CADMEAN

cadmean. Cadmean, a. pertaining to Cadmus, who introduced letters into Greece

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Cad‐me″an (kăd‐mē″an), a. [[L. Cadmeus, Gr. Καδμει̑οσ, from Κάδμοσ (L. Cadmus), which name perhaps means lit. a man from the East; cf. Heb. qedem east.]] Of or pertaining to Cadmus, a fabulous prince of Thebes, who was said to have introduced into Greece the sixteen simple letters of the alphabet — α, β, γ, δ, ε, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν, ο, π, ρ, σ, τ, υ. These are called Cadmean letters. Cadmean victory, a victory that damages the victors as much as the vanquished; probably referring to the battle in which the soldiers who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus slew each other.