The fall of the House of Cadmus - Iseult Gillespie

382,060 views ・ 2024-07-11

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:07
When Cadmus walked the earth,
0
7128
2336
00:09
just a few generations separated him from his divine ancestors.
1
9464
5255
00:15
From atop Mount Olympus, they scrutinized and meddled with mortals like himself.
2
15053
5463
00:20
Cadmus was a skilled warrior and heir to the Phoenician throne.
3
20808
4505
00:25
But he wouldn't stay in the gods' favor for long.
4
25396
3128
00:28
First, Zeus coveted Cadmus' sister, Europa.
5
28900
4171
00:33
So, he snuck into the palace garden in the form of a bull and stole her away.
6
33279
5047
00:38
Their father tasked Cadmus and his men with the impossible duty
7
38534
4255
00:42
of bringing Europa back.
8
42789
2043
00:45
Cadmus journeyed to the sacred Oracle of Delphi to plead for help,
9
45041
4212
00:49
where he was told to find and follow a sacred, wild cow.
10
49253
4171
00:53
At the spot where the cow rested, he was to found a new city.
11
53800
4170
00:58
Cadmus and his men did as the oracle said,
12
58387
2586
01:00
then ventured into the nearby forest for supplies.
13
60973
3087
01:04
But a giant serpent soon appeared.
14
64227
2752
01:07
It choked some of Cadmus' men and blasted others with venom.
15
67105
4087
01:11
Cadmus leapt into action, hurled his javelin,
16
71400
2920
01:14
and pinned the snake to a tree.
17
74320
1877
01:16
Without knowing it, he had just slain Ares', the god of war's, precious serpent—
18
76614
5422
01:22
and sealed tragedy into his own fate along with it.
19
82203
3462
01:25
Suddenly, a disembodied voice boomed:
20
85957
3086
01:29
"You too shall be a serpent to be gazed on."
21
89168
3629
01:32
Taking pity on the prince,
22
92964
1710
01:34
the goddess Athena instructed Cadmus to till the earth
23
94674
3336
01:38
using the serpent's teeth.
24
98010
2002
01:40
As he nestled its fangs into the soil,
25
100179
2503
01:42
a band of warriors sprouted from the ground.
26
102682
3170
01:46
Together, they built the magnificent city of Thebes.
27
106144
3545
01:49
And eventually, Cadmus fell in love with Harmonia,
28
109772
2920
01:52
daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, and the two married.
29
112692
4087
01:56
As years passed, and his city and family grew,
30
116946
2920
01:59
hope that all strife might be forgotten between Cadmus and the gods
31
119949
4004
02:03
glimmered briefly.
32
123953
1418
02:05
But, soon enough, his family's luck began souring once more.
33
125705
4588
02:10
Tragedy struck when Cadmus' grandson, Actaeon,
34
130668
3420
02:14
was tracking a stag in the forest with his hunting hounds.
35
134088
3420
02:17
The young man unwittingly infringed on the sacred grove of Artemis,
36
137800
4505
02:22
goddess of the hunt, as she was bathing.
37
142305
3003
02:25
Artemis punished Actaeon, transforming him into a skittish stag.
38
145474
4797
02:30
And in this form Actaeon's own hounds could no longer distinguish him
39
150271
3962
02:34
from the object of the hunt— and they went in for the kill.
40
154233
3545
02:38
Then, Zeus visited again—
41
158196
2127
02:40
this time taking advantage of Semele, one of Cadmus' four daughters.
42
160323
4754
02:45
When Zeus' wife Hera learned that he'd been unfaithful yet again
43
165203
4421
02:49
and that Semele was pregnant,
44
169624
1835
02:51
she tricked Zeus into revealing himself to Semele in his divine form.
45
171459
4379
02:56
But even the feeblest of his thunderstorms was too much for a mortal to witness,
46
176005
5255
03:01
and Semele perished.
47
181260
2169
03:03
Zeus managed to save their unborn child, who grew into Dionysus, god of wine.
48
183679
6257
03:10
His wild, revelrous rituals drew devoted followers.
49
190311
4087
03:14
But they eventually got out of hand.
50
194482
2335
03:17
On one occasion, two of Cadmus' four daughters,
51
197026
3420
03:20
Agave and Autonoë— Dionysus' own aunts—
52
200446
4004
03:24
had a hallucinatory fit and killed Agave's own son,
53
204450
4129
03:28
believing he was a lion.
54
208663
2127
03:30
Next, Hera targeted the family again.
55
210998
2878
03:33
Alongside the Furies, the goddesses of vengeance,
56
213876
3045
03:36
she cursed Cadmus' fourth daughter, Ino,
57
216921
3503
03:40
with an intolerable madness that drove her into the sea.
58
220424
3504
03:44
Besieged by bad luck and overcome with grief,
59
224262
3294
03:47
Cadmus and Harmonia wandered the wilderness.
60
227723
2920
03:50
They considered the many tragic turns their lives had taken—
61
230893
3712
03:54
which Cadmus traced back to the time he killed the serpent.
62
234647
3920
03:58
Realizing that the animal could have been sacred
63
238818
2461
04:01
and that his act might have incited the unabating wrath of the gods,
64
241279
4004
04:05
Cadmus prayed to recompense his error.
65
245449
2962
04:08
Suddenly, he felt his body change and he embraced Harmonia.
66
248619
4588
04:13
The two melted to the ground and shed their human skins,
67
253457
3963
04:17
until finally, two snakes were left coiled in the field.
68
257420
4296
04:21
Cadmus' debt was at last repaid—
69
261924
2669
04:24
to the snake he slayed in a desperate moment,
70
264844
2669
04:27
and to the gods, who guarded their grudges
71
267555
3003
04:30
and dispensed of their punishments liberally.
72
270558
3545
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7