Cadmus, i, m., = Κάδμος.
I Son of the Phoenician king Agenor , brother of Europa , husband of Harmonia , father of Polydorus , Ino , Semele , Autonoë , and Agave; founder of the Cadmea, the citadel of the Boeotian Thebes , Cic. Tusc. 1, 12, 28; id. N. D. 3. 19, 48; Ov. M. 3, 14 sq.; id. F. 1, 490; id. P. 4, 10, 55; the inventor of alphabetic writing , Plin. 7, 56, 57, § 192 sqq. (hence letters are called Cadmi filiolae atricolores, Aus. Ep. 29; and Cadmi nigellae filiae, id. ib. 21). He and his wife. Harmonia were at last changed into serpents, Ov. M. 4, 572 sq.; Hor. A. P. 187; cf. Hyg. Fab. 6; 148; 179; 274.—Hence, Cadmi soror, i. e. Europa , Ov. P. 4, 10, 55.—
B Derivv.
1 Cadmēus , a, um, adj., = Καδμεῖος, of or pertaining to Cadmus , Cadmean : Thebae, Prop. 1, 7, 1: juventus, i. e. Thebana, Theban , Stat. Th. 8, 601: Dirce (because in the neighborhood of Thebes), Luc. 3, 175: mater, i. e. Agave, the mother of Pentheus, Sen. Oedip. 1005: cistae, i. e. of Bacchus (because Bacchus was the grandson of Cadmus by Semele), id. Herc. Oet. 595: Tyros (because Cadmus came from Phoenicia), Prop. 3 (4), 13, 7.—Also Carthaginian : gens, stirps, manus = Carthaginiensis, Sil. 1, 6; 1, 106; 17, 582.—
b Subst.: Cadmēa , ae, f. (sc. arx), the citadel of Thebes founded by Cadmus , Nep. Pelop. 1, 2; id. Epam. 10, 3.—
2 Cad-mēĭus , a, um, adj., Cadmean : genitrix, i. e. Agave , Stat. Th. 4, 565: seges, i. e. the armed men that sprang from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus , Val. Fl. 7, 282: heros, i. e. the Theban , Polynices , Stat. Th. 3, 366; so, Haemon, id. 8, 458 and 520.—
3 Cadmēïs , ĭdis, f. adj. (acc. Cadmeidem and Cadmeida, Neue, Formenl. 1, 211; 1, 305; voc. Cadmei, ib. 1, 293), = Καδμηΐς, of Cadmus , Cadmean : domus, Ov. M. 4, 545: arx, id. ib. 6, 217: matres, i. e. Theban women , id. ib. 9, 304.—
b Subst., a female descendant of Cadmus; so of Semele , Ov. M. 3, 287; of Ino , id. F. 6, 553.— Plur. Cadmeïdes, the daughters of Cadmus , Agave , Ino , and Autonoë , Sen. Herc. Fur. 758.—
II An historian of Miletus , said to have been the earliest prose writer , Plin. 5, 29, 31, § 112; 7, 56, 57, § 205.—
III A bloodthirsty executioner in the time of Horace , Hor. S. 1, 6, 39; Schol. Crucq.—
IV A mountain in Caria , Plin. 5, 29, 31, § 118.