THE BALKANS AND MACEDONIA
In Boeotia, southeast of Lake Cephisos, on the Ismene River, is the city of Thebes. The onomastics is of unknown origin, probably Paleo-Balkan or Egyptian and means ship. Archaeologists have determined that the acropolis of Cadmea was built around 1320 BC, which corresponds to Eratosthenes' chronology of before 1313 BC.
According to the mythological data cited by Pausanias, 1 the Theban land was first inhabited by the Ecthenes, whose king was Ogygus (a native). The Ecthenes were destroyed by a plague, and after them the Hyans and Aeons, who were of Boeotian origin, settled. When the army of the Phoenicians attacked Thebes, they were defeated, and the Hyans, when night fell, fled the country, and Cadmus allowed the Aeons, who begged him for mercy, to remain and mix with the Phoenicians. The Aeons lived in the villages, and Cadmus built a city under the name of Cadmea. When the city grew, Cadmea became the Acropolis of Lower Thebes.
1 Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, IX, 5, (trans. Guide to Hellas ), Logos, Split, 1989.
At the same time, the Phoenicians occupied the islands of Rhodes, Crete and Euboea, where they built the cities of Chalcis (copper) and Eretria. Later, around 800 BC, they colonized the Chalkidiki peninsula in Macedonia, where they transferred their name, as well as the western coast of the Thermaic Gulf. But in addition to their colonies in the Balkans, the Phoenicians, from their bases in present-day Lebanon, spread by sea along the Mediterranean Sea, establishing colonies along the Adriatic Sea, as far as Spain and North Africa, where their most powerful city, Carthage, lay.
These were the world's first "global capitalists", who controlled trade in the Mediterranean for almost 1000 years, until Alexander the Great conquered them in 332 BC. The colonization of the Phoenicians is woven into the myth of Cadmus, as the eponymous hero of the Cadmeans, the inhabitants of Boeotian Thebes, and of his sister Europa.
Cadmus and Europa
The Phoenician king Agenor, ruler of Tyre in the land of Canaan, in present-day Lebanon, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, was married to Telephassa, who bore him a daughter, Europa, and sons, Cadmus, Phoenicus, Phineus, and Cilicus. Agenor's twin brother was Belus, who ruled Egypt and had twins, Danaus and Egypt. Danaus colonized Argolis in the Peloponnese.
Cadmus
Europa was a very beautiful princess and a favorite of Zeus. When she grew up, she often played on the seashore where she picked flowers with her friends and, on one occasion, she attracted the attention of the god Zeus. The father of the gods, who loved mortals, fell passionately in love with Europa and, in order to get closer to her, transformed himself into a white bull, with a large chin and small horns as decorations, between which stretched a black ribbon, and it smelled of roses and saffron. Europa approached the beautiful animal without fear and, since the bull proved to be as tame as a lamb, she began to play with it, placing flower garlands on its horns. Finally, she climbed onto the back of this meek animal. Then, the bull suddenly rushed into the sea with its prey from the Phoenician coast, followed by the other gods and the Nereids, who sang wedding songs.
When Zeus arrived on the island of Crete near Gortyna, he transformed himself into an eagle and raped Europa, who bore him three sons: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. Europa later married the Cretan king Asteron, of Carian or Luwian origin, who adopted her children. Minos became a glorious and just king of Crete, which began the Phoenician colonization of the island.
When Agenor heard of the abduction of his beloved daughter, he immediately sent his sons to search for her and ordered them not to return to their homeland without her. Thus began the colonization of the shores of the Mediterranean.
Agenor's son Phoenicus became king of the Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean, while Cilicus became king of Cilicia in Asia Minor, fighting against the Lycians. Phineus became king of the Thracian Salmys on the Sea of Marmara. Cadmus set out with his mother Telephasa, with ships and a large army. After colonizing the islands of Rhodes and Thera, he stayed for a while with the Edonians in Thrace, where Telephasa died and was buried. He then set out to colonize the island of Thas in the Aegean, where the Phoenicians had opened gold mines.
Battles of Cadmus
This is confirmed by Pausanias 2 who writes that the inhabitants of Thas have been Phoenicians from Tyre, generally from Phoenicia, since time immemorial. Herodotus 3 also states the same , "that he found a temple of Heracles on Thas, which the Phoenicians had founded when they sailed in search of Europe, and there they stopped and founded the settlement of Thas. And this happened five generations before Heracles, the son of Amphitryon, was born in Hellas." According to Eratosthenes' chronology, Heracles was born in 1261 BC.
2 Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, V, 25, (trans. Guide to Hellas ), Logos, Split, 1989.
1 Herodotus, History, IV,44, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.
After the conquest of Thas, the colonists headed southwest and settled the island of Euboea, where they built the fortresses of Chalcis and Erythraea. After landing at Aulis and crossing Boeotia, they reached Thebes and took control of that country. In the myths, Cadmus turned to the Delphic oracle, which told him not to look for his sister anymore, but to found a city on the spot where the first cow they found would lie down. After founding Thebes, Cadmus had to kill the dragon, the son of Ares, who guarded the nearby water sources. He planted the dragon's teeth and from them grew warriors who killed each other and from them, supposedly, the most distinguished families in Thebes originated.
After Cadmus built the fortress of Cadmea (1313 BC), he married Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, who bore him five children: a son, Polydorus, and daughters, Semele, Inona, Agave, and Autonia. The couple lived happily, but in old age they were forced to leave the city and, in an ox-drawn cart and in the form of snakes, reach the north, where they came at the request of the Enchelians to protect them from the barbarians who threatened their land.
As an experienced warrior, Cadmus defeated the barbarians and became king of Enchelia. Harmonia gave birth to her son Illyrus here and when he grew up, after Cadmus' death, he became king and the country was called Illyria.
To be continued
Written by: ACADEMICIAN A. SHKOKLYEV-DONCHO AND SLAVE KATIN
