Cadmus

n. son of Agenor, Greek legendary hero, founder of the city of Thebes and creator of the Sparti (Greek Mythology); family name; Paul Cadmus (1904-1999), US etcher and painter; male first name

Cadmus, or Kadmos (Greek: Κάδμος), in Greek mythology, was the son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He is the grandfather of the Greek god Dionysus, through his daughter Semele. Cadmus founded the city of Thebes, and its acropolis was originally named Cadmeia in his honor. Cadmus was credited by the Hellenes with the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet, phoinikeia grammata. Herodotus who gives this account estimates that Cadmus lived sixteen hundred years before his time, or around 2000 B.C. According to Greek myth, Cadmus' descendants ruled at Thebes on-and-off for several generations, including the time of the Trojan War. For a discussion of the mythical kings of Thebes, see Theban kings - Greek mythology. The Greek journalist Ch. Papachristopoulos identifies the legend of Cadmus with the real story of the Nobelist writer Albert Camus.
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[Greek heroic] Cadmus was the son of Agenor and the brother of Europa. He was the founder of the city of Thebes. After Zeus kidnapped Europa, Agenor ordered her brothers -- Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix -- to search for her, instructing them not to return until they had found her. It was a hopeless quest, and all three brothers became exiles. Phoenix founded the country of Phoenicia, and Cilix established Cilicia. Cadmus consulted the oracle at Delphi and was told to follow a cow that he would find near the oracle; where the cow lay down to rest, he should found a city. He followed the cow to the future site of Thebes. There he instructed his men to bring water so that he could offer a sacrifice to Athena; however, the men encountered a giant serpent which was sacred to Ares, and they were all killed. Cadmus came upon the carnage and gave battle, eventually slaying the serpent. A voice then spoke to him, prophesying that he himself would eventually become a serpent. Cadmus was left with a site ...
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Cadmus, Cadmilus (Greek) Son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, and brother of Europa, husband of Harmonia, and father of Semele; legendary founder of Thebes, who slew the dragon, planted its teeth, and built the city with the help of some of the soldiers that sprang from the teeth. He and his wife were finally turned into serpents by the gods. Said to have introduced into Greece an alphabet, possibly based upon 16 characters derived from either Egypt or Phoenicia. He belongs to the class of heroes, who succeeded the reigns of the gods and demigods on earth and who were parents and instructors of mortals.
Hermes was worshiped at Samothrace as the ancestral god under the name of Cadmus or Kadmilos.

CADMO. CADMUS