Autochtonie et maternité à Athènes (époques archaïque et classique)

Abstract

Herodotus names Erechtheus the son of the earth whom the Virgin Athena embraced to mark him out as her son and installs him in her naos. Euripides and the painters of the vth BC name him Erichthonios. In both cases the child is adopted by the goddess and becomes the founder father of the polis, conceived as a genos, a group patrilineal lineage to which is given the name of the adopter: "the Athenians". Both versions are not doublets. The traditional discourse of the foundation of the city must be likely to be accepted by the audience and those who paint it. It is not more remote from the realia than the factual discourse. Rehearsed from generation to generation it must be updated according to the historical context of its statement. In their symbolical language, poetry, both versions deal with the serious problem the Athenians had to solve, from Solon to the restauration of democracy in 403, that is the definition of politeia, the citizenship. What are the conditions to integrate in the city a boy reaching adulthood? Should the politeia be founded on the property of earth or by birth? In the historical context of the disappearance of monarchy, the traditional narrative about the foundation of the city proposes with "the city of Erechtheus" a model of politeia based on the property of earth: Erechtheus is engendered by the earth. The facts passed on by tradition are reorganised and reactualised after democracy is institued, "the city of Erichthonios" proposes a model of politeia based on birth : Erichthonios is not engendered by the earth, but by his genitor Hephaïstos, the earth is only his nurse.

Keywords

• Gaia
• Gê
• Athéna
• Héphaïstos
• adoption
• tradition