| Summary: | In feminist scholarship, the Athenian claim for autochthony has sometimes been interpreted as a product of the patriarchic system and therefore as a decisively androcentric perspective. According to Nicole Loraux, the earth goddess Ge was used to rid the Athenians of the female sex and their reproductive function. It is only recently that scholars have given up this dichotomous interpretation in favour for a rather pragmatic perspective. This article tackles the issue from an archaeological point of view: the analysis of selected images will demonstrate that maternal figures play a prominent role in the construction of Athenian civic identity. These images not only testify the increasing importance of autochthony but also point to a new discourse on motherhood. It can be argued that, for the first time in classical Athenian history, motherhood obtained a decidedly political dimension.
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