Echetlus

A mysterious being, about whom the following tradition was current at Athens. During the battle of Marathon (490 BCE) there appeared among the Greeks a man, who resembled a rustic, and slew many of the barbarians with his plow. After the battle, when he was searched for, he was not to be found anywhere, and when the Athenians consulted the oracle, they were commanded to worship the hero Echetlaeus, that is the hero with the ἐχέτλη (echetlē), or plowshare.

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Iconography

Echetlus was to be seen in the painting in the Poecile, which represented the battle of Marathon.

References

Sources

  • Pausanias. Description of Greece i, 15.4, 32.4.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.