Cadmus
In Greek mythology, Cadmus /ˈkædməs/; Greek: Κάδμος Kadmos), was the founder and first king of Thebes. Cadmus was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Initially a Phoenician prince, son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa, he was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores of Phoenicia by Zeus. Cadmus founded the Greek city of Thebes, the acropolis of which was originally named Cadmeia in his honour.
Cadmus was credited by the ancient Greeks (Herodotus is an example) with introducing the original Alphabet or Phoenician alphabet—Φοινίκων γράμματα Phoinikōn grammata, "Phoenician letters"—to the Greeks, who adapted it to form their Greek alphabet. Herodotus estimates that Cadmus lived sixteen hundred years before his time, or around 2000 BC. Herodotus had seen and described the Cadmean writing in the temple of Apollo at Thebes engraved on certain tripods. He estimated those tripods to date back to the time of Laius the great-grandson of Cadmus. On one of the tripods there was this inscription in Cadmean writing, which, as he attested, resembled Ionian letters: Ἀμφιτρύων μ᾽ ἀνέθηκ᾽ ἐνάρων ἀπὸ Τηλεβοάων ("Amphitryon dedicated me [don't forget] the spoils of [the battle of] Teleboae.").
Cadmus (disambiguation)
Cadmus or Kadmos can have a number of meanings:
Ancient period
Modern people
Other
Cadmus (genus)
Cadmus is a genus of leaf beetles which are commonly called case bearing leaf beetles in the subfamily Chrysomelinae. They are widespread throughout Australia and include 5 subgenera and 68 species.
Case bearing leaf beetles produce eggs encased in faecal material and larvae when hatched feed on leaf litter while housed in this protective home. The adults feed on Eucalyptus including Eucalyptus globulus but rarely become a major problem for forestry.
