When Pandion died, his sons divided their father's inheritance between them, and
Erechtheus got the kingdom,1 and Butes got the priesthood of
Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus.2 Erechtheus married Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus by Diogenia,
daughter of Cephisus, and had sons, to wit, Cecrops, Pandorus, and Metion; and daughters,
to wit, Procris, Creusa, Chthonia, and Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas.3
Chthonia was married to Butes,4
Creusa to Xuthus,5 and Procris to Cephalus, son of Deion.6 Bribed by a golden crown, Procris admitted
Pteleon to her bed, and being detected by
Cephalus she fled to Minos. But he fell in love with her and tried to seduce her. Now if
any woman had intercourse with Minos, it was impossible for her to escape with life; for
because Minos cohabited with many women, Pasiphae bewitched him, and whenever he took
another woman to his bed, he discharged wild beasts at her joints, and so the women
perished.7 But Minos had a swift dog and a dart that
flew straight; and in return for these gifts Procris shared his bed, having first given
him the Circaean root to drink that he might not harm her. But afterwards, fearing the
wife of Minos, she came to Athens and being
reconciled to Cephalus she went forth with him to the chase; for she was fond of hunting.
As she was in pursuit of game in the thicket, Cephalus, not knowing she was there, threw a
dart, hit and killed Procris, and, being tried in the Areopagus, was condemned to
perpetual banishment.8
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1 Erechtheus is recognized as the son of Pandion by the Parian Chronicle （Marmor Parium 28ff.）, Eusebius, Chronic. vol. i. p. 186, ed. A. Schoene, Hyginus, Fab. 48 and Ov. Met. 6.675ff. According to Ov. Met. 6.675ff. Erechtheus had four sons and four daughters.
2 Compare Harpocration, s.v. Βούτης, who tells us that the families of the Butads and Eteobutads traced their origin to this Butes. There was an altar dedicated to him as to a hero in the Erechtheum on the acropolis of Athens （Paus. 1.26.5）. Compare J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie （Berlin, 1889）, pp. 113ff. Erechtheus was identified with Poseidon at Athens （Hesychius, s.v. Ἐρεχθεύς）. The Athenians sacrificed to Erechtheus Poseidon （Athenagoras, Supplicatio pro Christianis 1）. His priesthood was called the priesthood of Poseidon Erechtheus (Pseudo-Plutarch, x. Orat. Vit. Lycurgus 30, p. 1027, ed. Dubner; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum iii.805; Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecorum(3) 790). An inscription found at the Erechtheum contains a dedication to Poseidon Erechtheus (Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum 387, vol. i). Hence we may conclude with great probability that Heyne is right in restoring Ἐρεχθέως for Ἐριχθονίου in the present passage of Apollodorus. See the Critical Note.
3 Orithyia is said to have been carried off by Boreas from the banks of the Ilissus, where she was dancing or gathering flowers with her playmates. An altar to Boreas marked the spot. See below, Apollod. 3.15.2; Plat. Phaedrus 229b-c; Paus. 1.19.5; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212ff., with the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212, from whom we learn that the story was told by the poet Simonides and the early historian Pherecydes. Compare Ov. Met. 6.683ff. According to another account, Orithyia was seen and loved by Boreas as she was carrying a basket in a procession, which was winding up the slope of the acropolis to offer sacrifice to Athena Polias, the Guardian of the City; the impetuous lover whirled her away with him, invisible to the crowd and to the guards that surrounded the royal maidens. See Scholiast on Hom. Od. xiv.533, who refers to Aculiaus as his authority. A different tradition as to the parentage of Orithyia appears to be implied by a vase-painting, which represents Boreas carrying off Orithyia in the presence of Cecrops, Erechtheus, Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus, all of whom are identified by inscriptions （Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. iv. p. 146, No. 7716）. The painting is interpreted most naturally by the supposition that in the artist's opinion Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus, the three daughters of Cecrops （see above, Apollod. 3.14.2）, were the sisters of Orithyia, and therefore that her father was Cecrops, and not Erechtheus, as Apollodorus, following the ordinary Greek tradition （Hdt. 7.189）, assumes in the present passage. This inference is confirmed by an express statement of the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212 that Cecrops was the father of Orithyia. As to the vase-painting in question, see F. G. Welcker, Antike Denkmäler, iii.144ff.; Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, i.351ff.
4 This is the third instance of marriage or betrothal with a niece, the daughter of a brother, which has met us in Apollodorus. See above, Apollod. 2.4.3; Apollod. 2.4.5. So many references to such a marriage seem to indicate a former practice of marrying a niece, the daughter of a brother.
5 Compare Eur. Ion 57ff.; Paus. 7.1.2, where, however, Creusa is not named.
6 The tragic story of Cephalus and Procris was told with variations in detail by ancient writers. See Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.321; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xi.321, p. 1688; Ant. Lib. 41; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.542ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 189; Ov. Met. 7.670-862; Serv. Verg. A. 6.445; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 16ff., 147 (First Vatican Mythographer 44; Second Vatican Mythographer 216). Of these writers, Tzetzes closely follows Apollodorus, whom he cites by name. They are the only two authors who mention the intrigue of Procris with Pteleus and the bribe of the golden crown. The story was told by Pherecydes, as we learn from the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.321, who gives an abstract of the narrative. In it the test of his wife's chastity is made by Cephalus himself in disguise; nothing is said of the flight of the abashed Procris to Minos, and nothing of the love of Dawn （Aurora） for Cephalus, which in several of the versions figures conspicuously, since it is the jealous goddess who suggests to her human lover the idea of tempting his wife to her fall. The episode of Procris's flight to Minos is told with some differences of detail by Antoninus Liberalis. As to the dog which Procris received from Minos, see above, Apollod. 2.7.1. The animal's name was Laelaps （Ov. Met. 7.771; Hyginus, Fab. 189）. According to Hyginus, Fab. 189, both the dog and the dart which could never miss were bestowed on Procris by Artemis （Diana）. Sophocles wrote a tragedy Procris, of which antiquity has bequeathed to us four words. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 170ff. The accidental killing of Procris by her husband was a familiar, indeed trite, tale in Greece （Paus. 10.29.6）.
7 The danger which the women incurred, and the device by which Procris contrived to counteract it, are clearly explained by Ant. Lib. 41. According to him, the animals which Minos discharged from his body were snakes, scorpions, and millipeds.
8 Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades i.552. After the homicide of his wife, Cephalus is said to have dwelt as an exile in Thebes （Paus. 1.37.6）.
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.
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