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Athena takes over this task, she adopts the child.

She calls the crawling creature Erechtheus, which means the earth-born.

Athena hides it in a holy basket which she places in the care of one of her high priestesses.

One day when she returns from one of them, the basket with the little slumbering Erechtheus in her arms, her two sisters curiously lift up the basket lid. When they see a child with a snake tail, they panic, scream in horror and throw themselves off the acropolis.

Athena hurries over, she takes the child from a makeshift cradle and brings him to safety in her temple.

Day in, day out, she raises the child with so much love that everyone who sees her is convinced that the goddess is the bodily mother.

At that time the gods lived in their palace on the Olympus but there is no city on earth dedicated only to them.

Zeus is of the opinion that must change as soon as possible, he calls all the gods together and asks them to choose a city in which people should worship, a city for every god.

Everyone makes his choice.

Apollo chooses Delphi, Ares chooses Sparta, Aphrodite settles in Corinth and even Artemis the unapproachable loner chooses a city, Ephesus.

When then Poseidon and Athena are at the line, they both claim to the region of Attica, it comes to a dispute.

When Zeus sees his brother and daughter arguing more and more, he decides to let the king of Attica, the wise Cecrops, decide.

Cecrops is a good ruler, he has banned human sacrifices and made his region the most civilized in the world. He introduced monogamy, marriage and the first courts. He was the first to give men and women the right to vote.

Zeus' wish is Cecrop's command, he locks himself in his palace and when he reappears a few hours later, he announces that the city is to be subjected to violence by God, who gives people the most useful gift.

Poseidon immediately sees himself as a victor. The god of the sea hits the ground with his trident and creates a wonderful spring from which saltwater pours over the dried out flats.

Poseidon gives the population of Attica a magnificent basar, a kind of huge swimming pool in which people can spend their free time and, if they wish, do water sports.

But that's not all, he gives the king of Cecrops a wonderful black stallion, a wonderful horse that the spray originated from and is famous for its invincibility in war.

Athena is thinking.

With one movement of her hand she makes a tree sprout from the earth, a mighty tree with silvery branches and a gnarled trunk, an olive tree. An olive tree that, she promises, will never lose its leaves, not even in winter. This tree, she says, will bear the fruits that will blackmail until they are completely ripe. It will feed you and your children and children's children. This tree is the symbol of peace and fertility that I give you.

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