Creusa (daughter of Erechtheus)

In Greek mythology, Creusa (/kriˈuːsə/; Ancient Greek: Κρέουσα Kreousa "princess" ) was an Athenian princess.

Family

Creusa was the fourth daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens and his wife, Praxithea.^[1] She was the sister of Protogeneia, Pandora, Procris, Oreithyia and Chthonia.^[2] Apollodorus mentions Creusa as the mother of Achaeus and Ion by her husband Xuthus;^[3] she is presumably also the mother of Xuthus' daughter Diomede.^[4]

However, according to Euripides' Ion, in which she is a prominent character, Creusa was mother of Ion by Apollo, while Xuthus was infertile so he accepted Ion as his own son. Creusa is also mentioned as the mother of Ion with Apollo by Stephanus of Byzantium^[5] and in several scholia. Hyginus calls Creusa mother of Cephalus by Hermes.^[6]

Mythology

Creusa was spared of the fate of her sisters because she was an infant at the time they had sworn to commit suicide if one of them died.^[7]

In the play Ion, Creusa was raped by Apollo long before her marriage to Xuthus, and exposed the newborn baby in fear of her parents' wrath. Years later, Xuthus went to consult the Delphian oracle about his marriage to Creusa being childless and met Ion, who had been raised at the temple of Apollo; the prophecy seemed to indicate Ion as his son, so Xuthus decided to adopt the youth. Creusa, unaware of her husband's infertility, thought that Ion's birth must have been the result of Xuthus' adultery in the past, and attempted to poison the young man, but he was in time to discover her intent, and was about to kill her. Eventually Creusa realized that Ion was her son by Apollo she had abandoned, after Ion described to her the contents of the basket he had been found in as a baby; they, however, agreed to keep it a secret from Xuthus. In the end of the play, Athena promised that Creusa and Xuthus would have two sons together, Achaeus and Dorus.^[8]

References