\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \cf7 While \b \cf15 \ATXht10301 Cadmus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 was searching all over Greece for his sister\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10516 Eu
ropa\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , abducted by\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht8 Zeus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 in the guise of a bull, the oracle at\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10404 Delphi\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 told him to follow a cow that bore the white mark of the full moon on both fl
anks: in the place where she first rested her head, he was to build his city, Cadmea, nucleus of the future \b \cf15 \ATXht12006 Thebes\par
\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 The animal led him step by step to a region that from that time on was known as Boeotia, the ôla
nd of the cow.ö When, exhausted, she lay down and rested her head on the grass, Cadmus realized that the oracleÆs prediction had been fulfilled and decided to offer the heifer as a sacrifice to\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht6 Athena\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . In order to
draw the lustral water, however, he had to fight the dragon, a son of the god \b \cf15 \ATXht4 Ares\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , that guarded the spring Areia. Armed not with a sword or a spear, but with no more than a stone in his fist, he succeeded in killing the
dragon.\par
He then sowed the dragonÆs teeth and, at once armed men, the Sparti or ôSown Men,ö sprang from the ground. Cadmus shrewdly attacked them by throwing stones. Convinced that they had been struck by their own companions, the Sparti turned on o
ne another, until only five of them were left alive. Cadmus, an unarmed man, had created the nucleus of a warrior people (the Spartans), famous in the classical era for their military skill. His work as a founder complete, Cadmus was made the king of The
bes by Athena and received\cf15 \b \ATXht10802 Harmonia\b0 \ATXht0 \cf7 as his bride from Zeus, in recompense for the loss of his sister Europa.
