Ioannis Mitsios, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

“Mythologizing rivers in ancientAthens: the case of Kephisos”

Three rivers used to cross the city of ancient Athens: Kephisos, Ilisos and Eridanos,
with Kephisos being the biggest and most important one, connected to myths and cults
of Attica.

According to Euripides (Erechtheus F 370.63; Ion 1261), Kephisos was the father of
the Naiad Nymph Praxithea, wife of the Athenian king Erechtheus and we know that
the river received cult in the area of Phaleron, along with Hermes and the Nymphs.
Kephisos was known in the iconography of ancient Athens — shown in vases, votive
reliefs and architectural sculpture — and most importantly he was depicted on the west
pediment of the Parthenon.

In my paper by employing a holistic approach — taking into consideration the literary,
epigraphic, iconographic and topographic evidence, along with the historical and
ideological context of the classical period — I will examine the several different aspects
of the river Kephisos and his relevance to the myths of ancient Athens.