When the princess gave birth to the child, she abandoned him in the same cave but Apollo father asked Hermes to take Ion from his cradle.
Creusa, imagining the boy to be a son of her husband by a former beloved while she was childless, she caused a cup to be presented to the youth, which was filled with the poisonous blood of a dragon.
However, her plot was discovered, for as Ion, before drinking, poured out a libation to the gods, a pigeon which drank of it died on the spot.
Ion was the son of Xuthus (rather than Apollo in this account)[2] who after being expelled from Thessaly or Attica was brought to the area during the reign of king Selinus.
After his father’s death, Ion was on the point of marching against the Aegialeans, when Selinus offered him his only child Helice in marriage, as well as to adopt him as his son and successor.
[7] According to some accounts, Ion was the father of Ellops, founder of Ellopia, and possibly of Aïclus (Aiklos) and Cothus (Kothos).
[10] The earlier Greek form of the name was *Ἰάϝων "Iáwōn", which, with the loss of the digamma, later became Ἰάων Iáōn,[11] or plural Iáones, as seen in epic poetry.