γενεᾶς: for the gen., cp. Plat. Prot. 316B “Ἀπολλοδώρου υἱός, οἰκίας μεγάλης.” χθονίων ἀπ᾽ Ἐρεχθειδᾶν: for “ἀπὸ” with ref. to descent, cp. Ant. 193“παίδων τῶν ἀπ᾽ Οἰδίπου”. Erechtheus, “ὁ γηγενής” ( Her. 8. 55), ‘whom Earth, the grain-giver, brought forth, and Athena, daughter of Zeus, fostered’ ( Il. 2. 547), is representative of the Athenian claim to be “αὐτόχθονες”. It was in his reign, acc. to Her. 8. 44, that the folk once called “Κραναοί”, and then “Κεκροπίδαι”, were first named “Ἀθηναῖοι”. For “Ἐρεχθεῖδαι” as=“Ἀθηναῖοι”, cp. Pind. I. 2. 19“κλειναῖς Ἐρεχθειδᾶν χαρίτεσσιν ἀραρὼς ι ταῖς λιπαραῖς ἐν Ἀθάναις”, ‘having attained to the glorious honours given by the Erechtheidae in shining Athens.’ (In Soph. Ant. 981 f., however, the patronymic has a narrower sense, denoting merely the family of Erechtheus.) So, again, the Athenians are “Θησεῖδαι” ( Soph. O. C. 1066), the Thebans “Καδμεῖοι”, the Trojans or Romans Aeneadae; and an unknown poet (frag. adesp. 274) calls the Argives “χθονίους Ἰναχίδας”, where Hesychius explains the adj. by “αὐτόχθονας καὶ οὐκ ἐπήλυδας”,— the sense of χθονίων here. (Cp. O. C. 948 n.) Salamis is in this play a kingdom independent of Athens, but the Salaminians are of Athenian stock, and revere ‘sacred Athens’ (1222) as the metropolis of their race. See Introduction, § 4.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
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