Salaminian Gods in Athens: The Creation of A Common Past

The fourth century settlement decree of the Salaminioi mentions the cults of Eurysakes, Athena Skiras and Pandrosos, Aglauros and Ge Kourotrophos. From the close connection of the first two these cults with Salamis we may conclude that the genos had an important hand in the ideological integration of the island in the Athenian state. Much more difficult to explain is the cult of Pandrosos, Aglauros and Ge Kourotrophos. There is no symbolic connection with the island to explain why the Salaminioi controlled this cult. Rather, the connection is with Athenian myth and the legend of Athens’ first kings. Kekrops’ daughters Pandrosos and Aglauros were already part of the mythological repertoire in the early sixth century and the Erichthonios legend figured prominently in the Athenians’ ideas about their projected past by this period. To find the Salaminioi in charge of the cult of such important mythological characters is very significant because it ties them directly to the very heart of Athenian myth. I therefore propose that the cult fits in a broader sixth century program linking the recently acquired island of Salamis with the old cultic institutions on the Acropolis. Thus, divine sanction of a new political reality was invoked by connecting the Salaminioi with the mythology of the Athenians’ most distant past.