Cadmus (Dragon Sower)
heroThe Phoenician prince who founded Thebes, sowed dragon's teeth to raise an army, and gave Greece the gift of writing.
The Myth
Cadmus was a prince of Phoenicia sent by his father Agenor to find his sister Europa, who had been abducted by Zeus in the form of a white bull. Unable to find her, Cadmus consulted the Oracle at Delphi, which told him to abandon the search and instead follow a cow marked with a moon-sign on each flank. Where the cow collapsed from exhaustion, he should found a city. The cow led him to Boeotia (land of the cow), where he planned to sacrifice it to Athena. When he sent men to fetch water from a nearby spring, they were killed by a dragon sacred to Ares. Cadmus slew the dragon and, on Athena's instruction, sowed its teeth in the earth. Armed warriors — the Spartoi (sown men) — sprang up and fought each other until only five survived. These five became the founding families of Thebes. The Greeks credited Cadmus with introducing the Phoenician alphabet — the foundation of all Greek and Roman writing systems.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Cadmus
heroCadmus was the Phoenician prince who founded Thebes, sowed dragon's teeth, and brought the alphabet...
Cadmus and the Spartoi
heroThe Phoenician prince who founded Thebes and introduced the Greek alphabet, whose sowing of dragon...
Europa
heroEuropa was the Phoenician princess whom Zeus, in the form of a white bull, carried across the sea...
Spartoi
creatureArmed warriors who sprang fully grown from dragon's teeth sown in the earth, ancestors of Theban...
Thebes
placeThebes was the great city of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus who sowed dragon teeth, and the setting for...
Thebes (Boeotia)
placeThe city of Cadmus and Oedipus, setting of more Greek tragedies than any other place.
Actaeon
heroActaeon was a master hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked — she transformed him into a...
Menoeceus (Sacrifice)
heroA young Theban nobleman who sacrificed himself by leaping from the city walls to fulfil Tiresias's...
Semele
heroSemele was a Theban princess who became the mortal mother of Dionysus — destroyed when she insisted...
Actaeon (Transformation)
heroHunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing and was transformed into a stag, then torn apart by his...
Agave
heroMother of Pentheus and daughter of Cadmus who tore her own son apart while possessed by Dionysian...
Ares
godGod of the brutal, savage side of war. Unlike Athena's strategic warfare, Ares represented the raw...