Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/620

606 former beloved, caused a cup to be presented to the youth, which was filled with the poisonous blood of a dragon. However, her object was discovered, for as Ion, before drinking, poured out a libation to the gods, a pigeon which drank of it died on the spot. Creusa thereupon fled to the altar of the god. Ion dragged her away, and was on the point of killing her, when a priestess interfered, explained the mystery, and showed that Ion was the son of Creusa. Mother and son thus became reconciled, but Xuthus was not let into the secret. The latter, however, was satisfied, for he too re- ceived a promise that he should become a father, viz. of Dorus and Achaeus.

The inhabitants of Aegialus, on the northern coast of Peloponnesus, were likewise lonians, and among them another tradition was current. Xuthus, when expelled from Thessaly, went to Aegialus. After his death Ion was on the point of marching against the Aegialeans, when their king Selinus gave him his daughter Helice in marriage. After the death of Selinus, Ion succeeded to the throne, and thus the Aegia- leans received the name of lonians, and the town of Helice was built in honour of Ion's wife. (Pans, vii. 1. § 2 ; ApoUod. i. 7. § 2.) Other traditions represent Ion as king of Athens between the reigns of Erechtheus and Cecrops ; for it is said that his assistance was called in by the Athenians in their war with the Eleusinians, that he conquered Eu- molpus, and then became king of Athens. He there became the father of four sons, Geleon, Aegi- cores, Argades, and Hoples, according to whom he divided the Athenians into four classes, which de- rived their names from his sons. After his death he was buried at Potamus. (Eurip. /ow, 578 ; Strab. viii. p. 3h3 ; Conon, Narrat. 27 ; comp. Herod. V. QG.) [L. S.]

 ION C'lwi'), of Thessalonica, was an officer of Perseus, king of Macedonia, and commanded, with Timanor, his light-armed troops in the battle in Thessaly, in which the Romans were defeated, B, c, 171. In B. c. 168, after Perseus had been conquered at Pydna, Ion delivered up at Sarao- thrace to Cn. Octavius (the commander of the Roman fleet) the king's younger children, who had been entrusted to his care. (Liv. xlii. 58, xlv. 6.) [E. E.]

 ION ("Icoi'). 1. Of Chios, was one of the five Athenian tragic poets of the canon, and also a com- poser of other kinds of poetry ; and, moreover, a prose writer, both of history and philosophy. He is mentioned by Strabo (xiv. p. 645) among the celebrated men of Chios. He was the son of Or- thomenes, and was surnamed the son of Xuthus : the latter was probably a nickname given him by the comic poets, in allusion to Xuthus, the father of the mythical Ion. (Schol. ad AristopL Pac. 830 ; Suid. Eudoc. Harpocr. s. v.) When very young he went to Athens, where he enjoyed the society of Cimon, of whom he left laudatory notices in some of his works (probably in the uTroyUj/Tj.uaTo), which are quoted by Plutarch. {Cim. 5, 9, 16.) The same writer informs us that Ion severely criti- cised Pericles {Peric. 5, 28), who is said to have been his rival in love. (Ath. x. p. 436, f.) Ion was familiarly acquainted with Aeschylus, if we may believe an anecdote related by Plutarch {De Profeci, in Virt. 8, p. 79), but he did not come forward as a tragedian till after that poet's death. We also learn from Ion himself (in his itriZmixlai^ ap, Aik. xiii. p. 603, e.) that he met Sophocles a1 Chios, when the latter was commander of the ex- pedition against Samos, b. c. 440. His first tragedj was brought out in the 82d Olympiad ( B. c. 452) he is mentioned as third in competition with Euri- pides and lophon, in Oh 87, 4 (b. c. 429—428) and he died before B.C. 421, as appears from the Peace of Aristophanes (830), which was brought out in that year. Only one victory of Ion's is mentioned, on which occasion, it is said, having gained the dithyrambic and tragic prizes at the same time, he presented every Athenian with a pitcher of Chian wine. (Schol. ad AristopL I.e. ; Suid. s. V. 'AOwaios ; Ath. i. p. 3, f. ; Eustath. aa Horn. p. 1454, 24.) Hence it would seem that he was a man of considerable wealth.

The number of his tragedies is variously stated at 12, 30, and 40. We have the titles and a few fragments of 11, namely, 'Ayaixe/ivuv, ^AKk/j-t^ut], 'Apye7oi, Meya Apcifxa, ^povpol, ^otvi^ ^ Kaivivs. ^otvi^ Sevrepos^ TeuKpos^ 'OfX(pdri, EdpxrriSai, and AaepTTjs, of which the 'O/xcpaKr) was a satyric drama. Longinus (33) describes the style of Ion's tragedies as marked by petty refinements and wanJ of boldness, and he adds an expression which shows the distance which there was, in the opinion of the ancients, between the great tragedians and the best of their rivals, that no one in his senses would compare the value of the Oedipus with that of a!] the tragedies of Ion taken together. Nevertheless, he was greatly admired, chiefly, it would seem, for a sort of elegant wit. IlepiSorfTos Se iyeveTo, says the scholiast. There are some beautiful passages in the extant fragments of his tragedies. Commenta- ries were written upon him by Arcesilaus, Batton of Sinope, Didymus, Epigenes, and even by Ari- starchus. (Diog. Laert. iv. 31 ; Ath. x. p. 436, f, xi. p. 468, c, d, xiv. p. 634, c, e.)

Besides his tragedies, we are told by the scho- liast on Aristophanes, that Ion also wrote lyric poems, comedies, epigrams, paeans, hymns, scholia, and elegies. Respecting his comedies, a doubt has been raised, on account of the confusion between comedy and tragedy, which is so frequent in the writings of the grammarians ; but, in the case of so universal a writer as Ion, the probability seems to be in favour of the scholiast's statement. Of his elegies we have still some remnants in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 161.)

His prose works, mentioned by the scholiast on Aristophanes, are one called TrpeaSevTiKov, which some thought spurious ; /CTtVis, KoafxoXoryiKSs, iJTrojLiM7|UaTa, and some others, which are not speci- fied. The nature of the first of these works is not known. The full title of the ktIcxis was Xiov kt'kjls : it was an historical work, in the Ionic dialect, and apparently in imitation of Herodotus : it was probably the same as the avyy pa<pi^, which is quoted by Pausanias (vii. 4. § 6.) The Koa/mo- XoyiKSs is probably the same as the philosophical work, entitled rpiayfios (or Tpiayfxoi), which seems to have been a treatise on the constitution of things according to the theory of triads, and which some ancient writers ascribed to Orpheus. The vtrofjivri- fxara are by some writers identified with the eTrt- ht]^iai or kK^T}iJ.ririK6s (Pollux, ii. 88.), which con- tained either an account of his own travels, or of the visits of great men to Chios. (Eentley, Epist. ad Jolt. Millium^ Chronica Joannis Maielue subjecta^ Oxon. 1691, Venet. 1733; Opusc. pp.494— 510 ed. Lips.; C. Nieberding, De lonis Chii Viia, Mori- 