A Cadmean victory () is a reference to a
victory
The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...
involving one's own ruin,
[Liddell, Henry George (Compiler), Scott, Robert (Compiler), Jones, Henry Stuart (Editor), McKenzie, Roderick. ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', 9th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.] from
Cadmus
In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes, Greece, Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a ...
(Greek: Καδμός), the legendary founder of
Thebes in
Boeotia
Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...
and the mythic bringer of script to
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.
[Howatson, M. C. (Ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 105.] On seeking to establish the city, Cadmus required water from a spring guarded by a water-dragon similar to the
Lernaean Hydra
The Lernaean Hydra or Hydra of Lerna (), more often known simply as the Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek mythology and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which was also the site of the myth of the Dan ...
. He sent his companions to slay the dragon, but they all perished. Although Cadmus eventually proved victorious, the victory cost the lives of those who were to benefit from the new settlement.
In Classic Literature
In ''
Histories'', Herodotus refers to a Cadmean victory: "In the engagement that followed, the
Phocaeans were victorious, but their success was only a sort of Cadmeian victory."
[Rawlinson, George (Translator), Herodotus. ''The Histories'', New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. p. 91]
See also
*
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.
The phrase originates from a quote from ...
References
{{Reflist
Military strategy
Victory
Theban mythology
Metaphors referring to war and violence