cAdmus

cAdmus (From the East) Greek The founder of the city of Thebes in Boeotia. He was the son of King Agenor and Telephassa; brother of Europa, Cilix, and Phoenix; married Harmonia; father of Ino, Agave, Antonoë, and Semele (daughters), and Polydorus (a son). After Zeus, disguised as a white bull, carried off Europa, Agenor sent his three sons to search for her, warning them not to return home without their sister. Not being able to find Europa, each of the brothers settled down elsewhere. Cadmus, on the advice of the Delphic Oracle, eventually founded Thebes and married Harmonia. Cadmus and the Delphic Oracle When Cadmus searched for his sister after she had been stolen away by a white bull, he and a few companions crossed the sea to Delphi to consult the Oracle who resided there. The pythoness-oracle told Cadmus that he would found a city, and that he should give up the search for his sister and follow the tracks of a cow that would show him where to build the city. After a battle with a dragon and years of slavery under the war god Ares, Cadmus established Thebes. Cadmus and the Dragon Cadmus, with a few companions, followed a cow that had moon-shaped markings on its head. The cow went deep into Boeotia before she rested. Cadmus knew that her resting place was to be the site of the citadel, or fortress, of the city that the oracle had told him he would found. He decided to sacrifice the cow to Athene, goddess of wisdom. He sent his companions to get some purifying water from a nearby spring. A dragon, the guardian of the spring, killed them all before Cadmus could reach them. Cadmus crushed the dragon's head with a rock. He sacrificed the cow and Athene rewarded him a visit. She told him to pull out the dragon's teeth and plant them in the ground. Cadmus did this, and in a very short time a host of fully armed men sprang up eager to fight, for the dragon was sacred to Ares, the god who loved to fight. The men were called the Spartoi (Sown Men). Cadmus threw a stone into the midst of the Spartoi and at once the men started to attack each other, bellowing, until all but five were dead. Ares was angry with Cadmus for killing his serpent-dragon and a divine court sentenced Cadmus to become the slave of Ares for "a Great Year," which may mean as much as eight years. Cadmus Builds the Citadel Cadmus served many years of slavery under Ares, who was angry because Cadmus had killed one of his dragons. When the term of bondage ended, Cadmus and the Spartoi (the warriors born from the dragon's teeth) built the great citadel, or acropolis, called Cadmea in honor of Cadmus. Around the fortress rose Thebes. The Spartoi were to be the ancestors of the Theban nobility. Cadmus Marries Harmonia After Cadmus founded Thebes, he married Harmonia, the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. This was the first wedding of mortal beings ever attended by all 12 of the Olympian Gods. Cadmus had 12 golden thrones set up for them in his house. All the gods brought gifts: Aphrodite gave Harmonia a golden necklace made by Hephaestus that would make her irresistibly beautiful; Athene gave her a golden robe that would make her wise; Hermes gave her a lyre; and all the gods blessed Harmonia. Cadmus and Harmonia had four daughters; Ino, Agave, Antonoë, and Semele, and a son, Polydorus. In their old age, the royal house of Thebes was destroyed and Cadmus and Harmonia made their way to Illyria, an ancient region of the Balkan Peninsula, generally taken to mean the Adriatic Coast north of Albania and west of the Dinaric Alps. There they eventually turned into serpents. Cadmus and the Alphabet Cadmus, founder of Thebes, is said to have introduced the alphabet, and therefore writing, into Greece from his native Phoenicia. It is known that early Greek alphabets were derived from the Phoenician alphabet.