Europe and The Bull

Europa and the Bull

The Myth of Cadmus

The myth of Cadmus and his sister Europa is considered as an example of the historical origins of myths which blended with fiction picturesque scenes in order to endow the story with an exciting narrative. Historically, “Cadmus” is the son of “Agenor” king of Tyre, one of the most prominent Lebanese Phoenician coastal cities. Along with his brothers he went to Greece to look for their sister Europa, who was carried off Crete on the back of a handsome bull, which was actually Zeus in disguise. According to Herodotus, Cadmus introduced to the Greeks the Phoenician Alphabet and other sciences. Thus, both Europa and Cadmus must have been real historical figures symbolizing the introduction of the Eastern Phoenician civilization to the West, hence, symbolically also the first chapter in the “History of Lebanese- Phoenician Expansion in the Ancient World”.

Cadmus killing a dragon

The Abduction of Europa

Moschus, a Greek poet born in Syracuse, tells a beautiful Epic verse describing the kidnapping of Europa, which has inspired many writers and painters. Moschus, together with Ovid, is considered the main poet to give this subject a beautiful artistic perspective.

“Cypris (Cyprian Aphrodite) once set upon Europa a sweet dream. At the time when the third part of night begins and dawn is near; when limb-loosening sleep, sweeter than honey, sits on the eyelids and binds the eyes with a soft bond; and when the herd of true dreams goes afield-at that time, as she slumbered in her upper chamber, Europa, daughter of Phoenix, still a virgin, thought she saw two continents contend for her, Asia and the land opposite; and they had the form of women. Of these, one had the appearance of a foreigner, while the other resembled a native woman and clung more and more to her daughter, and kept saying that she had herself borne and reared her. But the other, using the force of her strong hands, drew her not unwillingly along, for she said it was fated by Zeus who bears the aegis that Europa should be her prize.

Europa leaped in fright from her covered bed, her heart pounding; she had experienced the dream as if it were real. Sitting down, she kept a long time silent; and still she kept a vision of both women before her now open eyes. At least the girl raised her frightened voice: “Which of the gods in heaven has sent such visions upon me?”

According to the legend, Europa was the epitome of feminine beauty on Earth. Zeus once saw her on the seashore of Phoenicia playing with her friends. He was so captivated by her beauty that he fell in love with her and developed a strong desire to possess her. Immediately, he took the form of a white bull and approached her. The bull looked wonderful with its snow-white body and gem-like horns. Europa looked at the extraordinary animal curiously and dared to touch and later hang him because he appeared so calm to her. Later, she was somehow motivated to climb on his back.

As soon as she did so, Zeus ran to the sea and carried her all the way from Phoenicia to the island of Crete. According to Greed Mythology, the Idaean cave, at Mount Ida (2,456 m) in Crete was the birthplace of Zeus; there he was nurtured by the Horae. It is also believed where his marriage to Hera took place. Therefore is was natural that he chooses this island to have his affair with Europa under a sycamore tree.

Europa Zeus in the form of a bull

Zeus loved Europa so much that he showered her with three priceless gifts. The first one was a bronze man, Talos, who served as a guard to her. He was the bronze giant that the Argonauts met and killed in their attempt to shore on Crete. The second was a dog, Laelaps, which could hunt anything she wanted. The last one was a javelin that had the power to hit the target, whatever it was.

When the chief of the gods had to return to Mt Olympus to carry out his godly duties, he decided to give Europa a befitting husband. He chose the childless Asterion king of Crete who adopted the three sons of Europa: Minos, the just king of Crete, after whom the Minoan civilization of Crete has been names, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. These men were known for their fairness and became the three judges of the Underworld, when they died. In fact, Minos founded the town of Knossos and gave his name to an entire civilization, the Minoan civilization.

Searching for Europa

Not knowing anything about the fate of his daughter, Europa, King Agenor summoned his children, Cadmus, Thasos, Cilix, and Phoenix and sent them in search of their kidnapped sister, or face exile. The sons of Agenor set on their journey. Each one of the four brothers chose a course.

Cilix

Cilix went northwards to the coast Asia Minor facing Cyprus and settled there. Later on the region was named after him, Cilicia. These Cilicians, according to Herodotus, were formerly called Hypachaei, and “they took their present name from Cilix son of Agenor”. Modern archeological excavations at Alalakh (in modern Turkey) revealed some valuable Phoenician glassware dating back to the middle IInd millennium B.C.

Temple of Melqrat

Thasos

Thasos and his retinue went first to Olympia in Greece where he erected a big bronze statue dedicated to Melqart. Then he moved up north of the Ionic sea to the island facing the shores of Thrace and “founded” the eponymous town of Thasos. He settled on the island, which has borne his name ever since. Thasos is first mentioned by Herodotus (420-484 B.C.), who had visited the island, “now called after that Phoenician Thasos”. The Phoenicians founded a temple to the god Melqart, whom the Greeks identified as “Tyraian Heracles”, and whose cult “was five generations earlier than the time when Heracles, son of Amphitryon, was born in Hellas”, and later on merged with Heracles in the course of the island’s Hellenization. Herodotus tells us that the island was settled by the Phoenicians who, for many years, exploited its gold mines, its iron ore and its rich timber resources: “I myself have seen these mines; by far the most marvelous were those that were discovered by the Phoenicians”. According to Herodotus, these mines between Aenyra and Koenyra facing Samothrace were discovered by Phoenicians and were very rich in gold.

Phoenix

Phoenix went westward crossing Libya (North Africa) to settle in Carthage whose inhabitants were named the Punic (Punic derived from Poeni- Latin name of Carthaginians derived from Phonikes- Phoenicians). Phoenix returned to Tyre after the death of Agenor. While the Greeks believed that the Phoenicians were named after Phoenix, son of Agenor, we hear of a different story mentioned in “the Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos” (Ist century B.C.), quoting Sanchuniathon of Berytus who lived in the XIIIth century B.C. He claims that the original name of “Phoenix” is “Chnaa”, and that he was a brother to “Osiris”, the Egyptian god of life, afterlife, heath, resurrection, and vegetation, the same as the Baal Adon to the Phoenicians. He was killed by his brother Seth, god of chaos, but was brought to life by his sister Isis, who brought forth the chest of Osiris out of the trunk of a tree that grew around it. The king of Byblos had the tree cut down and made into a pillar for his palace, still with the chest inside. Isis was able to retrieve her husband’s body after weeping and pleading, the same as Ashtarut wept for Adon. The annual rituals of the death and resurrection of the Phoenician Baal Adon, whose name was altered to Dionysus.

Phoenix, Son of Agenor

Cadmus

As for Cadmus, he first sailed towards Cyprus, the largest of the East Mediterranean islands, which the Phoenicians had already reached at during the western expansion, and had already founded settlements especially at the southern shores. Telephassa, the mother of Cadmus and wife of Agenor, decided to join him in his quest for his sister Europa. From Cyprus, Cadmus headed to the island of Crete, unaware that the Greed god Zeus had already settled there with Eruopa. From Crete, Cadmus moved to Rhodes Island, where he built a temple for Poseidon the god of sea, upon a high hill that oversees Yalyssios city as mentioned by Diodorus of Sicily.

Cadmus then headed to the island of Thyra (Santorini) west of Rhodes. There, he left some of his companions, among them was a relative by the name Membliaros, as Herodotus stated: “Thyra (island), used to be known as Callista,… Cadmus, the son of Agenor, touched at it during his search for Europa, and for some reason which had not come down to us, or perhaps merely he liked the place, he left on this island a number of Phoenicians with his own kinsman “Membliarus” against them. These men and their descendants lived to Callista for eight generations (since 1415 B.C.)

The strategy for establishing permanent bases was also adapted by Cadmus’ brothers Thasos and Cilix; for their father had forbidden then from returning home without their kidnapped sister. The volcanic island of Thyra had an important strategic position at the entrance of the Aegean and became a base during the Phoenician emigration under the leadership of Cadmus.

Cadmus and Minerva

From the island of Thyra, Cadmus went to Thrace, north of Aegean after passing through the island of Samothrace where his mother Telephassa died and was buried there. In his last attempt to find Europa, Cadmus penetrated into mainland Greece seeking the advice of one of the most important oracles of Greek antiquity, the priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

Cadmus had barely left the Castalian Cave when he saw an unguarded heifer, moving slowly, and showing no mark of the yoke on her neck. He follows close behind and chooses his steps by the traces of her course, and silently thanks Phoebus, his guide to the way. Now he had passed the fords of Cephisus and the fields of Panope: the heier stopped, and lifting her beautiful head with it’s noble horns to the sky stirred the air with her lowing. Then looking back, to see her companion following, she sank her hindquarters on the ground and lowered her body onto the tender grass. Cadmus gave thanks, pressing his lips to the foreign soil and welcoming the unknown hills and fields. Intending to offer a sacrifice to Zeus, he ordered his attendants to go in search of water from a running stream for a libation.

There was an ancient wood there, free from desecration, and in the center of it, a chasm thick with bushes and willow branches, framed in effect by stones making a low arch, and rich with copious springs. There was a dragon sacred to Ares (Mars)concealed in this cave, with a prominent golden crest. Fire flickered in it’s eyes, it’s whole body was swollen with venom, it’s three-forked tongue flickered, and it’s teeth were set in a triple row. After the people of Tyre, setting out, a fatal step, reached the grove, and let their pitchers down into the water, it gave out a reverberation. The dark green dragon thrust his head out of the deep cavern, hissing awesomely. The pitchers fell from their hands, the blood left their bodies, and, terrified, a sudden tremor took possession of their limbs. The dragon winds his scaly soils in restless writhings, and, shooting upwards, curves into a huge arc. With half it’s length raised into thin air, it peers down over the whole wood, it’s body as great, seen in it’s entirety, as that Dragon that separates the twin constellations of the Bear. Without pause takes the Phoenicians, whether they prepare to fight, run, or are held by fear itself. Some he slays with his bite, some he kills with his deep embrace, others with the corrupting putrefaction of his venomous breath.

Cadmus and Minerva

“The sun had reached the heights of the sky, and driven away the shadows. And not the son of Agenor, wondering what has delayed his friends, searches for the men. He is covered with the pelt stripped from a lion. His sword is tipped with glittering iron. He has a spear, and better still a spirit superior to all”

When he enters the wood and sees the dead bodies, and over them the victorious enemy, with its vast body, licking at their sad wounds with a bloody tongue.

Cadmus cries out: “Faithful hearts, I shall either be the avenger of your deaths, or become your companion”. So, saying he lifted a massive rock with his right hand and with great effort hurled the huge weight. Steep walls with their high turrets, would have been shattered, protected by its scales like a breastplate, and its dark, hard skin repelled the powerful stroke.

Companions of Cadmus devoured by a dragon

But that same hardness cannot keep out the spear that defeats it, that is fixed in a curve of its pliant back and sinks its whole iron blade into its entrails.

The creature maddened with pain twists its head over its back, sees the wound, and bites at the shaft lodged there. Even when the snake loosened its hold all round by its powerful efforts, it could scarcely rip it from its flesh and the iron stayed fixed in its spine. Then indeed new purpose was added to its usual wrath: its throat swells, the veins fill, and white spume flecks its baleful jaws. The earth resounds to its scaly scraping and a black breath like that from the mouth of the Styx fouls the corrupted air. At once instant it coils in vast spiraling circles, at another rears up straighter than a high tree. Again it rushed on like a rain-filled river and knocks down all the trees obstructing it in front.”

The son of Agenor gives way a little withstanding its attacks by means of the lion’s skin and keeps back the ravening jaws by thrusting forward the point of his sword. The snake is maddened and bites uselessly at the hard iron and only drives the sharp point between its teeth. Now the blood begins to drip from its venomous throat and soak the green grass with its spattering. But the wound is slight, because the serpent draws back from the thrust, pulling its wounded neck away, and conceding its wound, keeps back the sword, and does not let it sink deeper. But the son of Agenor following it all the time presses the embedded iron into its throat, until an oak-tree blocks its backward course and neck and tree are pinned together. The tree bends under the serpent’s weight and the trunk of the oak groans with the lashing of its tail.

Cadmus kills the dragon

While the conqueror was surveying the vast size of his vanquished enemy, a voice was suddenly heard (nor was it easy to understand whence it was, but heard it was). “Why, son of Agenor, art thou thus contemplating the dragon slain by thee? Even thou thyself shalt be seen in the form of a dragon.”
He, for a long time in alarm, lost his color together with his presence of mind, and his hair stood on end with a chill of terror. Lo! Pallas Athena, the favorer of the hero, descending through the upper region of the air, comes to him, and bids him sow the dragon’s teeth under the earth turned up, and the seeds of the future people.”

“Cadmus obeys, and opening the furrows with a slice of his plough, sows the teeth in the ground, as human seed. Then, almost beyond belief, the cultivated earth begins to move, and first spear points appear among the furrows, next helmets nodding their painted crests, then chests and shoulders sprung up, and arms weighed down with spears, and the field is thick with the round shields of warriors…

Alarmed by this new enemy, Cadmus was about to take up his weapons: “Keep away”, one of the army, that the earth had produced, cried at him “and take no part in our internal ward!” So saying, he raised his sharp sword against one of his earth-born brothers nearby, then, himself, fell to a spear thrown from far off. But the one who killed him lived no longer than he did and breathed out the air he had just breathed in. This example stirred them all equally, as if at a storm-wind, and, in their warring, these brothers of a moment were felled by mutual wounds.

Cadmus Sows the Dragon's Teeth

And now these youths, who were allowed such brief lives, were drumming on their mother’s breast hot with their blood. Five were still standing, one of whom was Echion. He, at a warning from Athena, threw his weapons on the ground and sought assurances of peace from his brothers, and gave them in return. The Sidonian (The Tyrian) wanderer had these men as companions in his task when he founded the city commanded by Apollo’s oracle.

Now Thebes stands. “And now you might be seen as happy, in your exile, Cadmus. You have Ares and Aphrodite as your bride’s parents, and added to this the children of so noble a wife, so many sons and daughters, and dearly loved descendants, your grandchildren, who now are young men. But in truth we should always wait for a man’s last day, for that time when he has paid his debt, and we should call no man’s life happy until he is dead”.

Cadmus Found Thebes

As an atonement for slaying Ares’ Dragon, Cadmus, was forced to serve the god for eight years. Then Cadmus set with the help of the five Sparti, to found the city of Thebes beginning with its citadel, Cadmea, which was named after him.

Soon, the new city expanded with many streets. According to Dionysiaca of Nonnus (IVth century B.C.), the Ionian city was embellished with the stony beauty of Tyrian art. Cadmus planned and dedicated its seven gates to seven gods and planets: the first to the Moon, the second to Hermes (Mercury), the third to Aphrodite (Venus), the fourth, for being in the middle of the planets, to Helios (Sun), the fifth to Ares (Mars), the sixth to Zeus (Jupiter), and the seventh to Cronos (Saturn).

Cadmus Building Thebes

Cadmus set on organizing his kingdom and establishing laws and ruling justly; “He was like a skilled Phoenician peasant”. He received Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, as wife from Zeus. Cadmus was one of the greatest men of his time; his wedding was magnificent and many gods and goddesses attending, besides the parents of the bride. On that day, it is said, he attained the highest honor and prosperity a mortal man can receive; he was able to hear the Muses sing.

Harmonia is the immortal Greek goddess of harmony, concord, and consensus. Her Roman counterpart is “Concordia”; the love that unites all people, the personification of order and civic unity. Harmonia was the daughter of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, who was officially married to Hephaestus, whom she had betrayed with Ares. Hence, the blacksmith god decided to take revenge from Aphrodite by presenting her daughter Harmonia with a necklace which he gave to Cadmus. This necklace brought misfortune and calamities to all who possessed it. Euripides called Harmonia in his tragedy, the Phoenician Women, “the mother of all the kinds of Cadmea or Thebes, descendants of Cadmus.

Cadmus and Harmonia received splendid wedding gifts from the gods; a jewel studded throne for Cadmus from Hera, a lyre from Hermes, wheat seeds from Demeter the goddess of fertility and grain, a crown from Hephaestus, a spear from Ares, a beautiful robe for Harmonia knitted by Athena, and a wonderful Necklace forged by Hephaestus, and sacred rites of the mother of the gods (Rhea) along with cymbals and kettledrums from Electra.

But, the charmed necklace of the blacksmith god had a curse, that brought disasters to all those who possessed it of Cadmus’ sons and daughters and their offsprings.

Cadmus became one of the richest and most powerful kings of his time. His household enjoyed peace and prosperity. He and Harmonia had four daughters: Ino, Autonoe, Semele. Agave. They also had two sons: Polydorus and Illyrius. Cadmus’ children begot him several grandchildren among whom were: Actaeon, son of Autonoe, Learchos and Melicerte, sons of Ino, Pentheus son of Agave, and the most famous was Oedipus on of Laius, and all of whom suffered misfortune that befell the Cadmean family.

Harmonia and Cadmus