Κρέουσαν τὴν Ἐρεχθέως Ἀπόλλων φθείρας ἔγκυον ἐποίησεν ἐν ᾿Αθήναις· ἡ δὲ τὸ γεννηθὲν ὑπὸ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν
ἐξέθηκε, τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον καὶ τοῦ ἀδικήματος καὶ τῆς λοχείας μάρτυρα λαβοῦσα. τὸ μὲν οὖν βρέφος
Ἑρμῆς ἀνελόμενος εἰς Δελφοὺς ἤνεγκεν· εὑροῦσα δ' ἡ προφῆτις ἀνέθρεψε. τὴν Κρέουσαν δὲ Ξοῦθος
ἔγημε· συμμαχήσας γὰρ ᾿Αθηναίοις τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τὸν τῆς προειρημένης γάμον ἔλαβε δῶρον. τούτωι μὲν
οὖν ἄλλος παῖς οὐκ ἐγένετο· τὸν δ᾽ ἐκτραφέντα ὑπὸ τῆς προφήτιδος οἱ Δελφοὶ νεωκόρον ἐποίησαν.
ὁ δὲ ἀγνοῶν τὸ ἐδούλευτε τῶι πατρί.
τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα· Ἑρμῆς, Ἴων, χορὸς ἐκ θεραπαινίδων Κρεούσης, Κρέουσα, Ξοῦθος, πρεσβύτης,
θεράπων Κρεούσης, Πυθία ἤτοι προφῆτις, Ἀθηνᾶ.
ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ δράματος ὑπόκειται ἐν Δελφοῖς.
Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, was violated by Apollo and became pregnant in Athens. She exposed the child beneath the Acropolis, making the same place a witness to both the crime and the birth. Hermes, however, took up the infant and carried it to Delphi, where the prophetess found and raised him. Later, Creusa married Xuthus, who had allied with the Athenians and received both the kingship and her hand in marriage as a gift. No other child was born to them. The child raised by the prophetess was made a temple attendant by the Delphians, though he did not know he was serving his own father.
Characters of the play: Hermes, Ion, chorus of Creusa’s handmaidens, Creusa, Xuthus, an old man, Creusa’s servant, the Pythia or prophetess, Athena.
The scene of the drama is set in Delphi.