The Cecropids as a representative image of mothers in archaic and classical Athens

Abstract

The Cecropids, the daughters of the Snake King Cecrops, that are closely linked to the acropolis, have been thought, generally, as an image of girls and young women (parthenoi) in their processes of initiation and transit to maturity (Burkert, Brulé). This is, perhaps, the most visible image of these young heroines in Athens. However, their importance as an icon of the citizen mothers in this polis in several aspects that are essential to their social and religious identity has perhaps not been taken into account as much. One of these aspects is curotrophy or childcare, which goes hand in hand with the educational work of mothers and their importance in the transmission of Athenian tradition. Another of these aspects is the role of adult, married women as leaders of religious tasks that are fundamental to the continuity and survival of the city, such as the care of the statue of the goddess, the weaving of the panathenaic peplos or the administration and care of the treasury and the sacred spaces on the Athenian Aacropolis. Alongside the Cecropides, the Erechtheides also play an essential role in the reproduction and transmission of the cultural, religious and "autochthonous" heritage of the city, which also characterises the mothers of Athens.