The north porch in the original plan was to admit to both thalassa and sacred olive, but in the curtailed temple which left the olive outside, it could admit directly to the latter only by the addition of the little door in the southwest corner. The extreme simplicity of this door which is without such simple ornamentation as that of the south door suggests that in the original plan it was not intended to stand beside the elaborate north door. The little door as well as the one in the west wall were not features of the original Erechtheum, and their presence was therefore not made more noticeable by the addition of mouldings of any kind.
This interpretation, if correct, warrants the statement of the general principle that the Greek architect sought, in case of curtailment of his plan, to preserve as far as possible the essential features, and the relations of the parts to one another, of the original. The builder of the Erechtheum saved his west façade in modified form and found a place for the west cella in the reduced central chamber.
The Erechtheum as originally planned was an altogether symmetrical structure. The splendid north portal was to lead immediately into the cella of the tokens, on either side of which were the shrines of the divinities that had contended for the land of Attica. The balance of structure would have reflected a balance of cults. The original Erechtheum, in short, was an architectural sentence finely illustrating the μέν and δέ of Greek feeling. With the Parthenon and the Propylaea, it was to form a group of symmetrical monuments to crown the Athenian acropolis in a manner worthy of the Periclean Age.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A drawing of the façade as seen from this point is much needed.
[2] See Dörpfeld, Ath. Mitt., 1911, p. 59, for latest discussion of the struggle.
[3] The few known facts about the Arrephoroi are conveniently gathered together by Frazer, op. cit., II, p. 344.
[4] I am indebted to Dr. L. D. Caskey of the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston for the photograph. He has also very kindly given me the benefit of his intimate knowledge of the Erechtheum in various suggestive criticisms. I take this occasion to express my sense of obligation.
[5] Pausanias seems to have been mistaken in speaking of two. So Frazer, op. cit., II, p. 574, note 6.
[6] Cf. the disc with octopus ornament on the dress of one of the maidens with that published by Schliemann, Mykenae, p. 194, no. 240.