Galaxy/The codex of Udaeus

Udaeus (Ancient Greek Οὐδαῖος) was one of the five surviving Spartoi — the "sown men" who sprang fully armed from the dragon's teeth Cadmus sowed at Thebes. With Echion, Chthonius, Hyperenor, and Pelorus he helped found the city; later Theban houses, including Teiresias' line in some genealogies, claimed descent from him.

Adapted from Wikipedia, "Dragon's teeth (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0

I.The sown men

After Cadmus killed Ares' dragon at the Theban spring, Athena (in Apollodorus) told him to sow half the teeth. Armed men rose from the furrows; Cadmus cast a stone among them, and they fought until five remained: Echion, Udaeus, Chthonius, Hyperenor, and Pelorus.

Hellanicus instead has only five Spartoi arise, with no mutual slaughter. The survivors help Cadmus found Thebes; Cadmus still serves Ares eight years for the dragon's death before receiving Harmonia.

II.Descendants

Echion marries Agave and fathers Pentheus; other Spartoi seed later Theban aristocracy. One tradition holds that Spartoi descendants bore a dragon-like bodily mark — Creon uses it to recognise Maeon. Udaeus himself is remembered chiefly as one of the five founders rather than as a solo protagonist.

The Jason episode at Colchis reuses Athena's remaining teeth but yields no lasting Spartoi house — that Colchian crop destroys itself. The atlas id udaeus is the Theban sown man, distinct from chthonius-spartos, hyperenor-spartos, pelorus-spartos, and echion.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameOudaios (Οὐδαῖος)
Typehero
Domainsthe Spartoi · the dragon's teeth
ParentageGaia
EtymologyOudaîos is commonly connected with oudas / "earth," fitting a warrior born from sown teeth. The collective name Spartoi means "sown (men)," from speírō, "to sow."
READ MOREWikipedia