According to Greek myth, Cadmus was a Phoenician prince, the son of Agenor and Telephessor, the king and queen of Tyre. He elongs to the same generation of heroes as Perseus, the founder of Mycenae. When Cadmus’ sister, Europa, was abducted by Zeus, he was charged with finding her and bringing her back to Tyre. It is not entirely clear how Cadmus intended to take her from Zeus!

Unable to find Europa, Cadmus went to the oracle at Delphi, where he was advised to give up his search for his sister. Instead he was given a cow marked with a crescent moon on her side which he was to follow until she lay down exhausted. There he was to build a city. Cadmus followed the instructions of the oracle until he came to the land of Boetia, which means “place of the cow,” where he founded the city of Thebes.

When Cadmus sent two of his companions to a nearby spring for water in preparations for a sacrifice, a dragon killed them. Cadmus slew the dragon and, following the instructions of Athena, sowed the dragon’s teeth. Immediately there sprang from the earth fierce and heavily armed warriors who promptly began to slay each other until only five were left. These became the ancestors of the leading families of Thebes.

Plate Armor

The myth points to an interesting fact, the warriors of Europe and western Asian were known for being heavily armed. Knowledge of their armor took a leap forward with the discovery of “warrior tombs” that contained weapons and armament, the most famous being Grave Circle A which we discussed in a previous entry. Less well known is another tomb at nearby Dendra in the Peloponnese where a complete set of plate armor was found together greaves (for the shins) and a boar tusk helmet. A full set of utensils for feasting was also found in the tomb, which took the form of a small dromos similar in style to the so-called Treasury of Atreus, although not nearly so large.

It is interesting to note that no such armor was found in the shaft tombs in Mycenae discovered by Schliemann. Nor do we find depictions of heavy plate armor on Mycenaean seals. It is quite likely therefore that the armor dates somewhat later than the Mycenaean shaft graves. Archaeologists digging at Amarna found large amounts of pottery originating from Greece, known as Mycenaean Ware, and also a fragment of a fresco depicting Greek warriors wearing their characteristic boar-tusk helmet.