Frazer maintains the hitherto current theory that the earlier temple of Athena and Erechtheus was on the site of the Erechtheum; that the Erechtheum inherited the name apXa ios veclis from its predecessor, and that the " opisthodomos " in which the treasures were kept was the west chamber of the Parthenon; Furtwangler and Milchh6fer hold the strange view that the " opisthodomos " was a separate building at the east end of the Acropolis, while Penrose thinks the building discovered by Dorpfeld was possibly the Cecropeum.
White, on the other hand, accept Dorpfeld's identification, but believe that only the western portion of the temple or opisthodomos was rebuilt after the Persian War.
The temple consisted of an eastern cella with pronaos; behind this was the opisthodomos, divided into three chambers - possibly treasuries - with a portico at the western end.
The cella had a prodomos on the east and an opisthodomos on the west.
The Twelve Labours of Heracles were depicted on the metopes of the prodomos and opisthodomos; and of these reliefs much the greater part was found - enough to determine with certainty all the essential features of the composition.