CadmusKadmus

The son of Agenor and the brother of the maiden, Europa, and the blind seer, Phineus.

With his wife, Harmonia, Kadmus had five children: Autonoe, Ino, Agaue, Polydorus and Semele.

When Zeus abducted Europa, Agenor sent Kadmus to retrieve her; Kadmus could find no trace of his sister, Europa, and finally, at the advice of the oracle at Delphi, gave up the search and set off to found a new city; the pythia at Delphi instructed Kadmus to follow a cow from Delphi and build his city on the spot where the cow laid down to rest; Kadmus did as he was instructed and built the Kadmea (Cadmea) as the first structure of the city that was to become Thebes.

Kadmus killed the dragon which guarded the spring near the site of the proposed city and, at the advice of the goddess Athene (Athena), planted the teeth of the dragon in the earth; a group of fully armed warriors sprang from the dragons teeth; Kadmus tossed a rock into their midst and started a fight amongst the warriors; only five warriors, called the Sparti, i.e. Sown-Men, survived and they became the founders of the noble families of Thebes.

Kadmus is also credited with the introduction of writing to the Greeks because he is reputed to be responsible for introducing the old (sixteen letter) alphabet to Greece.

His name is also spelled Kadmos or Cadmos.

• Theogony, line 976