Early Greek texts do not distinguish between him and Erechtheus,[1] his grandson, but by the fourth century BC, during Classical times, they are distinct figures.
During the struggle, his semen fell on her thigh, and Athena, in disgust, wiped it away with a scrap of wool (ἔριον, erion) and flung it to the earth (χθών, chthôn).
Pandrosus obeyed, but Herse and Aglaurus were overcome with curiosity and opened the box, containing the infant and future-king, Erichthonius ("troubles born from the earth," following another etymology).
An alternative version of the story is that Athena left the box with the daughters of Cecrops while she went to fetch a limestone mountain from the Pallene peninsula to use in the Acropolis.
A crow saw them open the box, and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain she was carrying which became Mount Lycabettus.
According to the Parian Chronicle, he taught his people to yoke horses and use them to pull chariots, to smelt silver, and to till the earth with a plough.