Erechtheion

The Erechtheion was begun in 421 BC, eight years after the death of Pericles in a plague that killed thousands of Athenians. While the Peloponnesian War did not conclude until 404 BC, a truce (the Peace of Nikias) permitted work to proceed as planned. The Erechtheion was a complex building intended to house the cults of local divinities and heroes that were intimately associated with the Acropolis. More importantly, it was a home to the ancient xoanon or wooden cult statue of Athena Polias.

Though there are no extant ancient references to the building's architect, it is likely to have been Mnesicles, who in 432 BC was forced to suspend work on the Propylaia, begun sixteen years earlier, in 437 BC.