Myth of Cadmus: Founder of Thebes
- Kylie Hughes
- Dec 12, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: Jan 13
MYTH RETOLD
Cadmus, legendary founder of Thebes, went in search of his sister, but was instead told to follow a wandering cow and build a city where it chose to lie down. Along the way, he slew a dragon that guarded a sacred spring and grew a field of fearsome warriors from the dead dragon's teeth. With their help, Cadmus built Thebes and was credited in revolutionising the Greek alphabet. The ultimate high achiever, yet Cadmus' lineage was beset with dramatic misfortune and tragedy.
According to Ovid, the story goes like this...
This is not how Cadmus' life was supposed to play out. He was a prince of Phoenicia, for god's sake. A royal heir whose lineage could be traced back to Poseidon, mighty god of the sea, as well as the mythical kings of Egypt. His parents were King Agenor and Queen Telephassa of Tyre. Yet suddenly, here he was, expelled from his homeland and cut off from his birthright.
The cause of Cadmus' sudden expulsion was an abduction. Cadmus' sister Europa had been abducted by Zeus and was nowhere to be found. Agenor and Telephassa were beset with grief, and so they dispatched their sons—Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix—to find their Europa and, in Agenor's words, never return without her.
Cadmus dutifully set off, eventually landing in Greece and finding his way to the famous Oracle of Delphi. The Delphic oracle is also know as the 'Pythia,' a psychic medium who channeled the all-knowing god Apollo. However, when Cadmus finally got an audience with the Pythia, she told him to forget all about Europa. The gods had grander plans for him.
The oracle told Cadmus hat he was to establish a new city in a new land. The location would be determined, not by following a map, or a star, or some other typical sign, but by following a cow and building a city where it eventually chose to lie down.
We can only suppose that Cadmus emerged from the temple in a cloud of questions. Were the oracle's words meant to be metaphorical? Encoded somehow? The matter was soon resolved. Not far from the temple, Cadmus happened upon a cow.
The docile beast stood a short distance away, all by itself on the rocky hillside. As Cadmus watched, the cow began to walk off. After a few seconds, she stopped, looked back, and let out a low moo, as if to say "well, are you coming?"
Cadmus followed... and followed... and followed. Day turned into night and back into day, and the cow kept plodding. Along the way, Cadmus collected a merry troupe of companions. Or perhaps Cadmus already had an entourage. The myth isn't specific about the origin of his friends, but I like to think they were drawn to the adventure. I like to imagine that lonely, outcast Cadmus was finally enjoying the comfort and joy of camaraderie that he had forsaken in search of Europa.
Eventually, the cow eventually did tire and, after turning a few wide circles, selected a lush patch of grass as her resting place. Cadmus looked about him, surveying the scene. Wide plains, perfect for crops and animal farming, were surrounded by mountains on three sides, protecting the valley like fortresses. Thick stands of virgin forest were filled with handsome timbers. Fresh water appeared to be plentiful. This place would do very nicely, indeed.
"By Apollo’s divine guidance, I call this place Boeotia. With the grace of the gods as our sponsors, we will build a fine city here!” cried Cadmus, and his friends responded with cheers.
But first things first, Cadmus began to prepare the cow for sacrifice. It would serve as an offering to the gods and provide their first feast in Boeotia. (Pronounced bee-owe-shee-ah.) Cadmus dispatched his companions to find pure water for the libation.
The group set out, soon discovering a trickling brook that increased in size as they followed it upstream into a thick forest. Straggly pine and spruce trees quickly conceded to magnificent ancient oaks, their twisting boughs dripping with moss. At the dark centre of the forest, they discovered the water source—a natural spring, so pure that it sparkled. This would do splendidly.
The stream flowed generously from a rocky hollow, and the men plunged their jugs into it, toasting their good fortune as they did. "To new beginnings!" they said, as they drank the sweet water.
Little did they know the sip would be their last. The rocky hollow was in fact a cave and, in its depths, lived an appalling beast—a dragon with eyes were the colour of fire and a scaly body bloated with poison.
The sound of the men filling their jugs woke the dragon and it darted from the hollow, quick as a whip and enormous. The ambushed men stood no chance. The beast attacked in a frenzy, eviscerating every one of them and slurping up their blood, as if quenching a thousand-year thirst.
When his comrades failed to return, Cadmus set out in the direction he had seen them leave. Like his friends, he followed a trickling brook through the meadow grass and into a thick stand of trees. The cool of the forest was a welcome break from the hot, sun-drenched plain and Cadmus was in a jovial mood. He expected to find his friends swimming in the stream or taking a nap. But we know this is not what awaited Cadmus.
As he reached the head of the stream, Cadmus came across the broken bodies of his friends and, in the middle of the murderous scene, a bloated dragon, feeding on flesh and bone. Grief gripped Cadmus in its icy claws. He froze. The air in his lungs turned solid and blood stood stood still in his veins. Then just as quickly, ice transformed to fire and Cadmus was consumed with burning rage.
He picked up a boulder, held it aloft in two strong hands, and flung it at the beast. The blow would have killed a man, but the heavy stone merely rattled off the dragon's scales. The startled dragon spun around as was upon poor Cadmus in a second.
Cadmus wore no armour and his only weapon was an iron-tipped spear which, no matter how hard he struck, did nothing against the serpent's scales. Yet still, a terrible fight ensued. Even when the dragon's teeth were within inches of slashing his face and its acidic drool was burning his skin, Cadmus felt no fear. It was too late for fear. All that remained was the will to fight.
I like to imagine that Cadmus was no longer fighting for his own survival, but waging war against every injustice ever done to him. I'm referring to his sister's abduction, his exile, and, mostly, his vain stupidity of hope in the gods—the same hope that infected his friends and drew them to their grisly deaths. It's like all of the spot fires of rage inside of Cadmus joined up and created a firestorm.
At one point, the dragon's tail whipped around, taking out Cadmus' legs and making him fall to the ground. The dragon lunged and snapped its jaws, taking a chunk out of Cadmus' side as he rolled aside. However, the change of angle offered Cadmus an unexpected advantage. He briefly observed a fleshy spot beneath the serpent's chin. The area was no bigger than a serving plate, but distinctively different—soft and scaleless.
This time, as the dragon prepared to strike, Cadmus was ready. With all his strength and discipline of timing, he plunged his spear upward, from a low angle, right into soft neck flesh. As he did, the serpent let out a hideous hiss. Its eyes widened and three acid tongues lashed at his face, but Cadmus held on.
The animal began to cough up yellow, pungent blood, all the while snapping and thrashing on the spear. Despite the dragon's vile emissions burning his eyes and skin, Cadmus held on and pushed harder still until, finally, the spear tip emerged between two scales on the top side of the dragon's neck. They both collapsed to the ground, the dragon in death throes and Cadmus, utterly despondent, with tears streaming from his eyes.
“Why, why, why?” Cadmus wailed into the empty forest.
Athena, goddess of wisdom and protector of men, heard Cadmus' cries and appeared to him, floating down from the branches of an ancient oak, resplendent in her aegis and divine armour.
"The gods have not forgotten you, Cadmus," she said kindly. "But the dragon you have slain belongs to Ares, god of war, and this area is sacred to him. There will be a price to pay."
Cadmus would have been too polite to diss Athena, but I think we can agree he would have preferred if the gods would forget him. First, Zeus stole his sister. Then Apollo ordered him to follow a damn cow. Then Ares' pet dragon killed his friends and, now it appeared, he would also be punished y Ares for trespassing.
Perhaps Athena read his mind. "Not all is lost, Cadmus," she added. "Ares' dragon has magical qualities. Collect its teeth and plant them in the ground, and each will grow into a fearsome warrior for your army."
Cadmus pulled himself together and, once again, did as he was told. He gathered dozens of teeth from the dragon's vile jaws, then cut furrows in the meadow soil with the end of his spear. He sowed the teeth in long rows and covered them with dirt. Within minutes, they began to sprout!
Fully grown warriors emerged from the soil, helmets first, greaves and sandals lasts, replete with shields and weapons. Not surprisingly, given that Ares was their sponsor, they carried his violent streak. As if the horrors of the day weren't enough, the rows of warriors quickly began to fight among themselves, attacking and killing each other almost as fast as they emerged from Mother Earth.
Eventually, only five warriors remained, the Spartoi ("sown men"), as they became known. These five became the founding council of Thebes and helped Cadmus build the citadel, which they called the Cadmea, in his honour.
Cadmus went on to live a long and fruitful life. In some versions of the myth, he served Ares for eight years to atone for slaughtering the dragon. All versions of the myth agree that Cadmus married Harmonia, the daughter born of an elicit affair between Olympian gods, Aphrodite and Ares. Cadmus and Harmonia produced five children: a son, Polydorus, and four daughters, Agave, Autonoë, Ino and Semele. Semele's child, fathered by Zeus, is the god Dionysus.
In scholarly terms, Cadmus is considered a 'culture hero.' As well as being the mythic founder of Thebes, he is a symbol of the east and its civilizing influence on Greek culture. Cadmus was credited for bringing the Phonetic alphabet to Greece. The Phonetic alphabet's adaptation into the Greek alphabet revolutionised their writing system and resulted in the flourishing of written communications, including theatre, education, philosophy, record keeping, and governance.
FURTHER READING:
But Cadmus and his lineage are also associated with dramatic misfortune. The myth of Cadmus is like a tree trunk that branches into multiple tragic narratives. For example...
As a wedding gift, Harmonia received a magical but cursed necklace crafted by the god Hephaestus. Hephaestus, you see, is married to Aphrodite and was none too happy to learn of her sexual affair with Ares. The elicit affair produced Harmonia, as well as various other offspring.
Cadmus' daughter Semele conceived a son to Zeus. Zeus accidentally killed the pregnant Semele by revealing himself to her in his supernatural form, but managed to save their unborn child by stitching the fetus into his thigh. The child, Dionysus, was later made immortal and promoted to Olympus as the god of wine, ecstasy and revelry—another connection with eastern cultural influences.
Semele's older sister Ino helped to raise Dionysus, only to throw herself into the sea after her husband was driven mad by Zeus' jealous wife Hera. In another myth, which serves as a backstory to 'Jason and the Argonauts,' Ino was a wicked stepmother who plotted to kill her stepchildren.
Autonoë's son Actaeon is the ill-fated hunter who happened upon Artemis bathing. He was punished for his accidental indiscretion by being transformed into a stag and then torn to pieces by his own hunting dogs.
Perhaps the most famous calamity, the final insult, to befall Cadmus' family is told in Euripides' heart-wrenching tragedy 'The Bacchae.' When Cadmus' daughter Agave and her son Pentheus refuse to acknowledge Dionysus' divinity, the young god's method of retribution is to possess the women of Thebes into madness. Pentheus is brutally murdered at the hands of his own mother and aunties, and Cadmus is cast out of the city he founded.
Thus, in the final chapter of his long mythic life, Cadmus was, once again, an exiled prince. Time, as well as misfortune, had ravaged him. He was merely a shadow of his younger self, the dragon slayer. His only remaining prize was Harmonia, who remained his loving and devoted wife.
As they dejectedly departed Thebes, Cadmus reflected to Harmonia, "Do you suppose my misfortune has anything to do with slaying Ares' dragon all those years ago?"
"Nobody can read the mind of Fate," replied Harmonia, consolingly.
Cadmus managed a weak smile. "If that's the root of the gods' anger—an accidental infringement from so many decades ago—may they turn me into a serpent right now!" he said.
No sooner had the words been said that Cadmus fell forward onto the ground, his body transforming into the elongated shape of a snake. His arms, legs and heads melded into one, long slithering body. His skin turned to scales.
Harmonia wailed in grief. The snake that was once Cadmus slithered onto Harmonia's foot, and wound its way up her leg and around her body. Bystanders looked on aghast, while Harmonia cried to the heavens, imploring the gods to change her into a serpent so she could be with her beloved. The fickle gods obliged.
Legend says that the the two, husband and wife, hero and goddess, serpent and serpent, slithered off the road and into the underbrush. They live now in the dark woods—gentle, timid, serpents—never fearing or hurting humans for they remember that they were once human too.
Myth of Cadmus Notes
The above account is based primarily on Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses.' Another good primary source is Apollodorus. The accounts are very similar, except that Apollodorus says that Cadmus served Ares for eight human years to atone for slaughtering the dragon. Athena then "procured" the kingdom of Thebes for Cadmus and arranged his marriage to Harmonia. After the dreadful encounter with Dionysus, Cadmus and Harmonia quit Thebes and go help the Encheleans lead a war against the Illyrians. Cadmus ends up ruling both kingdoms and fathers another son (Illyrius) before he and Harmonia are turned into serpents and sent by Zeus to the Elysian fields.
Sources
FRAZER, James George (Translator), Apollodorus Bibliotheca: The Library of Greek Mythology ; Loab Classical Library Volumes 121 & 122 ; Harvard University Press 1921 ; Printed by Amazon (2023)
HUMPHRIES, Rolfe (Translator), Ovid Metamorphoses ; Indiana University Press ; New Annotated edition (2018)
LEVI, Peter (Translator) Pausanias Guide to Greece, Vol. 1: Central Greece ; Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (1984)
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