in Fabulous History, king of Thebes, the son of Agenor king of Phoenicia, and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix, and Europa. According to tradition, he carried into Greece the sixteen simple letters of the Greek alphabet; and there he built Thebes, in Boeotia. The poets relate that Cadmus left his native country in search of his sister Europa, whom Jupiter, in the form of a bull, had carried away; and that, on inquiring of the Delphic oracle for a place to settle in, he was answered that he should follow the direction of a cow. When Cadmus arrived in Phocis, he found the cow described by the oracle; and following her into Boeotia, he built the city of Thebes as he had been directed on the spot where she sank down. Intending to sacrifice his guide to Pallas, he sent two of his company for water to the fountain Dirce, where they were devoured by a serpent or dragon. Cadmus slew the monster, and afterwards, by the advice of Pallas, sowed its teeth, from which sprung up a number of armed men, who prepared to revenge the death of the serpent; but on his casting a stone among them, they turned their weapons against each other with such animosity that only five survived the combat. This remnant assisted Cadmus in founding his new city. Afterwards, to recompense his labours, the gods gave him Harmonia, the daughter of Mars and Venus, for his wife, and honoured his nuptials with presents and peculiar marks of favour. Subsequently Cadmus and Harmonia quitted Thebes, and went to the Euchelians, who made Cadmus their king. Lastly, Cadmus and his wife were transformed into serpents; or, as others say, were translated to the Elysian fields in a chariot drawn by serpents.

CADMUS of Miletus, the earliest Greek historian who wrote in prose. He flourished about B.C. 540. (Plin. Hist. Nat. v. 31; Strabo, i., p. 18.)