Cadmus was the founder and first king of Thebes
in Greek mythology.
He was the son of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa
of the Phoenician city of Tyre, and brother
of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa.
It was believed that he was the person who
introduced the Phoenician alphabet to the
Greeks, who then adapted it into their own.
Cadmus set out on returning his sister Europaback
to Phoenicia after she was abducted by Zeus,
commanded by his father.
As he was unwilling to go against a god's
will, he ended up in the island of Samothrace,
accompanied by his mother and his nephew,
Thasus;, the latter gave his name to the nearby
island of Thasos.
Cadmus met the goddess Harmonia there, who
would later become his wife.
The young prince later found himself consulting
the oracle of Delphi, in order to continue
the search for his sister.
He was told to stop his search; instead, he
should follow a cow that bore a half moon
on her side, and build a city on the spot
where the animal would rest.
That was how Thebes was founded, the first
building being a shrine to Selene, goddess
of the moon.
Cadmus decided to sacrifice the cow to Athena,
and asked his companions to bring water from
a nearby spring.
There, a water-dragon killed all of them,
but Cadmus eventually managed to kill the
beast.
Following Athena's advice, he took the teeth
of the dragon and placed them in the soil,
out of which a legion of fierce men, the Spartoi,
sprang out.
Cadmus killed all but five of them, with whom
he built the city of sparta.
The dragon, however, was protected by the
god of war, Ares, who demanded that Cadmus
serve him for eight years.
After that period, Cadmus married Harmonia
at the gods' request,; in their wedding, Harmonia
received a necklace from Hephaestus, the so-called
Necklace of Harmonia, which brought ill fortune
to anyone who possessed it.
This brought maladies both to Cadmus' family
and his city.
Cadmus and Harmonia had a number of children;
they were Ino, Polydorus, Autonoe, Agave,
Semele and Illyrius.
In the end, Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes
and went to the region of Illyria.
Cadmus, worn out by the ill fate that the
gods had brought upon him for killing the
dragon, wished that he transform into a serpent
himself,; his wish was granted and he started
growing scales immediately.
Harmonia then asked for the same fate as her
husband, and it was also granted.
