The Masculine Companions of Athena
The scenes of the attacks on Agraulus and Alcippe lay outside the fortress, one on the north slope, the other on the south slope; meanwhile the serpent had its home and Cecrops his grave on the Acropolis, in the sacred location which was named after Erechtheus. The Erechtheum [Text and Views: The Erechtheum] included other manifestations of the masculine as well. In front of the entrance stood an altar to Zeus Hypatus. In the west wall of the building, which differed from the standard type of Greek temple, was an altar to Poseidon, on which were offered sacrifices to Erechtheus as well. Further in, there was an altar to the hero Butes, and finally a third altar, to Hephaestus. One of the chambers contained a wooden Hermes (i.e., a wooden phallus) which was concealed among myrtle branches and considered to be a votive offering of Cecrops. This would have been a middle area of the temple, since Herse, the beloved of Hermes, according to the story of their hieros gamos, [sacred marriage] lived in the middle room. Except for the oldest fixed cultic image of the Goddess, everything in the contained temple -- beginning with the three depressions in the north hall which were supposedly traces of Poseidon's trident -- was meant to remind one of the power and presence of masculine Deities. A salty spring (the "sea water") in the Erechtheum did not count as a feminine element like the earth, but as the "sea of Erechtheus" also signified a masculine presence. This name identifies Erechtheus with the sea God Poseidon: indeed, he possessed a common cult with Poseidon and was associated with him as well through the double name Poseidon Erechtheus. On the other hand, his being earth-born and the foster-child of Athena associates him with Erichthonius. Judged by its ending, the name Erechtheus is older than the combination Eri-chthonius, this latter name being a playful interpretation of the first. Concealment seems to be the main intention here, and this signified a secret: namely that the husband and the son of the motherly Goddess were identical, a theme that fits in with the mother-son mythologem.
On the basis of what has been presented it is possible to establish a relative chronology among the recounted forms of the masculine. Cecrops and the serpent -- basically the same divine Person -- and Erechtheus-Erichthonius (the son-husband) belong to the oldest level; Poseidon belongs to the most recent. In no sense at all did Ares intrude into the series of the fortress's masculine Deities: the cult outside the fortress's sanctuaries was suited to his nature, though he was in the vicinity of the fortress before Poseidon was. The close connection inherent in the name "Poseidon Erechtheus" associates an earlier spouse with the latest intruder. Over against this final result of a long development there are three manifestations of the masculine which remained independent, all of which are more archaic than Poseidon: Butes, whose name implies the period of the bull; Hephaestus, a pre-Greek God; and "Hermes," an archaic cultic token. The epithet Zeus Hypatus may also indicate that he belonged to the most recent level, although he could also have been already present alongside the dark serpent, bull, and stallion husbands as the bright aspect of father. A bull spouse is presupposed by the hero Butes, not in the person of a "cattle-herd" -- which is what his name means -- but as an actual bull.
Excepts from
Athena, Virgin and Mother in Greek Religion (1952)
Karl Kerenyi