Cadmus

Overview

Cadmus is the legendary founder of Thebes and one of the central ancestors of the Theban royal house. His search for Europa leads to the foundation of the city, the dragon's teeth and the birth of the Spartoi.

Generation

Heroic Age

Notes

Cadmus is one of the great founding heroes of Greek mythology and the central ancestor of the royal family of Thebes.

He begins his story as a brother of Europa. After Europa disappears, Cadmus is sent to search for her but is eventually directed toward a different destiny.

Following divine guidance, Cadmus reaches the place where he will establish Thebes.

At the site he encounters and kills a dragon or serpent associated with Ares.

Cadmus is instructed to sow the dragon's teeth in the earth. Armed warriors immediately spring from the ground. These are the Spartoi, or 'Sown Men'.

The Spartoi fight among themselves until only a small number survive. Those survivors become important ancestral figures in Theban mythology.

Among them is Echion, who later marries Agave, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia.

Cadmus therefore stands at the beginning of a remarkable mythological chain: the founding of Thebes leads to the Spartoi, the Spartoi lead into the royal genealogy, and later generations include Semele, Dionysus, Agave and Pentheus.

His marriage to Harmonia is also one of the most famous divine-human weddings in Greek tradition, attended by the gods and linked with the legendary necklace of Harmonia.

The later history of Cadmus and Harmonia contains further suffering and transformation, reinforcing the recurring pattern of greatness and catastrophe within the Theban royal family.