Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Pandrosos.
The gallery
The Daughters of Cecrops Finding the Child Erichthonius
Jacob Jordaens, 1617
Jordaens' Antwerp canvas shows Cecrops' three daughters opening Athena's forbidden chest — Pandrosos among the sisters who see the serpent-child Erichthonius. In some tellings only Pandrosos obeys and is spared; Baroque painting keeps all three at the moment of discovery.
Daughters of Cecrops Discovering Erichthonius
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1615
Rubens' Courtauld sketch returns to the Cecropids and the opened basket — Pandrosos as the eldest daughter to whom Athena entrusted the infant, and whose sisters' curiosity dooms the house.
The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1615
Another Rubens treatment of the Athenian crisis: the princesses uncover Erichthonius — Pandrosos' myth as the obedient sister in a story that made Cecrops' daughters Attic household names.
In play
Pandrosus
Eldest daughter of Cecrops; Athena entrusts her with the chest holding Erichthonius — later honored with a shrine on the Acropolis beside the olive of Athena.
Erichthonius of Athens
The serpent-child Pandrosos was told to guard — Athens' autochthon whose discovery by the Cecropids drives the sisters' myth.