Category:Cadmean

Cad*me"an, a. Etym: [L. Cadmeus, Gr. Cadmus), which name perhaps means lit. a man from the East; cf. Heb. qedem east.]

Defn: 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 -- 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.