Today the name Thebes is most closely associated with Egypt and the UNESCO site situated there. Thebes is a Greek city name, and although it was given to the city in Egypt, historically it was also a significant city in Ancient Greece.

Thebes was one of the major city states of Ancient Greece, rivaling both Athens and Sparta, and is historically known as being antagonist to whichever city was at the time the most important city in the region. As with most ancient cities there is a founding myth for Thebes, one which is used to explain why the city came into existence.

The story initially starts with Zeus abducting the princess Europa. Four brothers, Cadmus, Cilix, Phoenix and Thasus were given the quest by their father, King Agenor of Tyre, to recover their sister. It was of course an impossible task, but the three brothers would leave Tyre never to return.

Thasus would travel to a distant island in the Aegean where the state of Thassos was founded. Cilix would eventually set up Cilicia in Asia Minor. Phoenix would travel the least distance in setting up Phoenicia. Cadmus kept traveling until he came to Delphi on the Greek mainland.

Consulting the famed oracle, Cadmus was advised to forget his father’s quest and instead he should concentrate on founding his own city. The Oracle told Cadmus to follow the cow which was to be found outside the sanctuary and to build a city where it came to rest.

Outside of the sanctuary Cadmus saw a cow with a half moon on its flank. The cow set off eastwards, and Cadmus and his retinue followed it. Eventually the cow reached the area known as Boeotia and the River Cephisus and the cow came to rest by the banks of the river. Cadmus decided to sacrifice the cow to the goddess Athena, and so told his men to fetch water from a nearby spring.

Unbeknownst to Cadmus though the spring was guarded by a serpent and as the men approached they were all slain. When his men failed to return from their water-hunting expedition, Cadmus set out to search for them, and finding the signs of death sought revenge upon the serpent.

An epic struggle ensued and eventually Cadmus killed the serpent, although Cadmus would eventually find out that the serpent was sacred to the god Ares. At that time Cadmus had found a site for his city, but with his men killed there was no one to build it. At this point Athena came to the prince’s rescue, and told him that half of the teeth from the dead serpent were to be sown into the ground. From the teeth sprang a number of fully grown, armed men. Cadmus fearing for his life tricked the men into fighting each other until only five were left alive. These five men, who would become known as the Spartoi, would help Cadmus to build his city, and would also become the ancestors of the most prominent families in Thebes.

Athena took the other teeth and they would later reappear in the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece.

The new city was constructed around a citadel, and although initially the city was called Cadmeia, it would eventually become known as Thebes.

Cadmus himself would have a long life, although he was forced to spend eight years in servitude to Ares in penance for the slaying of the serpent. Indeed Cadmus was credited for creating the Phoenician Alphabet which was adapted into the Greek Alphabet.