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Cadmus , i, m., = Κάδμος.
I. Son of the Phœnician king Agenor, brother of Europa, husband of Harmonia, father of Polydorus, Ino, Semele, Autonoë, and Agave; founder of the Cadmea, the citadel of the Bœotian 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 Phœnicia),” 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.
A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by. Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and. Charles Short, LL.D. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1879.

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  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (23):
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4.572
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 6.217
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.14
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.287
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    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 9.304
    • Horace, Satires, 1.6.39
    • Horace, Ars Poetica, 187
    • Lucan, Civil War, 3.175
    • Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas, 10.3
    • Cornelius Nepos, Pelopidas, 1.2
    • Seneca, Hercules Furens, 758
    • Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus, 595
    • Seneca, Oedipus, 1005
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 3.19
    • Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 1.12
    • C. Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, 7.282
    • Ovid, Ex Ponto, 4.10
    • Statius, Thebias, 3
    • Statius, Thebias, 4
    • Statius, Thebias, 8
    • Ovid, Fasti, 1
    • Ovid, Fasti, 6
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