The legend of Cadmo and Europe symbolizes the passage of knowledge, wisdom and ideas of beauty from the Middle East towards the West .
Cadmus and Europe were brothers, Phoenician princes of the City of Tire (Tire was one of the largest and most important cities of Phenicia) Legend has it that one day Europe was walking along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea bordering the City of Tire It was a young beautiful and intelligent.
Her beauty was such that when Zeus, the greatest God of the Greeks saw her, he fell in love with her and built a plan to abduct her and take her with him.
Then Zeus became a great and striking bull, Europe liked the bull, came and climbed on his back; Zeus, immediately, took the opportunity to kidnap her. (According to the Greek myths, Zeus had the ability to change shape and present himself in a thousand different ways.) In ancient Phenicia, young, handsome, strong and attractive men were called "bulls", this may be what legend).
Zeus took Europe to the island of Crete, where he held her captive and had several children, one of whom was Minos who was king of the island and founded an important civilization. (From this mythological king derives the name from the Minoan culture. It is said that the first western civilization was the Minoan culture founded by the son of God and a Phoenician princess, so today it is stated that the Minoan culture is an expression of the Phoenician culture).
Meanwhile in Greece the rapture had repercussions, both the goddesses and the gods of Olympus protested and claimed Zeus. (Olympus was the place where the Greek Gods and Goddesses lived). No one agreed with the importance that Europe and its descendants had acquired. The goddesses protested because they said there were enough women in Greece and Zeus preferred a foreigner and not only that: this woman was mortal and not goddess like them. The Greek Goddesses were jealous of Europe. The gods protested against Zeus because in his adventures he did not take them into account, he did not even let them see this beautiful, intelligent and attractive woman. They said that Zeus was extremely selfish for not sharing the qualities of Europe. Gods and goddesses were furious against Zeus.
Prince Cadmus, brother of Europe, had asked Zeus for release but without any positive results. Then he decided to land in Crete and save the princess who was captive in the tower of the palace and guarded by a three-headed dragon (it seems that from these ancient times the first legend of a kidnapped princess was written to which a prince is disposed to rescue).
When Cadmo arrived on the island of Crete to rescue his sister, the gods and goddesses intercepted him and threatened him: the goddesses told him that if he rescued Europe they were going to kill him, the gods pressed him saying that if he did not rescue Europe they would kill him.
Cadmo was in a dilemma: if he rescued Europe she would die, if he did not rescue her: he himself would die. Finally he decided to rescue his sister thinking that he would take her safely to Phenicia.
Everyone, gods and humans, were angry with Zeus, however no one could face him because he was all powerful. Cadmus knew that he had a great challenge, he also knew that he could not fight against Zeus so he decided not to face him directly but to his dragon, the one who guarded Europe. With wisdom, strategy and perseverance Cadmo managed to defeat the monster.
However, as they had threatened, the goddesses killed Europe. Zeus felt very hurt and in honor of her, he called all the continent. The goddesses adopted the wisdom and the ways of Europe to get ready and behave. The gods were also pleased with the knowledge and techniques they received. (In this way the Phoenicians through the Minoan culture influenced the development of Greek culture).
Cadmo reflected, the gods should not continue to impose their will in that way. He realized that the strength of the gods could be mitigated as long as the humans did not directly confront them but by attacking the monsters and dragons that the gods used to scare humans. He observed that these monsters are fed by the ignorance that causes fear and paralyzes. For this reason he proposed and stated that the strength of the human being is intelligence and knowledge.
Thus Cadmo ripped the fangs of the dragon and sowed throughout the Mediterranean and from each tusk was born a school in which humans were taught to know the world, to improve it and face the things that scare them and hurt them .
That's why Cadmus is called the teacher, the first teacher.
The words academic and academic derive from its name.
Europe in Phoenician means the Western one, the one that went to the West.
Minos was the son of Europe and is credited with founding the first Western civilization in Crete. The legend says that Cadmus was the one who brought the alphabet to Greece.
Cadmus in Phoenician means: the first.
To Cadmus the Greeks called him Cadmus and later Academus. The schools were called academies in his honor. Those who teach are academics, that is, those who are like Cadmus