In Greek mythology, Xuthus (Ancient Greek: Ξοῦθος) was a Phthian prince who later became a king in the Peloponnese. A son of Hellen, he was, through his own sons Ion and Achaeus, regarded as the founder of the Ionian and Achaean nations. Together with his brothers Dorus and Aeolus, he forms part of the genealogical scheme by which the Greeks traced the origins of their major tribes.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Xuthus" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Xuthus was a son of King Hellen of Thessaly and the nymph Orseis, and a brother of Dorus, Aeolus, Xenopatra and probably Neonus. By Creusa, the Athenian daughter of King Erechtheus, he had two sons, Ion and Achaeus, and a daughter named Diomede.
Euripides's play Ion provides an unusual alternate version, according to which Xuthus was the son of Aeolus, and Ion was begotten upon Xuthus's wife Creusa by Apollo. Variations on Xuthus's paternity of Ion include that he is the true father, that he has been tricked by Apollo and Creusa, or that he has deluded himself into believing he is the father. The most common version is that he adopted Ion at the command of the Oracle of Delphi. In some accounts Xuthus later fathered Dorus and Achaeus with Creusa, although Dorus is normally presented instead as Xuthus's brother.
II.Mythology
According to the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, which treats the origin of the Greeks, Hellen's three sons — Dorus, Xuthus (with his own sons Ion and Achaeus) and Aeolus — comprised the set of progenitors of the major ancient tribes that formed the Greek nation.
In Euripides's play Ion, Xuthus and Creusa visit the Oracle at Delphi to ask whether they may hope for a child, and are told that they already have one: Ion, who was fathered by Apollo and borne by Creusa, though Creusa had forgotten her son because of the trauma of her rape by Apollo. The Oracle tells the couple that Ion is Xuthus's son and that Creusa's family should adopt him as an Athenian. This makes Creusa so angry that she tries to murder her stepson, but fails. It is at this point that Creusa finds the crib in which the infant Ion had slept and realizes that she is his mother. Despite Ion having been adopted, Xuthus is proud to be a father and introduces Ion to Athens as his legitimate son.
III.Genealogy of the Hellenes
Xuthus appears in the standard genealogy of the Hellenes, which traces descent from the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene through Prometheus and Epimetheus to Deucalion and Pyrrha, and then to their son Hellen.
From Hellen and the nymph Orseis come the brothers Aeolus, Dorus and Xuthus. Through Xuthus and Creusa the line continues to his sons Ion and Achaeus, regarded respectively as the eponymous ancestors of the Ionians and the Achaeans.