Sacrifice of Erechtheus's Daughter
event · 2 works · 2 mentions · 3 anchored passages
offered thy sisters as a sacrifice · the sacrifice of Erechtheus's daughter
spoken of as
1 expressionin the texts
Ion
Erechtheus's sacrifice of his daughters as victims for the sake of Athens, from which only the infant Creusa was spared.
Creusa:
Creusa:
And how didst thou, alone of al thy sisters, escape?
Against Leocrates
The legendary sacrifice of Erechtheus and Praxithea's daughter to secure Athenian victory over Eumolpus and the Thracians.
The tradition is that Eumolpus, the son of Poseidon and Chione, came with the Thracians to claim this country during the reign of Erechtheus who was married to Praxithea, the daughter of Cephisus.
The god’s answer to him was that if he sacrificed his daughter before the two sides engaged he would defeat the enemy and, submitting to the god, he did this and drove the invaders from the country.