Xuthus

One of the three sons of Hellen; his brothers were Doris and Aiolos (Aeolus); he was the husband of Kreusa (Creusa) and the stepfather of Ion.

When Xuthus married Kreusa he did not realize that she had a son by Apollon which Kreusa had abandoned in a cave; Hermes rescued the abandoned child, named Ion, and took him to Delphi to be raised by the priestesses of Apollon; when their marriage was childless, Xuthus and Kreusa went to the temple of Apollon at Delphi for advice; they were told that they should adopt the first child they met when they left the temple; the first child they encountered was Ion but Kreusa was sure that Ion was a child of Xuthus born out of wedlock to another woman; she plotted to kill Ion but the priestess of Apollon showed her the swaddling clothing in which the infant was wrapped when he had been presented at the temple; Kreusa accepted the fact that Ion was her abandoned child and she and Xuthus took the child to Athens where, according to Athene (Athena), a prophecy had been fulfilled and that Ion would become the founder of the Ionian race.