eonia (greek mythology)

07. most children of ares are dicks

cadmus, brother of europa and founder of thebes

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Cadmus was the son of the king of Tye, Agenor and the queen, Telephassa. His sister was Europa. Yes, the same Europa that Zeus kidnapped, while disguised as a bull. Long story short, she ended up giving birth to three sons of his, married a local king, and became the first queen of Crete. 

Europa was very loved by her father, and when she was kidnapped, he was devastated. So, she sent his four sons, Cadmus, Phoenix, Cilix and Thasus to find her, telling them not to come back unless they brought her with him. Telephassa accompanied them, and they searched for Europa everywhere, not finding anything. 

The first to give up was Phoenix, and he settled in a place that was supposedly named after Phoenicia, after him. Cilic and Thasus gave up after, and settled as well. Cilic in Asia Minor, somewhere they named Cilicia, and Thasus on a small island of the eastern Aegean. 

After that, Cadmus and his mother settled in a place called Thrace, and Telephassa died of grief. Cadmus went to the oracle of Delphi to ask about his sister. He was told to stop searching for her, and instead to found a new city. He was to follow a cow that would be outside the oracle, and build a city on the spot where the cow stopped to rest. 

He found the cow and followed it, it reached Boeotia, and after crossing the river Cephisus, it lay down to rest. Cadmus decided to sacrifice the cow to Athena, and he sent his companion to look for pure water, so he could complete the sacrifice. 

They found the water, but as they were filling their bottles with it, a guardian of the spring, a serpent-like dragon emerged from a cave. This dragon was a son of Ares, and it had a venomous teeth. It killed all Cadmus' companions. 

Cadmus went looking for them, as they failed to return, and he found the dragon. Cadmus attacked him, and managed to slay it. He got the water and sacrificed the cow to Athena. Athena told him to get the teeth of the dragon and plant half of them in the ground. Once he did, a group of warrior appeared out of the ground. 

They began attacking each other, and only 5 warriors remained alive at the end. They made peace with each other. These 5 were called the Spartoi, which meant 'sown men', and they allied themselves to Cadmus, and helped him build the city of Cadmea, which later was changed to Thebes, after the Egyptian city, that was founded by his father. 

Ares was not happy that Cadmus killed his son, so he made the hero serve him for 8 years, and then Ares forgave the mortal boy, and gave him the hand of his daughter Harmonia, in marriage. All the gods attended the wedding, and Cadmus have Harmonia a golden necklace made by Hephaestus as a wedding present. 

The couple had 5 children, Autonoe, Ino, Semele (who later became the mother of Dionysus), Agave and Polydorus. But, the curse of the dragon still lingered over the family, and they had troubles and led miserable lives. 

Cadmus gave up his throne when a civil war happened in the city, and he and his wife settled in the land of the Enchelians, and they made him their king. The people there were in a war with a neighbouring tribe, but with Cadmus leading them, they won. 

Cadmus had another son there, one called Illyria. Cadmus later began having strange thoughts that a serpent would be happier than him, and he turned into a serpent, and the dragon son of Ares had its revenge. Harmonia prayed to the gods to be allowed to have the same fate her husband did, and Zeus took pity on her, and brought them both to the Elysian Fields. 

It was said that Cadmus was the one who introduced writing and the alphabet into Greece, alphabet that was borrowed by the Phoenicians, and then through Greece, it spread to the Romans, and then all of Europe.