Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Agenor.
The gallery
Cadmus Goes in Search of His Sister Europa
Unknown (Ovid Metamorphoses illustration), 17th–18th century
Ovidian print of Cadmus' quest: Agenor's command that his sons find Europa or not return — the Phoenician king's order that empties Tyre and founds Thebes.
Phoenix, Son of Agenor
Unknown, 16th–17th century
Print titled Phoenix Agenor filius — Agenor's son as the eponym of Phoenicia, proof of the Tyrian house the father ruled.
The Abduction of Europa
Rembrandt, 1632
Rembrandt's Europa on the bull — Agenor's daughter stolen from Phoenicia, the loss that sends Cadmus west under the king's decree.
In play
Agenor
Mythical Phoenician king, husband of Telephassa, father of Europa, Cadmus, Phoenix and Cilix — not the many lesser Agenors of Argos, Troy or Ithaca.
Europa (consort of Zeus)
Agenor's daughter — the princess Zeus carries to Crete, whose abduction empties her father's house.
Cadmus
Agenor's son — the brother who obeys the search-order and founds Thebes when Europa cannot be found.