Thanks to Kevin T. Glowacki and Nancy L. Klein

Each of the ten Athenian tribes honored with a tribal cult a legendary hero from whom it derived its name (thus 'eponymous' heroes).¹Perhaps the most famous of these ten heroes was Aias, the son of Telamon, who fought bravely at Troy.  His not being selected "the best of the Achaeans" after the death of his cousin Achilles led to his suicide.  Others prominent in myth were: Erechtheus, Aegeus, Pandion, and Cecrops.

This monument, a marble podium with ten bronze statues flanked on both sides by tripods,² was located directly across from the Metroôn, which was adjacent to the Bouleuterion and the Tholos.  It was an important information center for the Athenians, to which were attached whitened boards with proposed legislation, charges in  public prosecutions, agendas for the Assembly, and military conscription lists.

1.  The Athenian tribes were artificial political divisions of the Athenian people based on geography rather than kinship.  Organization of the  populace into tribes was the basis of all Athenian civic life.
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2.  A tripod, because of its use in cooking sacrificial meat, was religious symbol for the Greeks, like a menorah for Jews or a crucifix for Christians.  Return to text.
 

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