Cadmus Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth

Author: Ovid

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: Rome

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

The story of Cadmus begins in book 3 of Ovid’s Metamorphosis, where it develops from the tale of Jupiter’s seduction of the Tyrian maiden Europa at the end of book 2. The god Jupiter, known for seducing human women, desires Europa, daughter of King Agenor. To conceal his infidelity, Jupiter disguises himself as a gentle white bull and joins a herd of other animals, prompting Europa to admire the bull’s beauty and calm nature. Europa eventually climbs onto the animal’s back and is promptly whisked away to Crete. At the opening of book 3, Jupiter reveals himself to Europa, while her father, King Agenor, sends her brother Cadmus to find the lost girl. When Cadmus fails to find her, he avoids the king’s presumed anger and consults Apollo’s oracle to discover where he should establish his new home. The oracle tells Cadmus that when he finds an unyoked cow, he should follow her and found his city in the place where she rests in the grass. Obeying these instructions, Cadmus locates the spot and sends his men to find water to perform a sacrifice to Jupiter.

The men set forth and discover a cave with plentiful water gushing from its rocks. Within the cave lies “a snake of Mars” with flashing eyes, a gold crest, and “triple rows of teeth” (53). As the Tyrian men dip their pails into the water, a giant snake emerges from the cave and slaughters all of the men with its fierce venom and crushing coils. When his men fail to return, Cadmus follows their tracks and discovers their slain bodies and the menacing serpent. He first hurls a rock, which misses the snake, but his javelin pierces the animal’s body. Not yet dead, the enraged serpent attacks Cadmus, who finally defeats it by lancing it against a tree.

No sooner than the serpent is slain, however, a mysterious voice declares, “Why, Cadmus, why / stare at the snake you’ve slain? You too shall be / a snake and stared at” (53–54). Wondering at the meaning of this pronouncement, Cadmus stands terrified until the goddess Minerva appears and instructs him to plant the serpent’s teeth, “from which a future people should arise” (54). Cadmus follows this command and soon witnesses some spearheads emerging from the soil, followed by plumed helmets and a “growing crop of men in mail” (54). Cadmus takes up arms to defend himself against the fearful warriors. One of the soldiers then cries out, “Lay down your arms,” telling them “Take no part / In civil strife” (54), but the others ignore this warning and proceed to slaughter one another. Only five men survive, including Echion, who follows Minerva’s command to lay down his arms. These men become Cadmus’s partners in founding the new city of Thebes.

SIGNIFICANCE

The story of Cadmus did not originate with the Roman poet Ovid, but rather was widely known to earlier Greek sources. The Greek writer Pseudo-Apollodorus tells the story in his second-century BCE Bibliotheca (Library). His account largely matches that of Ovid, except that he reports that Cadmus throws stones at the warriors that spring from the earth. The soldiers believe the stones originate among themselves, which motivates them to destroy one another. As punishment, Cadmus must serve Ares, the god of war. Numerous other Greek and Roman writers, including the second-century CE Roman mythographer Pseudo-Hyginus, also tell versions of the story.

Ovid was a major Roman poet during the reign of Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE), and his Metamorphoses is one of the most important works of Latin poetry. His inclusion of the Cadmus story attests to the importance of the myth in the ancient Greco-Roman tradition. Thebes was indeed a crucial city in Greek mythology as it was the seat of many famous characters and events, including the myths of Oedipus, the adventures of Heracles, and the rise of Dionysus (the god of wine), among others. Ovid weaves many such notable characters into Cadmus’s story to develop the significance of his victory over the serpent. After founding the city of Thebes with the help of the few surviving soldiers, Cadmus marries Harmonia, and all seems to go well until the tragedies begin: first, Ovid presents the story of Cadmus’s grandson Actaeon, who is transformed into a stag by the goddess Diana as punishment for spying on her while bathing. Next, Cadmus’s daughter Semele is impregnated by the philandering Jupiter and punished cruelly by his wife, Juno, who causes Semele to ask Jupiter, who has promised to grant her any wish, to reveal his full power to her. Unable to break his promise, Jupiter’s revelation causes Semele to perish, but he saves her unborn child by implanting it into his thigh. Semele’s sister Ino raises the boy child upon his birth.

This son turns out to be Bacchus, the Roman god of wine corresponding to the Greek Dionysus. Ovid next tells a series of stories in which various characters deny the divine origin and power of this new god and pay dearly for the impiety. First, Pentheus, son of Echion, scorns Bacchus and is torn apart by Theban worshippers of the god. Next, the daughters of Minyas refuse to participate in the Bacchic rites, instead remaining indoors to tell stories, for which Bacchus transforms them into bats. Cadmus’s daughter Ino is then punished by Juno for her faithfulness to Bacchus, whose power has been legitimated. Juno orders the Furies to drive Ino and her husband, Athamas, mad. Crazed, Athamas murders his own son, which then causes Ino to hurl herself and her other child off a cliff into the ocean. Venus convinces Neptune, god of the sea, to make both the boy and his mother immortal.

Grieving these misfortunes, Cadmus and his wife depart from Thebes to become pilgrims. One day, Cadmus wonders if the great snake he had once slain was sacred, and he wishes to become a snake if his misfortunes have resulted from the gods’ vengeance. With this wish, both Cadmus and his wife immediately metamorphose into peaceful, harmless snakes, thus fulfilling the prophecy Cadmus had heard upon slaying the serpent.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baldwin, James. “Cadmus and Europa.” Old Greek Stories. New York: American Book Co., 1895. 75–87. Print.

Calasso, Roberto. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. London: Vintage, 1994. Print.

Hofmann, Michael, and James Lasdun, eds. After Ovid: New Metamorphoses. New York: Farrar, 1995. Print.

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. A. D. Melville. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986. Print.

Pseudo-Apollodorus. Library of Greek Mythology. Trans. Robin Hard. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997. Print.