In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, four people had the name Creusa (or Kreousa - Κρέουσα); the name simply means "princess".

Naiad

According to Pindar

Pindar

Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...

's 9th Pythian Ode, Creusa was a naiad and daughter of Gaia

Gaia (mythology)

Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...

 who bore Hypseus

Hypseus

In Greek mythology, the name Hypseus may refer to:*Hypseus, King of the Lapiths, son of the river god Peneus by the naiad Creusa, daughter of Gaia. By Chlidanope he had four daughters: Cyrene, Themisto, Alcaea and Astyagyia .*Hypseus, who fought on Phineus' side against Perseus...

, King of the Lapiths to the river god Peneus

Peneus

In Greek mythology, Peneus was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers , a child of Oceanus and Tethys. The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapiths, and three daughters, Menippe , Daphne, and Stilbe. He also had a son Atrax with Bura, and Andreus with...

. Hypseus had one daughter, Cyrene

Cyrene (mythology)

In Greek mythology, as recorded in Pindar's 9th Pythian ode, Cyrene was the daughter of Hypseus, King of the Lapiths. When a lion attacked her father's sheep, Cyrene wrestled with the lion. Apollo, who was present, immediately fell in love with her and kidnapped her. He took her to North...

. When a lion attacked her father's sheep, Cyrene wrestled with the lion. Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

 happened along and immediately fell in love with her and kidnapped her. He took her to North Africa and founded the city of Cyrene

Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...

 in her name. The region, Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...

, is also named for her. Together, she and Apollo had one son: Aristaeus

Aristaeus

A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...

.

Daughter of Creon

Creusa was the daughter of King Creon

Creon (disambiguation)

-Greek mythology and history:* Creon, King of Thebes in the legend of Oedipus.* Creon, King of Thebes and father of Megara* Creon, King of Corinth and father of Creusa* Creon, son of Heracles* Creon, the third Archon of Athens-Geography:...

 of Corinth, Greece. After Jason

Jason

Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...

 divorced Medea

Medea

Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...

, he married Creusa. Medea obtained her revenge by giving Creusa a dress which Medea had cursed. The curse caused the dress to stick to Creusa's body and burn her to death as soon as she put it on. Also known by Greek authors by the name Glauce

Glauce

In Greek mythology, Glauce , Latin Glauca, refers to seven different people:#Glauce, daughter of Creon. She married Jason. She was killed, along with Jason's children, by his wife, Medea. Also known by the name Creusa, predominantly in Latin authors, e.g...

, e.g. in Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.9.28.

Daughter of Erechtheus

Interwiki : bn

Creusa was the daughter of Erechtheus

Erechtheus

Erechtheus in Greek mythology was the name of an archaic king of Athens, the re-founder of the polis and a double at Athens for Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus"...

, King of Athens and his wife, Praxithea

Praxithea

- Wife of Erichthonius :Praxithea was a Naiad nymph. According to Apollodorus Praxithea married Erichthonius of Athens and by him had a son named Pandion I...

, who was spared the fate of her sisters, who died in order to protect Athens, because she was an infant. According to Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...

's Eoiae she was mother of a son Achaeus

Achaeus, son of Xuthus

Achaeus was, according to nearly all traditions, a son of Xuthus and Creusa, and consequently a brother of Ion and grandson of Hellen. The Achaeans regarded him as the author of their race, and derived from him their own name as well as that of Achaia, which was formerly called Aegialus...

, a daughter named Diomede

Diomede

Diomede is the name of four women in Greek mythology.- Diomede of Lesbos :As written in Homer's Iliad, Diomede was a mistress of Achilles, taken up after the seizure of Briseis by King Agamemnon. Her father was Phorbas of Lesbos.- Diomede the Lapith :Diomede was a Lapith, and daughter of Lapithes...

, and presumably another son Ion, but according to Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

' Ion

Ion (play)

Ion is an ancient Greek play by Euripides, thought to be written between 414 and 412 BC. It follows the orphan Ion in the discovery of his origins.-Background:...

, in which she is a prominent character, she was mother of Ion by Apollo and of Achaeus and Dorus

Dorus

-People:*Dorus de Vries, Dutch footballer*Dorus Rijkers, Dutch lifeboat captain*Stage name of Dutch comedian Tom Manders-Greek mythology:*Dorus, son of Hellen and founder of the Dorian nation*Dorus, son of Apollo and Phthia, and the father of Xanthippe...

 by her husband Xuthus

Xuthus

In Greek mythology, Xuthus was a son of Hellen and Orseis and founder of the Achaean and Ionian nations. He had two sons by Creusa: Ion and Achaeus and a daughter named Diomede.- Hesiod :...

. This is the only source which names Apollo as Ion's father, so it may have been invented for the play.

Creusa in Virgil's Aeneid

Creusa was the wife of Aeneas and mother to Ascanius

Ascanius

Ascanius is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and a legendary king of Alba Longa. He is a character of Roman mythology, and has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is son of Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being...

 (also known as Iulus). As Troy is falling to the Greeks, Aeneas goes to his home to lead his father Anchises

Anchises

In Greek mythology, Anchises was the son of Capys and Themiste . His major claim to fame in Greek mythology is that he was a mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite . One version is that Aphrodite pretended to be a Phrygian princess and seduced him for nearly two weeks of lovemaking...

, Creusa, and their son Ascanius out of the city and into the countryside. Anchises refuses to leave the house, prompting Aeneas to decide that he will leave to continue the fight against the Greeks so that he may die in battle. Creusa grabs his feet and begs him to think of what would become of Iulus, Anchises and herself if Aeneas were to be killed. As she does this, Iulus catches fire with an un-earthly flame. The flame is quickly doused with water. Anchises believes this to be an omen from Jupiter, who confirms this omen by sending a shooting star. Anchises now agrees to flee Troy. The family leaves the home, Aeneas carrying his father and Iulus holding his hand, while Creusa is to remain some distance behind them. As they flee through the city, pursued by Greeks, they reach the gates and begin to run after noticing that the Greeks appear to be gaining on them. Creusa was unable to keep up with them. After reaching Ceres

Ceres (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres"...

’ temple outside of the city, Aeneas leaves Anchises and Ascanius there to go back in search of Creusa. As he searches the city without success, he meets the ghost of Creusa, who tells him that she may not leave the city with him. She predicts his journey to Hesperia

Hesperia

Hesperia may refer to:Hesperia or Hesper is the Greek goddess of the evening star in Greek mythology,may refer to:* Hesperia, one of the Hesperides in Greek mythology...

, Italy and future marriage to another. She asks that Aeneas take care of their child and vanishes. Aeneas tries three times to hold her, each time failing to grasp her wraith.