Editing Cadmus (section)

===Founder of Thebes===
[[File:Cadmus Asks the Delphic Oracle Where He Can Find his Sister, Europa LACMA M.83.119.6.jpg|thumb|''Cadmus Asks the Delphic Oracle Where He Can Find his Sister, Europa'', [[Hendrick Goltzius]]]] 

Cadmus came in the course of his wanderings to [[Delphi]], where he consulted the [[Pythia|oracle]]. He was ordered to give up his quest and follow a special cow, with a [[Crescent#Symbolism|half moon]] on her flank, which would meet him, and to build a town on the spot where she should lie down exhausted.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mythology.stackexchange.com/a/2495/2892/|title = Reference request - What is the source work for Cadmus visiting Delphi?}}</ref>

The cow was given to Cadmus by [[Pelagon]], King of [[Phocis]], and it guided him to [[Boeotia]], where he founded the city of [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Intending to sacrifice the cow to [[Athena]], Cadmus sent some of his companions, Deioleon and Seriphus, to the nearby Ismenian spring for water.<ref>[[John Tzetzes]]. ''[http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades10.html#32 Chiliades, 10.32 line 4]''</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Ther/DrakonIsmenios.html|work=Theoi Greek Mythology|last=Atsma|first=Aaron J.|title=Drakon Ismenia|access-date=5 September 2014}}</ref> They were slain by the spring's guardian water-dragon (compare the [[Lernaean Hydra]]), which was in turn destroyed by Cadmus, the duty of a [[culture hero]] of the new order.

[[File:Cadmus teeth.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Cadmus Sowing the Dragon's Teeth'', by [[Maxfield Parrish]], 1908.]]

He was then instructed by Athena to sow the [[dragon's teeth (mythology)|dragon's teeth]] in the ground, from which there sprang a race of fierce armed men, called the ''[[Spartoi]]'' ("sown"). By throwing a stone among them, Cadmus caused them to fall upon one another until only five survived, who assisted him to build the Cadmeia or citadel of Thebes, and became the founders of the noblest families of that city.{{Sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The dragon had been sacred to [[Ares]], so the god made Cadmus do penance for eight years by serving him. According to Theban tellings, it was at the expiration of this period that the gods gave him [[Harmonia (Greek goddess)|Harmonia]] ("harmony", literally "putting or assembling together", "good assembly", or "good composition") as wife.<ref name=":02"/> At Thebes, Cadmus and Harmonia began a dynasty with a son [[Polydorus (son of Cadmus)|Polydorus]], and four daughters, [[Agave (Theban princess)|Agave]], [[Autonoë]], [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]] and [[Semele]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In rare account, the couple instead had six daughters which are called the Cadmiades: Ino, Agaue, Semele, [[Eurynome]], [[Kleantho]] and [[Eurydice (Greek myth)|Eurydike]].<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' 2.39</ref>

At the wedding, whether celebrated at Samothrace or at Thebes, all the gods were present; Harmonia received as bridal gifts a ''[[peplos]]'' worked by Athena and a necklace made by [[Hephaestus]].{{Sfn|Chisholm|1911}} This necklace, commonly referred to as the [[Necklace of Harmonia]], brought misfortune to all who possessed it. Notwithstanding the divinely ordained nature of his marriage and his kingdom, Cadmus lived to regret both: his family was overtaken by grievous misfortunes, and his city by civil unrest. Cadmus finally abdicated in favor of his grandson [[Pentheus]], and went with Harmonia to [[Illyria]], to fight on the side<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.5.4.</ref> of the [[Enchelii]].<ref>Pierre Grimal, Pierre, Maxwell-Hyslop, A. R. ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''. Blackwell, 1996, {{ISBN|0-631-20102-5}}, p. 83.</ref> Later, as king, he founded the city of [[Lychnidos]] and [[Bouthoe]].<ref>Wilkes, J. J. ''The Illyrians''. Blackwell Publishing, 1992, {{ISBN|0-631-19807-5}}, p. 99.</ref>

Nevertheless, Cadmus was deeply troubled by the ill-fortune which clung to him as a result of his having killed the sacred dragon, and one day he remarked that if the gods were so enamoured of the life of a serpent, he might as well wish that life for himself. Immediately he began to grow scales and change in form. Harmonia, seeing the transformation, thereupon begged the gods to share her husband's fate, which they granted (Hyginus).

In another telling of the story, the bodies of Cadmus and his wife were changed after their deaths; the serpents watched their tomb while their souls were translated to the fields. In [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Bacchae]]'', Cadmus is given a prophecy by [[Dionysus]] whereby both he and his wife will be turned into snakes for a period before eventually being brought to live among the blest.