1 janv. 1422 av. J.-C. - Cadmus Founds Thebes

Description:

Cadmus came in the course of his wanderings, to find his sister, to Delphi, where he consulted the oracle. He was ordered to give up his quest for his sister and follow a special cow, with a half moon on her flank, and to build a town on the spot where she should lie down exhausted. The cow was given to Cadmus by Pelagon, King of Phocis, and it guided him to Boeotia, where he founded the city of Thebes, named for the city in his father's homeland.

Intending to sacrifice the cow to Athena, Cadmus sent some of his companions, Deioleon and Seriphus to the nearby Ismenian spring for water. They were slain by the spring's guardian water-dragon which was in turn destroyed by Cadmus.

He was then instructed by Athena to sow the dragon's teeth in the ground, from which there sprang a race of fierce armed men, called the Spartoi. 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 of Thebes, and became the founders of the noblest families of that city.