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Sacred Salt Spring of Erechtheion
Sacred Salt Spring of Erechtheion
Present condition
MAP OF ATHENS WITH THE ANCIENT HARBOURS PIRAEUS &PHALERON
ANCIENT GREEK NARRATIVES
HERODOTUS (5th century B.C.; c. 484–425 B.C.)
VIII.55.2-5: Ἔστι ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλι ταύτῃ Ἐρεχθέος […] νηός͵ ἐν τῷ ἐλαίη τε καὶ θάλασσα ἔνι.
(“There is on this Acropolis a temple of Erechtheus […] and in it are an olive-tree and a sea)
VIII.10.4.1-4 (About the Temple of Poseidon Hippeios in Mantineea): θαλάσσης δὲ ἀναφαίνεσθαι κῦμα ἐν
τῷ ἱερῷ λόγος ἐστὶν ἀρχαῖος· ἐοικότα δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσιν ἐς τὸ κῦμα τὸ ἐν ἀκροπόλει καὶ Καρῶν οἱ
Μύλασα ἔχοντες ἐς τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἱερόν͵ ὃν φωνῇ τῇ ἐπιχωρίᾳ καλοῦσιν Ὀσογῶα. Ἀθηναίοις μὲν δὴ σταδίους
μάλιστα εἴκοσιν ἀφέστηκε τῆς πόλεως ἡ πρὸς Φαληρῷ θάλασσα͵ ὡσαύ τως δὲ καὶ Μυλασεῦσιν ἐπίνειον
σταδίους ὀγδοήκοντα ἀπέχον ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως· Μαντινεῦσι δὲ ἐκ μακρο τάτων τε ἡ θάλασσα ἄνεισι
καὶ ἐκφανέστατα δὴ κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ γνώμην.
(“There is an old legend that a wave of sea-water rises up in the sanctuary. A like story is told by the
Athenians about the wave on the Acropolis, and by the Carians living in Mylasa about the sanctuary of the
god called in the native tongue Osogoa. But the sea at Phalerum is about twenty stades distant from Athens,
and the port of Mylasa is eighty stades from the city. But at Mantineia the sea rises after a very long
distance, and quite plainly through the divine will.”)
(Dörpfeld, Wilhelm; Schleif, Hans [Ill.]: Erechtheion, Berlin, 1942 Seite Tafel_01)
EXTERIOR VIEW, DOOR WITHIN NORTH PORCH, BEFORE RESTORATION
This structure of the Acropolis’ hill supports the hypothesis that the sacred salt spring of
Erechtheion was very likely a brackish or saline KARSTIC spring, with a variable salinity depending
on the season
CONCLUSIONS
The conclusions support the validity of ancient sources regarding the occurrence of a sea-water
spring on the top of Acropolis in Athens, inside the Erechteion, within the cella dedicated to Poseidon-
Erechtheus, on the westernmost compartiment of the building.
The intrusion of seawater into the coastal karst limestone aquifers is a regular phenomenon
common to the frequent landscape of Greece. The mechanism of sea-water intrusion into the coastal
limestone area and into calcareous aquifers has been already extensively studied, not only for the
Greece, but also for Crete, Turkey, Spain and Israel’s Mediterranean Cost. The sacred salt spring of
Erechtheion must have had indeed, as ancient Greeks suggested, a hydraulic communication with the
Aegean Sea and a fresh-water--sea-water dynamic according to“the law of communicating vessels”: a
physical law which states that the fluid level of connected vessels aims to be equal.
The sacred salt spring of Erechtheion was very likely a brackish or saline karstic spring, depending
on the season. Technically, brackish water contains between 0.5 and 30 grams of salt per litre. It is
actually characteristic of many brackish surface waters to have a variable salinity over space and/or
time. Supposedly in the summer the salinity of the sacred spring of Erechtheion was higher, while in
the fall-winter or after a heavy rainfall was lower.
Flow from the other brackish springs of Acropolis (like Clepsydra) was probably stronger in antiquity.
This may reflect climatic change, but is more strongly controlled by modifications to the geography of
the hill. In the past the presence of plants, soil and loose materials on top of the bedrock would have
retarded run-off so that the water could have time to be adsorbed. Recently, infiltration has been all but
eliminated by sealing all the open cracks and fissures on the hill with cement. This has been done to
reduce the rate of erosion, now enhanced by acid rain.
REFERENCES
Christopoulos, M., Poseidon Erechtheus and Erechtheis Thalassa, Robin Hägg, Ancient Greek Cult Practice
from the Epigraphical Evidence. Proceedings of the Second International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult,
organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 22-24 November 1991
Dörpfeld, Erechtheion (Berlin 1942)
Dörpfeld, W. "Der ursprungliche Plan des Erechtheion" in Mitteil. Athen., 1904, p. tot, taf. 6;
Elderkin, W. “The Cults of the Erechtheion”, Hesperia, Volume 10, 6, Issue 2, 1941)Gaïtanakis, P. 1982.
Geological Map of Greece 1:50.000. Athinai-Pireus sheet. Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Greece.
Geta, Juan Antonio López(ed.) Coastal aquifers intrusion technology, Mediterranean countries
Harrison, Jane Ellen, Primitive Athens As Described By Thucydides. London, 2013: Forgotten Books. (Original
work published 1906)
Higgins, M. & Higgins, R. 1976. A Geological Companion to Greece and the Aegean. London, Gerald Duckwort
& Co Ltd.
Holland L.B., 1924, “Erechtheum papers”, I, II, III. American Journal of Archaeology 28: 1-23, 142-69, 402-25
Holland, L. B., „Erechtheum Papers“, AJA 28, 1924, 1-23, 142-169, 402-434.
Lauter, Die Koren des Erechtheion (Berlin 1976)
Leake, W. M., The Topography of Athens, London 1821 (1st ed.), 1841 (2nd ed.).
Michaalson, J.D., 'Erechtheus and the Panathenia'. AJP., 97, (1976), 141-53. The cult of Erechtheus in the major
Athenian Festival.
Ooge, Acropolis of Athens archive.org
Paton M., G. P. Stevens u.a., The Erechtheum (Cambridge Mass. 1927)
Papanikolaou, The Restoration of the Erechtheion (1979-1987). Final Report on the Work (Athens 2012)
Picard, Charles, Le « présage » de Cléoménès (507 av. J.-C.) et la divination sur l'Acropole d'Athènes. In:
Revue des Études Grecques, tome 43, fascicule 202, Juillet-septembre 1930. pp. 262-278.
Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A.
Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918
Regueiro, M.& M. Stamatakis, & K. Laskaridis, “The geology of the Acropolis (Athens, Greece).” European
Geologist, v. 38, November 2014.
Scholl, Die Korenhalle des Erechtheion auf der Akropolis. Frauen für den Staat (Frankfurt a. M., 1998)
Stevens, G. P. et al., The Erechtheum, Cambridge, Mass 1927.
Weller, Charles Heald, “The Original Plan of the Erechtheum”, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 25, No. 2
(Apr. - Jun., 1921), pp. 130-14
The springs and fountains of the Acropolis hill. Collection, storage & distribution of water in antiquity linking
ancient wisdom to modern needs http://www.hydriaproject.net/en/cases/athens/acropolis_hill/importance.html
The water works in Ancient Athens - Acropolis Hill http://www.hydriaproject.net/en/acropolis-hill/importance