Athena's Presence In Ancient Greece

In this passage, Athena appears on top of the temple to address Ion and his mother after Ion’s identity as son of Creusa and Apollo has just been revealed by the discovery of the cradle in which Creusa exposed Ion as a child. Ion is still skeptical about his paternity and thus Athena arrives as a favor to Apollo to clarify the story of Ion’s birth. This paper will discuss the implications of Athena’s presence and Apollo’s absence and how this moment refocuses and brings new meaning to the play. Explaining her presence at the temple, Athena also explains how Apollo does not think it right to come in case there were some residual feelings of blame due to the past rape (Ion 1557-1558). While Apollo nods to this injustice of his actions, he

From the beginning of her speech Athena starts shifting the focus to Athens when she mentions that Ion and Creusa are in her good graces there (in Delphi) and in Athens (Ion 1554). She also brings up the connection between her, Ion, Creus and Athens in the line “ἐπώνυμος δὲ σῆς ἀφικόμην χθονὸς/ Παλλάς, (I Pallas have come from the eponymous land of yours)” (Ion 1555-56). Therefore, Athens belongs to all three of these characters. The claim Ion has on Athens is particularly brought out in this passage. A significant point is that while most of the play had been focused on the issue of who Ion’s father is, once it this issue is resolved it is important to consider the implications of who his mother is. Twice in this passage Athena explicitly states Ion’s parentage: first in the line “ὡς ἥδε τίκτει σ᾽ ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος πατρός, (that she bore you from Apollo as father)” (Ion 1560) and then in the line “σέ θ᾽ ὡς πέφυκας τῆσδε καὶ Φοίβου πατρός (and that you were born of her and of Phoebus as the father)” (Ion 1568). In both instances Creusa is mentioned before Apollo and is referenced with the deictic -δε. This emphasis brings to the forefront the fact that Ion is Creusa’s son and thus an Erechthed and the next ruler of