is a low door. During the Koman period these columns were replaced by engaged columns between which were windows. terioi 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 church, h eems clear that the --hrine of Athena Polias, with the sacred wooden image, was in the east end, an. I the Krechtheum proper in the • i l he building wa- erected toward the end of the fifth ■.hi m ? b.i . and was not completed in B.C. 109, as is clear from the accounts of I he building commission, which have been preserved It seems to have suffered from lire in B.C. 406, and was probably still unfinished in B.C. 395. Alter it- transformation into ■< church, it was again altered bj the Turk- into .. dwelling-house, and during the Greek Revolution it was greatly damaged, and in 1852 an earthquake overthrew ilium, of the western walk For a full de- scription of the Kreeht Ileum in lss:!. with bibli- ography, consult Fowler, in the l'-i School <it I (7k ns, vol, i I Boston, I he later literature is in Frazer, Pou- ii. i London, I B98 I I lonsult, also, Baumeister, Denkmiiler des klassischen Alter- ■ i Munich, 1 885 i ; llar- .i.l Veiiiill. Mythology and Monuments of i ondon, 1890) ERECH'THEUS, or ER'ICHTHO'NIUS l ■ i> i^xOtvt, 'EpixBbp'OS, 1 t i.e breal er, fn m ii^xieo',
charactei in Greek
mytholi is called, in the Iliad, ii. and wa- reared by i h. mi in her temple on the Acropolis, where the Athenians worshiped him. Later writers told a similar story of Erichthonius. He was son of Hephaestus and Gaea (the earth), and placed by Athena in a chest with serpents. The daughters of Cecrops, to whom the chest was given, disobeyed the command of the goddess and raised the lid, when they were either de- stroyed by the serpents or in sudden madness threw themselves from the rocks of the Acropolis. This form of the legend made Erechtheus son or grandson of Erichthonius, and told of his sacri- fice of his daughter to save Athens from the at- tack of Eumolpus (q.v.). It is to be noted that while the later poets and mythologists distin- guish Erichthonius and Erechtheus, the early epic and the cult know only the latter, who is clearly an Athenian god of agriculture, who was worshiped with the goddess Athena in a joint temple, called the Erechtheum (q.v.), on the Acropolis. Later legend reduced him to a hero, and connected him with Poseidon, or told of him as the promoter of the worship of Athena. EREGLI, a-ra'gle (ancient Heraclea Pon- iica). A seaport town of Asiatic Turkey, in the Vilayet of Ka-tatnuni, situated on the Black Sea about 128 miles east of Constantinople (Map: Turkey in Asia. D 2). It has a well-protected harbor, and exports coal which is mined in the neighborhood, where the richest coal-mines of Turkey ate situated. The population is esti- mated' at, about fi.300. EREMIT VON GATJTING, a 're-met' fdn gou'ting. See Hallberg-Broich, Theodor M. H. ERE'TRIA (Lat„ from Gk. 'E/Vr/na). A city on the west coast of Eubcea, south of Chalcis, of which it was in early times a powerful rival. It was destroyed in B.C. 490 by the Persians, but w;i- soon rebuilt, though not prominent in later history, except for a short time during the strug- gle between Athens and Philip of Macedon. It was the seat of the school of philosophy estab- lished by Menedemus, a disciple of Plato. The American School at Athens has conducted ex- cavation- mi this site, resulting in the diseovery of the theatre and some neighboring buildings, and further investigations are being carried on by i he Creek Archaeological Society, which have brought to light, an early temple and many lesser remains of the pre-Persian time. ERFURT, er'foort (OHG. Erpisford, Erpes- furl, Lat. Erfordia, ford of Erpe, its legendary founder i . A town of the Prussian Province of Saxony. 14 miles west of Weimar (Map: Prus- sia. D .'>). It is situated on the Gera, which traverses the town in three arms. An important fortress until l*7:i. Erfurl retains only portions of the rit mills of Petersburg and Cyriaksburg. The town has an ancient aspect, and many of its streets are narrow and bordered with old-fash- ioned houses. I he most noteworthy church of Erfurt is the cathedral, occupying the site of old edifice dating from the twelfth century .■mi] constructed mainly during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Its founda- tion i ..i enormous proportions and its interior at .'.I with fine reliefs, paintings, stained and carved choir-stalls. The towers dale fnmi the thirteenth century ami contain ten bells, including the Maria Gloriosa, weighing over thirteen tons. Adjoining the cathedral is
