Category: Art

The Erechtheion (or Erechtheum) is an ancient Greek temple constructed on the acropolis of Athens between 421 and 406 BCE in the Golden Age of the city in order to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena and generally glorify the great city at the height of its power and influence. The Erechtheion has suffered a troubled history of misuse and neglect, but with its prominent position above the city and porch of six Caryatids, it remains one of the most distinctive buildings from antiquity.

Much like temples of  Ramesses II at Abu Simbel in Egypt, the Erechtheion has resonated with me from the moment I first saw pictures of it in sixth grade.

When I stumbled across an article documenting the modern day relocation of the Abu Simbel temples in an issue of National Geographic in the late sixties, I repeatedly asked my mom when we’d been there. Of course, she replied that we’d never been to Egypt, yet I distinctly remembered having been in that place at some point.

I have no such “I’ve been there” feeling regarding the Erechtheion, but I am in absolute awe of the beauty of the building, and like I wrote, it just resonates.

Proof of past lives? Maybe, but probably not, because the one thing I do believe is that if reincarnation is real, considering the vastness of the universe and the billions of undoubtedly inhabited worlds out there, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to be forced to live out multiple lives on this single rock we currently call home. That would imply there’s something inherently special about this planet—and human beings themselves—that I feel entirely unwarranted as it puts us back as the medieval “center of the universe” thing.