Chapter 7: The Royal House of Athens
Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page
♠ Euripides, Ion 9-26
For Hellas has a famous city, which received its name from Pallas of the golden lance; [10] here Apollo forced a union on Creusa, the child of Erechtheus, where the rocks, turned to the north beneath the hill of Pallas’ Athenian land, are called Macrai by the lords of Attica. Unknown to her father —such was the pleasure of the god— [15] she bore the weight in her womb. When the time came, Creusa gave birth in the house to a child, and brought the infant to the same cave where the god had bedded her, and there exposed him to die in the round circle of a hollow cradle, [20] observant of the customs of her ancestors, and of Erichthonius, the earth-born. For the daughter of Zeus set beside him two serpents to guard his body, and gave him in charge to the daughters of Aglauros; [25] from which the Erechthidae have a custom to rear their children in gold serpents. Ornaments which the girl had she hung around her son, and left him to die. Greek Text
♠ Euripides, Ion 260-82
Creusa
Creusa is my name, Erechtheus my father, the city of Athens my fatherland.
Ion
O you that dwell in a famous city and were brought up by noble parents, how I marvel at you, lady.
Creusa
I am fortunate so far, stranger, and no further.
Ion
[265] By the gods, truly, as the tale goes among mortals—
Creusa
What are you asking about, stranger, that you want to know?
Ion
Your father’s ancestor grew from the earth?
Creusa
Yes, Erichthonius; but my family is no benefit to me.
Ion
And did Athena take him up from the earth?
Creusa
[270] Into her virgin hands; she was not his mother.
Ion
And gave him, as paintings usually show—
Creusa
To the daughters of Kekrops to keep, unseen.
Ion
I have heard that the maidens opened the vessel of the goddess.
Creusa
And so they died, making the promontory of the rock bloody
Ion
[275] I see. Well, what about this? Is it true, or a vain rumor—
Creusa
What are you asking? For I am at leisure.
Ion
Did your father Erechtheus sacrifice your sisters?
Creusa
He dared to kill the maidens, as a sacrifice for their country.
Ion
And you were the only one of your sisters saved?
Creusa
[280] I was a new-born infant in my mother’s arms.
Ion
Did a hollow of the earth truly hide your father?
Creusa
The blows of the sea-god’s trident destroyed him Greek Text
♠ Euripides, Ion 1163-64
And at the entrance, near his daughters, was Kekrops, twisting in his serpent spires, an offering from some Athenian (Transl. Aaron J. Ivey). Greek Text
Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page
Edited by Aaron J. Ivey, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Classics, University of Georgia, June 2016.
933 total views, 1 views today