Cadmus, the founder of Thebes in Greek Mythology and the man who brought the alphabet to the
Greek world, lived a long and adventurous life. As is often the case, his story was
impacted heavily by the intervention of the Gods, but despite the hardships of his life,
it would seem the fates always had something special in mind for Cadmus, King of Thebes.
But how did it all begin? Let’s find out together, right now.
Cadmus was the son of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa of Tyre. He was one of five children,
four sons and one daughter – Europa. It is with the beautiful sister of Cadmus that
the story begins. As seems to be a common theme in many Greek
myths, once again one of the Gods was seduced by the beauty of a mortal and took the decision
to, rather than ask nicely, jump directly to kidnapping. In this case, the God in question
was Zeus himself and the lucky or unlucky, depending on your perspective, mortal was
Europa. Disguising himself as a magnificent white
bull, Zeus approached Europa as she was gathering flowers. As she moved to stroke the bull,
Zeus whipped her onto his back and ran off with his prize. He carried her to Crete where
she discovered the identify of her captor. Without diverging into a different story entirely,
Europa ended up giving birth to three sons of Zeus, marrying a local King and becoming
the first Queen of Crete. More importantly for our story today however,
was the consequence of her abduction for her brother Cadmus.
Devastated at the loss of his daughter, King Agenor dispatched his four sons on a mission
to find her and bring her home. They searched far and wide but none were able to find any
trace of their sister. One brother, Phoenix, soon gave up the quest
and settled in a place that was said to have been later named Phoenicia after him.
The other two brothers searched a little longer but eventually also decided the mission was
in vain, founding the cities Cilicia and Thassos. Cadmus was determined to never abandon the
search however and eventually settled in Thrace, where he went on a pilgrimage to the oracle
of Delphi in the hope he would learn the fate of his sister.
The oracle however advised him to give up the search for Europa, instead directing him
to found a new city just as his brothers had. He was instructed to follow a cow that was
waiting outside the oracle and build a city on the spot where the cow would stop to rest.
Locating the cow, he followed it until it reached Boeotia where, after crossing the
shallow waters of the Cephisus river, it fell to the ground in fatigue.
Cadmus knew this was the location the oracle had spoken of, and he decided to sacrifice
the cow to Athena, the goddess of heroic endeavour, to mark the occasion. Dispatching his followers
to look for the pure water required for the sacrifice, they came across a perfect spring.
As they were filling their vessels with water however, they were attacked by the guardian
of the spring, a fierce serpent like dragon, and were all killed.
When his followers did not return, Cadmus set off to discover their fate and came face
to face with the mighty dragon. He attacked without hesitation and following a ferocious
battle, was able to slay the monster. Taking a moment to honour his fallen companions,
he gathered the pure water and completed the sacrifice of the cow.
As soon as the sacrifice was finished, Athena appeared before him and ordered Cadmus to
remove half the teeth of the slain dragon and plant them in the ground at the spot of
the new city. The moment he did, a host of fierce warriors appeared out of the ground
and began a bloody battle amongst themselves. Watching in shock, Cadmus was soon left facing
the final five survivors who made peace amongst themselves and pledged their allegiance to
Cadmus. He named them the Spartoi or sown men, and with their help set about building
the great city promised by the oracle. At first it was named Cadmea after himself, but
soon it was renamed Thebes in honour of the Egyptian city found by his father. It is said
that for many generations following this moment, the noble families of Thebes could trace their
lineage back to the five Spartoi. Cadmus would introduce the Phoenician Alphabet in his time
here, sowing the seeds for the great Greek scholars to come and the spreading of knowledge
across the entire world. But things were not all so straightforward,
as it turned out the dragon that Cadmus had slain was sacred to the war God Ares who was
outraged at the killing. He punished Cadmus with 8 years of servitude, after which he
not only forgave him, but so impressed by his honour and strength, gave Cadmus the hand
of his daughter Harmonia in marriage. Despite the favour of all the gods and a marriage
blessed by their attendance, the shadow of the dragon and his deed still hung over Cadmus.
His family had many troubles and his new city suffered civil strife. Cadmus believed it
was the curse of the dragon he had slain and eventually took the decision to abdicate his
throne and move far away with his wife, sacrificing his own power to protect the city he had built
and loved so dearly. His troubled mind did not ease however, and
he began over time to imagine what it would be like to be a serpent himself, becoming
obsessed with the dragon he had slain all those years ago. He began to grow scales and
change, transforming into the very serpent that had haunted his dreams. His wife was
so distraught that she begged to be transformed also and her wish was granted.
Taking pity on the couple, Zeus carried them to the Elysian fields to remain for the rest
of their days. A fascinating story with a rather strange
ending. Cadmus is remembered now as the founder and first King of Thebes as well as the man
to bring the alphabet and writing to Greece. To this day, he remains known in parts of
the world as ‘carrier of the letter’. But the myth also has a darker side that speaks
of regret and obsession, the decision to kill the sacred dragon haunting him for the rest
of his life until he could cope no more and in perhaps the ultimate revenge for the slain
beast, Cadmus became himself the very thing he had destroyed.