Footnotes: Cadmus
1. The exact relationship between Agenor, Cadmus, and Europa is somewhat unclear. In the Iliad Homer calls Europa the daughter of Phoenix (Iliad 14.321-322) and doesn't mention Cadmus at all, despite referring to the Thebeans as 'Cadmeans' numerous times (such as in Iliad 4.385). In Latin literature, Ovid calls both Cadmus and Europe children of Agenor (Metamorphoses 3.1-9). The author Hyginus agrees with Ovid, saying that Europa, Cadmus, Phoenix, and another son named Cilix were all children of Agenor, though their mother is given as Arigope (Fabulae 178). Return
2. Cadmus' slaying of the draco was a popular scene for ancient vase painters. Artistic depiction of the scene shows a variety of weapons with which Cadmus uses to fight the draco. In 6th century black figure paintings, Cadmus is usually show either using a sword or spear. 
Later red-figure pieces show Cadmus wielding a stone, reflecting a probable change in the tradition. 
Nevertheless the most complete literary account of the event is by Ovid, who describes Cadmus attacking the dragon initially with a stone, before finally slaying it with a spear (Metamorphoses 3.59-94). Return
3. There are several variations on the story of the sowing of the draco's teeth. Once again the most complete account comes from Ovid who says that Cadmus sowed the teeth at the command of Athena (Metamorphoses 3.102-103) However earlier authors offer differing accounts; in Euripides it is Ares himself who sows the teeth (Heracles 252-244) and earlier in the same play it is mentioned that Ares was responsible for saving a few of the sown-men who had grown from the teeth (Heracles 4-7). This perhaps reflects an early tradition where Ares sowed the draco's teeth with the intention of creating a race to replace the draco slain by Cadmus. In a fragment from Stesichorus' lost Europea it is stated that it is Athena rather than Cadmus or Ares who sows the teeth (Poetae Melici Graeci 195). Return
4. The matter of the gifts presented at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia is worth examining as there is some confusion as to who exactly gave which gift. Diodorus Siculus states that Aphrodite presented Harmonia with a necklace (Bibliotheca Historica 4.65.5), but he later contradicts himself by stating that the necklace, along with a robe and a flute, were given by Athena (Bibliotheca Historica 5.49.1). Statius in his epic the Thebaid states that the necklace was made by Hesphestus specifically to bring misfortune upon Harmonia and her kin, in revenge for Ares' affair with Aphrodite. He then proceeds to mention the troubles it brings to Semele, Jocasta, Argia, and Eriphyle (Thebaid 2.265-305). Return
5. There are two conflicting traditions in the literature of ancient Greece concerning the invention of the alphabet. One tradition, recorded by Philostratus, states that Palamedes, one of the Achaean commanders in the Trojan War was the inventor words and letters. (Vita Apollonii Tyanesis 4.13). There is also a fragment of a much earlier author, Stesichorus, from his lost Oresteia that confirms this statement (Poetarum Melicorum Graecorum Fragmenta fragment 34B). However Herodotus, who was probably familiar with Phoenician writing, assigned Cadmus, a Phoenician emigrant, with bringing the alphabet to Greece (Historia 5.58-61). One could make the assumption that Cadmus brought the Phoenician alphabet to Greece but that it was Palamedes who was responsible for adapting it into the Greek alphabet as we know it, but no ancient author explicitly states this. Return
