That there are many persistent themes in Greek and Roman mythology of universal import will by this time have become only too apparent. Greek and Roman deities present archetypical images of fundamental human traits-man's passions, psychology, and mores; his basic familial relationships, social ties, and political aspirations. Fascinating variations of these recurring leitmotifs are equally prominent in saga, folk tale, and romance-another reminder of how artificial such distinctions in genre are in themselves, The hero, for example, not unlike a god, usually has elements of the extraordinary linked to his birth and his childhood. He inevitably faces opposition of one sort or another from the beginning and as a result must prove his inherent worth by facing challenges of every kind. His enemy or enemies are of various identities, but not infrequently a jealous woman provides the instigation for his achievement. Usually the hero is helped in his career by at least one ally, divine or human. The obstacles that he faces are manifold, and very often they take the form of seemingly insuperable labors that have to be accomplished, or the attainment of a visionary quest. Adventurous conflicts with realistic opponents or imaginary mon sters present facets of the physical, sexual, and spiritual challenges. There may also be tabus to be avoided-one must not, for example, look back, eat of a forbidden fruit, or be too inquisitive. Death itself is the ultimate conquest, be it for a resurrection god like Dionysus, or a hero like Heracles. Rewards for achievement exist on various levels.

The hand of a fair maiden, political security, the wealth and power of a kingdom are not uncommon goals. But knowledge through suffering and more lasting spiritual enlightenment (literal or symbolic) entailing purification, rebirth, redemption, and even deification are also part of a hero's attainment. These and other motifs recur with seemingly infinite variation, and they will continue to do so as long as human nature remains the same. For this is the stuff of traditional tales that continues to be refined by artistic experience to delight and inform and also to touch the very depths of the human heart and spirit. The cycles of Greek saga are for the most part connected with cities and areas that were important in the later Bronze Age-that is, from about 1600 to 1100 B.C. The richest of these cities, Mycenae, gave its name to the period, and it was the king of Mycenae who led the Greeks on the greatest of their expeditions, against Troy. The great saga cycles concern (1) Mycenae, Tiryns, Argos, Sparta, and Arcadia-all in the Peloponnese; (2) Athens, Thebes, Orchomenus, and Iolcus-cities of Attica, Boeotia, and Thessaly, that is, on the Greek mainland outside the Peloponnese; and (3) Troy, whose relations with the Mycenaean cities may have been extensive. Beyond these Mycenaean sagas there are the stories connected with the Minoan civilization of Crete, the predecessor of Mycenae as the dominant power in the Aegean world, whose collapse can be placed at the end of the fifteenth century B.C. Cnossus, its richest city, came under the domination of Mycenae. Finally, the story of Odysseus, although basically connected with the Mycenaean world, extends far beyond it, chiefly because it incorporates many folk tales whose origin is quite separate from saga. There is then a definite historical dimension to Greek saga that archaeological discoveries have confirmed, but saga cannot be confused with history, for the former blurs the outlines of the latter and concentrates on a few personages (divine or heroic) and their deeds, ignoring the geographical and economic facts and ordinary men's doings, which are the stuff of history. When Schliemann called the great beehive tomb at Mycenae "The Treasury of Atreus" or identified the Scaean Gate at Troy, he was confusing saga and history; there is a relationship between the two, but only a romantic would identify them.

THE FOUNDING OF THEBES

The most popular cycles of saga among the Greek dramatists were the Theban and Mycenaean, and it is to the Theban cycle that we now turn. The historical Thebes was the leading city of Boeotia, the plain-land area of central Greece ringed by the mountain ranges of Parnes, Cithaeron, Helicon, and Parnassus, and on the east bounded by the Strait of Euboea. Thebes was situated on the low ridge that separates the two chief plains of Boeotia; its citadel was called the Cadmeia, in this preserving the name of Cadmus, legendary founder of the city. Cadmus was son of Agenor, king of Tyre, and brdther of Europa; he was sent by Agenor to find his sister; she had been taken to Crete by Zeus, disguised as a bull. Here is Ovid's description of the abduction (Metamorphoses 2. 846-3. 2), which should be compared with the illustrations given on pages 297-98: Majesty and love are not well joined nor do they sit well together. Abandoning the dignity of his royal office, the father and ruler of the gods . . . took on the appearance of a bull . . . and as a beautiful animal shambled over the tender grass. . . . Agenor's daughter wondered at the bull's beauty, amazed that he did not threaten to attack, yet, gentle as he seemed, she at first was afraid to touch him. After a while she came up close and offered flowers to his white face. [Ovid goes on to describe how Zeus gradually deceived her into climbing onto his back.]

The young princess even dared to sit upon the bull's back, ignorant of whom she was riding. Then the god little by little began to take his deceptive steps further from the dry land into the sea, then he went further and carried his prey across the central waters of the sea. . . . At length he laid aside the disguise of the deceiving bull . . . and revealed who he was and reached the shores of Crete. In Crete Europa became the mother of Minos by Zeus. Meanwhile Cadmus set out to find her (taking with him his mother, Telephassa, who died in Thrace), and came to Delphi, where he asked the oracle for advice. Apollo told him not to worry about Europa any more but to follow a certain cow until she lay down out of weariness and there to found a city. Cadmus found the cow in Phocis (the district of Greece in which Delphi is situated), and she led him to Boeotia, where he founded his city, Cadmeia, later called Thebes. As for the divinely sent cow, it was Cadmus' duty to sacrifice her; to perform the ceremony he needed water, which he sent his companions to draw from the nearby spring sacred to Ares. A serpent, said to be the offspring of Ares, guarded the spring; it killed most of Cadmus' men, and in return was itself killed by Cadmus. Ovid relates that as Cadmus was contemplating the dead serpent, a voice was heard saying: "Why, son of Agenor, do you look at the dead serpent? You too will be looked at as a serpent." Thus the final episode in the life of Cadmus was prophesied. Athena, to whom Cadmus had been sacrificing the cow, now advised Cadmus to take the serpent's teeth and sow them; from the ground sprang up armed men, who fought and killed each other until only five were left. (Cadmus, it was said, threw stones at them, and they, thinking that their own fellows were throwing them, started fighting.) From these five survivors, who were called Spartoi (i.e., sown men), descended the noble families of Thebes.

A chorus in Euripides' The Phoenician Women (639-75) recounts Cadmus' achievement as follows: Tyrian Cadmus came to this land where the cow fell down on all fours, providing irrevocable fulfillment of the oracle by which god had ordained that he was to make his home amid the fertile plains-here where the beautiful stream of Dirce waters the rich and green fields. . . . In this place the bloodthirsty serpent of Ares kept his savage guard over the freshly flowing waters, looking far and wide with his swiftly darting glances. Cadmus came for sacrificial water and destroyed him, wielding a stone by the might of his arm and showering deadly blows upon the monster's head. At the bidding of Pallas Athena he sowed its teeth in the bountiful ground and in their place Earth sent up onto its surface the spectacle of armored men. Iron-willed Slaughter sent them back to Mother Earth; and she who had presented them to the bright breezes of the upper air was steeped in their blood. . . . Now Cadmus had to appease Ares for the death of the serpent; he therefore became his slave for a year (which, says Apollodorus, was the equivalent of eight of our years). At the end of this time he was freed and was given Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, as his wife. The marriage was celebrated on the Cadmeia, and all the gods came as guests. Among the gifts that the bride received were a robe and a necklace from her husband; the necklace was made by Hephaestus and given by him (or by Europa) to Cadmus; it came to play an important part in the Theban saga. Cadmus and Harmonia had four daughters-Ino, Semele, Autonoe, and Agavewhose stories, with those of their husbands and sons, have been told earlier. Despite the misfortunes of their daughters, Cadmus and Harmonia reigned a long time, civilizing their people, and in particular, introducing knowledge of writing. Eventually they went away to northwest Greece where Cadmus became king of the Illyrians; at the end of their lives they both turned into great harmless serpents (this is the story told by Euripides and Ovid) or were sent by Zeus to Elysium (a detail added by Apollodorus). As serpents or as inhabitants of Elysium they were ancestors worshiped by their descendants, and their departure from Cadmeia was not because of any misdeed or grief, but symbolizes their change from mortal to heroic or divine status.