According to
Greek mythology,
Ion (; ,
gen.: Ἴωνος) was the illegitimate child of
Creüsa, daughter of
Erechtheus and wife of
Xuthus. Creusa conceived Ion with
Apollo then she abandoned the child. Apollo asked Hermes to take Ion from his cradle. Ion was saved (and raised) by a priestess of the
Delphic Oracle. Later, Xuthus was informed by the oracle that the first person he met when leaving the oracle would be his son, and this person was Ion. He interpreted it to mean that he had fathered Ion, when, in fact, Apollo was giving him Ion as an adoptive son. Creusa was planning on killing Ion due to her jealousy that Xuthus had a son while she was still childless. At the same time, Ion was planning on doing harm to Creusa. In the end, Creusa found out that Ion was her child, and only Xuthus' adopted child. This is the story told in the tragedy
Ion by
Euripides.