The Myth of Cadmus, King of Thebes
Read about the mythic foundation of Thebes | The Ancient Greek origin story of a famous city.
Introduction
Just north of Attica and Athens lies the region of Boeotia. It includes vast rural areas, mountain ranges and the historic city of Thebes. The region forms the backdrop to the myth of Cadmus — and we will learn about it in this article.
While Cadmus is closely linked to the Greek region of Boeotia, he grew up in a faraway place. He was prince of Tyre, a city that currently lies in Lebanon. This part of the Middle East was called ‘Little Asia’ in Ancient Times. The question is, how did Cadmus end up in an area so far from home? (Tyre is over 1500km away from Thebes) Let us go through his myth and found out.
The father of Cadmus was Agenor, king of Tyre. He was said to be the son of Poseidon and father of Europa. In other words, the myth suggests Cadmus’ family had noble and divine origins.
But with the prosperity of Agenor’s realm came jealousy from others. Zeus had seen Agenor’s beautiful daughter within the realm of mortals. That’s when he disguised himself as a white bull, and flew to the region of Tyre.
When Europa, daughter of Agenor, saw the white bull she was immediately drawn to its pure colour and seemingly calm character. Zeus let Europa approach, and touch him. He even let Europa ride on his back, and present flowers to his face. However, little by little Zeus was trying to lure Europa to the sea. In the end, he succeeded and abducted her to the distant island of Crete.
And this is where Cadmus comes into the story. Agenor had sent his son to find Europa, his beloved sister. That’s how Cadmus’ story began, but it did not end as you might expect. Namely, Cadmus turned out unsuccessful in finding his sister.
Instead, Europa gave birth to king Minos of Crete and Cadmus would experience a whole other journey of his own. After Cadmus’ long yet unsuccessful wanderings, he found his way into Delphi: a place where people from all across Greece came for council from a mysterious cave.
Upon invoking the oracle, Cadmus was surprised to meet the god Apollo. Apollo told him to stop the search for Europa and focus on building his own city… And that is how Thebes came to be.
He waited on a beautiful bull to ‘lay down in a field out of weariness’ — and that’s where he founded it. It was called Cadmeia, after its founding king. But, soon after it came to be known as Thebes, the most prominent town in Boeotia…
… Honestly, that was the end of the story: this is how the Greeks explained the founding of Thebes. But you know the old stoic ancients: their stories never end! :) So, if you’re interested here is a little epilogue:
Cadmus had followed this cow for quite some time, and finally saw it rest in the middle of a fertile place. It was here that he would finally found Thebes, but it did not come that easy.
To call for favour of the gods, Cadmus had to sacrifice the cow in a proper ceremony, and he needed water for that. Not a problem you would say, except that all those he sent for the nearby creek, failed to return!
Hmmm… That is one peculiar thing.
Alas, he went to seek water himself. And what did he find there: it was the cause of the looming danger. A humongous snake — perhaps it was the size of 2 buildings — guarded this creek. It had the bodies of Cadmus’ companions laying around its serpentine body.
Many more men died that day, but Cadmus was skilled enough to escape death, take out the snake’s fangs and … finally kill it.
To make matters even more mythical, Athena, the god of Wisdom came to Cadmus. She told him: “You must sow the teeth of the snake”.
.. “What?” Cadmus exalted. “What does that even mean?”.
In the end Cadmus figured out how to stitch the snake’s missing teeth (so they would not regrow). Suddenly, the men, who had been laying dead on the ground arose!
These men are called Spartoi, meaning ‘sown men’ … and they ended up being the forefathers of the noble Theban families.
Yes… the story still carries on. I guess these Greeks did not have Netflix and phones.
Well.. did I tell you that the snake was not just a giant, venomous and rejuvenating snake? It was also the child of Ares (the God of War).
As if Cadmus’ journey had not been long enough, he had to make up for Ares’ loss of a child: he became slave for 8 years.
After the long servitude, Cadmus was finally free, and could found the city he was set out to build. Ares and Aphrodite had a child and they had grown quite fond of Cadmus over the 8 years that he served them. That’s why they gave this child for Cadmus to marry.
The marriage was celebrated in Cadmeia, the city that later became known as Thebes.
Originally published at https://onlinemuseum.net.
