In Greek mythology, Praxithea (Ancient Greek: Πραξιθέα) was an Athenian woman, the daughter of Phrasimus and Diogeneia (a daughter of the river-god Cephissus), who became queen of Athens after marrying King Erechtheus. She bore Erechtheus many children, including the sons Cecrops, Pandorus and Metion and several daughters. She is best known from Euripides' lost tragedy Erechtheus, in which she consents to the sacrifice of one of her daughters to save the city and, after Erechtheus is killed by Poseidon, is appointed by Athena as the first priestess of Athena Polias.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Praxithea" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Praxithea was an Athenian, the daughter of Phrasimus and of Diogeneia, herself a daughter of the river-god Cephissus. She became queen of Athens after marrying King Erechtheus.
By Erechtheus she was the mother of a large family. Her children are commonly listed as the sons Cecrops, Pandorus and Metion, together with the daughters Protogeneia, Pandora, Procris, Creusa, Oreithyia (Orithyia) and Chthonia.
Other figures are sometimes named among her possible children, including Orneus, Thespius, Eupalamus, Sicyon and Merope.
II.Mythology
Praxithea is best known through her role in the story of the self-sacrifice of the daughters of Erechtheus, dramatized in Euripides' tragedy Erechtheus, of which substantial fragments survive.
When Athens was threatened by war with Eleusis and its Thracian allies under Eumolpus, a son of Poseidon, an oracle declared that the city's survival depended on the death of one of the daughters of Erechtheus. In Euripides' play the decision turns on a great speech by Praxithea, in which she consents that her daughter be sacrificed for the good of the city. The surviving daughters, bound by a pact to die together, took their own lives as well.
Erechtheus won the ensuing battle and slew Eumolpus, but he himself was then struck down: Poseidon, avenging his son, drove Erechtheus into the earth with blows of his trident.
At the close of the tragedy the goddess Athena appears and resolves the action. She orders that a shrine be built for Erechtheus in the middle of the city, and addresses the widowed Praxithea, telling her: since she has, in effect, rebuilt the city's foundations, she is granted the duty of bringing in the preliminary fire-sacrifices for the city and is to be called Athena's priestess. Praxithea thus becomes the first priestess of Athena Polias.
III.Etymology
The Ancient Greek name Πραξιθέα (Praxithea) has been understood to mean "exacting goddess" or "commerce goddess."
Praxithea is not a single individual in the sources but a name borne by several mythological women, among them a Naiad nymph who married Erichthonius, a woman at Eleusis connected with the Demophon episode, a daughter of Leos who sacrificed herself for Athens, and one of the daughters of Thespius. The figure treated here is the Athenian queen, wife of Erechtheus.