[118] Apollod. III. 14. 2 μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἧκεν Ἀθηνᾶ, καὶ ποιησαμένη τῆς καταλήψεως Κέκροπα μάρτυρα ἐφύτευσεν ἐλαίαν ἣ νῦν ἐν τῷ Πανδροσείῳ δείκνυται.
[119] Herod. VIII. 55.
[120] Hesych. Fig. 146 ἀστὴ ἐλαία, ἡ ἐν ἀκροπόλει ἡ καλουμένη παγκύφος διὰ χθαμαλότητα.
[121] For full discussion of the fragments see Dr Th. Wiegand, Die archäische Poros-Architektur der Akropolis zu Athen, p. 97; Das älteste Erechtheion und der heilige Oelbaum, Taf. XIV. on which the restoration in [Fig. 20] is based. The door really at the end of the building is, perhaps by a not uncommon convention, brought into view at the side. Cf. the temple of Janus on a coin of Nero.
[122] Unfortunately the site of the ‘sea’ has never been systematically excavated and examined. Professor Dörpfeld tells me that the cistern now visible is of mediaeval date. Until the mediaeval masonry is removed the precise character of the ‘sea’ cannot be determined. There was certainly no spring, the geological character of the Acropolis plateau forbids that, but a well may exist.
[123] Paus. I. 26. 5 ταῦτα δὲ λέγεται Ποσειδῶνι μαρτύρια ἐς τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν τῆς χώρας φανῆναι.
[124] Apollod. III. 14. 1.
[125] Paus. I. 26. 5. The sea well at Caria was sacred to a foreign god called Osogoa, see Paus. VIII. 10. 4. It is worth noting that Semitic gods have ‘seas’ in their sanctuaries; Solomon’s temple had a brazen ‘sea’ and Marduk at Babylon had a tamtu or sea, and curiously enough it was associated with the great serpent. See King, Babylonian Religion, p. 105.
[126] Ovid Fasti, II. 667
Nunc quoque, se supra ne quid nisi sidera cernat