July 14: Travel Month

As a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, Harmonia was a testament of their love. But also a testament of infidelity, as she should have been the daughter of Hephaistos. She herself found her soulmate in the Phenician prince Kadmos, brother of Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus in the form of a bull. Kadmos must have been a briljant boy, and was credited with introducing the alphabet to the Greeks. Kadmos and Harmonia founded the city of Thebes, which involved slaying one of Ares’ pet dragons. This upset the god, and combined with the fact that Harmonia wore a cursed necklace on her wedding day, set the tone for a life of misfortune and grief. (The necklace had been crafted by a jealous Hephaistos and would bring doom on generations to come.) On top of it all, they had to flee the city they founded themselves. Kadmos descended into depression, declaring “he would rather be a snake, with the power to regenerate.” Zeus pitied him at last, and granted his wish. And in love till the end, Harmonia asked for the same fate.

Cadmus and dragon, amphora, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Harmonia and Cadmus, Evelyn de Morgan, de Morgan Collection

Did you know?

• About Aphrodite’s infidelity and Harmonia’s necklace: “Old Before their time” and “A Poisonous Gift”.

• About the kidnapping of Europa: cfr. “Beethoven and the Bull”.

• Kadmos en Harmonia eindigen in Elyseïsche velden volgens pseudo-Apollodorus.

• Kadmos consulted the oracle at Delphi and was told to stop looking for his abducted sister and follow a cow instead. Where the cow laid down, he was to found a city. In the process, he had to slay a dragon that guarded a nearby spring. He then sowed the dragon’s teeth, and armed soldiers (“Spartoi”) sprang up. They fought among each other, until five survived, who became the Theban aristocracy.

• The city of Thebes founded by Kadmos (Cadmus) is situated in the region of Boeotia, Central Greece. (In ancient Egypt, there was a city with the same name, now within Luxor.)