However, Hellanicus writes that only five Spartoi sprang up, omitting the battle between them. At the end of the year, he was given Harmonia, the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, to be his wife. These five helped Cadmus to found the city of Thebes, but Cadmus was forced to be a slave to Ares for eight years to atone for killing the dragon. Cadmus threw a stone among them because he feared them, and they, thinking that the stone had been thrown by one of the others, fought each other until only five of them remained: Echion (future father of Pentheus), Udaeus, Chthonius, Hyperenor and Pelorus. When he did, fierce armed men, known as Spartoi ( Ancient Greek: Σπαρτοί, literal translation: "sown ", from σπείρω, speírō, "to sow"), sprang up from the furrows. According to the Bibliotheca, Athena gave Cadmus half of the dragon's teeth, advising him to sow them. Myths Cadmus and the Spartoi Ĭadmus, the bringer of literacy and civilization, killed the sacred dragon that guarded the spring of Ares. Their teeth, once planted, would grow into fully armed warriors. In each case, the dragons are present and breathe fire. In Greek myth, dragon's teeth ( Greek: ὀδόντες (τοῦ) δράκοντος, odontes (tou) drakontos) feature prominently in the legends of the Phoenician prince Cadmus and in Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Cadmus Sowing the Dragon's Teeth, by Maxfield Parrish, 1908
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