A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

606 ION. ION.:
former beloved, caused a cup to be presented to the ap. Ai;.- xiii. p. 603, e.) that he met Sophocles at
youth, which was filled with the poisonous blood of Chios, when the latter was commander of the exa dragon.' However, her object was discovered, for pedition against Samos, B. c. 440. His first tragedy
as Ion, before drinking, poured'out a libation to was brought out in the 82d Olympiad (B. c. 452);
the gods, a pigeon which drank of it died on the he is mentioned as third in competition with Eurispot. Creusa thereupon fled to the altar of the pides and Iophon, in 01. 87, 4 (B. c. 429-428);
god. Ion dragged her away, and was on the and he died before B. c. 421, as appears from thle
point of killing her, when a priestess interfered, Peace of Aristophanes (830), which was brought.
explained the mystery, and showed that Ion was out in that year. Only one victory of Ion's is
the son of Creusa. Mother and son thus became mentioned, on which occasion, it is said, having
reconciled, but Xuthus was not let into the secret.' gained the dithyrambic and tragic prizes at the.
The latter, however, was satisfied, for he too re- same time, he presented every Athenian with a
ceived a promise that he should become a father, viz. pitcher of Chian wine. (Schol. ad A ristoph. 1. c.;
of Dorus and Achaeus. Suid. s. av.'AOSvaLos; Ath. i. p. 3, f.; Eustath. ad
The inhabitants of A.egialus, on the northern Homrn. p. 1454, 24.) IHence it would seem that he
coast of Peloponnesus,' were likewise Ionians, was a man of considerable wealth.
and among them another tradition was current. The number of his tragedies is variously stated.
Xuthus, when expelled from Thessaly, went at 12, 30, and 40. We have the titles and a few
to Aegialus. After his death Ion was on the fragments of 11, namely,'A'ya/uE/,'uwv,'AAKmJuX vh,
point of marching against the Aegialeans, when'Apye~o7, ME'ya Apiaua, 4,povpoi,,oulst 4 Kawlvis,
their king Selinus gave him his daughter @oizvl, 5E rEpos, TeUKpos,'Olu.pdA1, EOpvTisal, and
Helice in marriage. After the death of Selinus, AaepmTs, of which the'Oeutpdk. was a satyric
Ion succeeded to the throne,.and thus the Aegia- drama. Longinus (33) describes the style of Ion's
leans received the name of Ionians, and the town tragedies as marked by petty refinements and want
of Helice was built in honour of Ion's wife. (Paus. of boldness, and he adds an expression which shows
vii. 1. ~ 2; Apollod. i. 7. ~ 2.) Other traditions the distance which there was, in the opinion of the
represent Ion as king of Athens between the reigns ancients, between the great tragedians and the best
of Erechtheus and Cecrops; for it is said that his of their rivals, that no one in his senses would
assistance was called in by the Athenians in their compare the value of the Oedipus with that of all
war with the Eleusinians, that he conquered Eu- the tragedies of Ion taken together. Nevertheless,
molpus, and then became king of Athens. He he was greatly admired, chiefly, it would seem, for
there became the father of four sons, Geleon, Aegi- *a sort of elegant wit. IIeptlg6e7os' 4YEYE7ro, says
cores, Argades, and Hoples, according to whom he the scholiast. There are some beautiful passages in
divided the Athenians into four classes, which de- the extant fragments of his tragedies. Commentarived their names from his sons. After his death ries were written upon him by Arcesilaus, Batton
he was buried at Potamus. (Eurip. Ion, 578; of Sinope, Didymus, Epigenes, and even by AriStrab. viii. p. 383; Conon, Narrat. 27; comp. starchus. (Diog. Lagrt. iv. 31; Ath. x. p. 436, f,.
Herod. v. 66.) [L. S.] xi. p. 468, c, d, xiv. p.634, c, e.)
ION (Iswv), of Thessalonica, was an officer of Besides his tragedies, we are told by the schoPerseus, king of Macedonia, and commanded, with liast on Aristophanes, that Ion also wrote lyric
Timanor, his light-armed troops in the battle in poems, comedies, epigrams, paeans, hymns,'scholia,
Thessaly, in which the Romans were defeated, and elegies. Respecting his comedies, a doubt has
B.c. 171. In B.c. 168, after Perseus had been been raised, on account of the confusion between
conquered at Pydna, Ion delivered up at Samo- comedy and tragedy, which is so frequent in the
thrace to Cn. Octavius (the commander of the writings of the grammarians; but, in the case of soRoman fleet) the king's younger children, who had universal a writer as Ion, the probability seems to
been entrusted to his care. (Liv. xlii. 58, xlv. be in favour of the scholiast's statement. Of his
6.) [E. E.] elegies we have still some remnants in the Greek
ION (Iwv). 1. Of Chios, was one of the five Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 161.)
Athenian tragic poets of the canon, and also a com- His prose works, mentioned by the scholiast on
poser of other kinds of poetry; and, moreover, a Aristophanes, are one called 7rpef~evTrlom', which
prose writer, both of history and philosophy. He some thought spurious; KIrIes-, VtKoeoAotyKds,
is mentioned by Strabo (xiv, p. 645) among the v7roev+iuara, and some others, which are not specicelebrated men of Chios. He was the son of Or- fled. The nature of the first of these works is not
thomenes, and was surnamed the son of Xuthus: known. The full title of the KTrIOLS was Xfou
the latter was probably a nickname given him by tcmtitrs: it was an historical work, in the Ionic
the comic poets, in allusion to Xuthus, the father dialect, and apparently in imitation of Herodotus:
of the mythical Ion. (Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. it was probably the same as the avuyypap4i, which
830; Suid. Eudoc. Harpocr. s. v.) When very is quoted by Pausanias (vii. 4. ~ 6.) The iKoeuoyoung he went to Athens, where he enjoyed the Ayotco' is probably the same as the philosophical
society of Cimon, of whom he left laudatory notices work, entitled -rpLanypls (or Tplayutof), which seems
in some of his works (probably in the OiroylvuyaT'a), to have been a treatise on the constitution of things
which are quoted by Plutarch. (Cim. 5, 9, 16.) according to the theory of triads, and which some
The same writer informs us that Ion severely criti- ancient writers ascribed to Orpheus. The vhroIpUIicised Pericles (Perlic. 5, 28), who is said to have ca~ra are by some writers identified with the e7rmbeen his rival in love. (Ath. x. p. 436, f.) Ion r77nlian or 4K0lmc~/mttcJy (Pollux, ii. 88.), which conwas familiarly acquainted with Aeschylus, if we tained either an account of his own travels, or of
may believe an anecdote related by Plutarch (De the visits of great men to Chios. (Bentley, Epist.
Profect. in Virt. 8, p. 79), but he did not come ad Jo]l. Milliurz, Chronico Joannis Malelae subjecta,
forward as a-tragedian till after that poet's death. Oxon. 1691, Venet. 1733; Opsow. pp. 494-510
We also learn from Ion himself (in his 4mrSz3ulaL, ed. Lips.; C. Nieberding, De lonis Chii Vita, Mori.