Cadmus

In Greek Mythology, Cadmus was a Greek Hero who became the founder and first king of Thebes.
He was a Phoenician Prince and the son of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa of Tyre.

Before Heracles, Cadmus was the first Greek Hero, along with Perseus and Bellerophon.
The Cadmeia, the Acropolis of Thebes, is named after Cadmus.

He described Cadmus as living 1600 years before himself (2000 BCE).
He also says he introduced the Phoenician Alphabet to the Greeks who adapted it to form the Greek Alphabet.

Cadmus was sent by his father to recover his sister Europa, who had been abducted by Zeus.
Unable to find her, he consulted the Oracle at Delphi. Here he was told to pursue a sacred cow, and wherever she laid down, he should found a city.
He was given the cow by King Pelagon of Phosis. Cadmus followed the cow to Boeotia, where he decided to found Thebes. Intending to sacrifice the cow, he sent two companions to get water from a nearby spring. However, the guardian of the spring was a water dragon which killed his two companions.
Cadmus immediately killed the Dragon, and planted its teeth, which then grew to become the noble families of Thebes.
As the dragon belonged to Aries, Cadmus was forced to serve Aries for 8 years. At the end of this period he was allowed to marry Harmonia.

Through his father, Cadmus was the grandson of the God Poseidon and Libya.
Through his mother Telephassa, he was descended from Nilus, the River Nile.
Cadmus married Harmonia and they had 5 children, Polydorus, Agave, Autonoe, Ino and Semele.

Thebes, Greece