CREUSA OF ATHENS (mortal queen of Athens)

Creusa married Xuthus, an Achaean man descended from Aeolus, who had received an oracle that a youth would be his son.^2,3 Accounts differ on how Xuthus won her hand: one says he helped end a war between Athens and Chalcodon, while another says he sacked Euboea while allied with Cecrops' sons.^4,5 Despite their union, Creusa and her husband remained childless for many years, leading them to travel to Apollo's oracle to seek offspring.^5,4 Creusa sought a divine answer regarding her hopes for children and instructed her maids to report on her husband's status regarding future offspring.⁶

Apollo forced his love upon Creusa beneath a rock north of Athens, a place also known by the alternative name Creusia.^7,8,9 Creusa bore a son in a cave without her father's knowledge and concealed this past union from her husband.^7,8,10 She wrapped the baby in her broidered robe and fastened her maiden loom work around him as swaddling clothes.^11,12,7,8 Creusa included golden serpents in the bundle to copy the ancestor Erichthonius and intended them to serve as necklaces for the newborn.¹³ She also bound an olive wreath around the infant's brow from Athena's sacred tree.¹³ Following ancestral custom, she abandoned the infant to die, placing him in a rounded ark in a desert cave near a rock with nightingales.^13,8,7,11

Hermes carried the infant in his arms to Apollo's care, and the child, named Ion, was later met by Xuthus as a youth sweeping the shrine.^12,14 She stated she tried to kill Ion to prevent her own death and to hide her relationship with the god.^15,16 Creusa later learned of Ion's existence and, fearing reproach for troubling secrets, asked him to keep her inquiry secret from her husband.¹⁷

Creusa wept and was disquieted at the sight of Apollo's sanctuary, lamenting the injustice of lords and masters bringing women to ruin.¹⁸ She accused both men and gods of being treacherous toward her and considered them ungrateful traitors to their loves.¹⁰ Creusa swears by Athena that no mortal man is the father of Ion, asserting that the god Loxias is the true parent.¹⁶ She explains that Loxias gave Ion to Xuthus as a gift so he could inherit a human family name, and Creusa is advised to remain silent about the child's true parentage.^16,12 Creusa was given up to die by the vote of Delphi, and she was instructed to take the young man to Cecrops' land and establish him on the monarch's throne.^19,12