Ion (play)

Ion
Statue of Euripides
Written by	Euripides
Chorus	Creusa's handmaidens
Characters	Hermes Ion Creusa Xuthus Old Servant Messenger Pythia Athena
Place premiered	Athens
Original language	Ancient Greek
Genre	Tragedy
Setting	before the Temple of Apollo at Delphi

Ion (/ˈaɪɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ἴων, Iōn) is an ancient Greek play by Euripides, thought to have been written between 414 and 412 BC. It follows the orphan Ion, a young and willing servant in Apollo's temple, as he inadvertently discovers his biological origins. As it unfolds the play is also the powerful story of his mother, Creusa, as she strives to guide her own life after having experienced terrible abuse at the hands of a god who is beyond her power (or that of any mortal). Euripides' retelling of this myth is a radical step forward among the Greek tragedies: while in other plays of classical Athens individuals often rail against the disasters that the Fates or the gods have caused to befall them, in this powerful play both Creusa and Ion actually challenge whether the gods have any right to govern the destinies of human beings.^[1] In the end, however, Euripides takes a step back from this precipitous development in human thought.^[2]