AGLAUROS

in Greek mythology, eldest daughter of the Athenian king Cecrops. Aglauros died with her sisters by leaping in fear from the Acropolis after seeing the infant Erechthonius, a human with a serpent's tail. The Roman poet Ovid, however, related that Aglauros was turned to stone by the god Mercury in retribution for her attempt to frustrate his abduction of Herse, Aglauros' youngest sister. Aglauros and her sisters (Herse and Pandrosos) were apparently at first fertility deities. Aglauros had a sanctuary on the Acropolis in which young men of military age swore an oath to her as well as to Zeus and to other deities. The honour, however, may have stemmed from another legendthat Aglauros had sacrificed herself for the city during a protracted war.