Agenor was born inMemphis,Egypt toPoseidon andLibya[6] and he had a twin brother namedBelus.[7] The latter remained in Egypt and reigned over there while Agenor departed to Phoenicia and reigned there.[8] In a rare version of the myth, Agenor and Belus had another brother namedEnyalios.[5] According to other sources, he was the son of Belus and brother ofPhineus,Phoenix,Aegyptus andDanaus.[9] This tradition was followed byTzetzes but he addedNinus as one of the six brothers. The same author claimed that there were two Agenors, the first one being the brother of Belus while the second was the son of the latter, thus uncle of the first Agenor.[10]
In theIliad, however, Europa was clearly a daughter of Phoenix.[24] Either Cadmus or Europa were confirmed as children of Phoenix by theEhoeae attributed toHesiod,[25]Bacchylides,[26]Moschus[27] and variousscholia.[28] Cilix and Phineus were also sons of Phoenix according to Pherecydes, who also added an otherwise unknown son namedDoryclus.[29]
Most later sources listed Cadmus and Cilix as sons of Agenor directly without mentioning Phoenix. On the rare occasions when he was mentioned, Phoenix was listed as the brother of Cadmus and Cilix. Whether he was included as a brother of Agenor or as a son, his role in mythology was limited to inheriting his father's kingdom and to becoming the eponym of thePhoenicians. All accounts agreed on a Phoenician king who has several children, including the two sons named Cadmus and Cilix and a daughter named Europa.
A certainEidothea, wife of Phineus, was called the sister of Cadmus and thus maybe the daughter of Agenor.[30][31]Taygete, usually one of thePleiades and mother ofLacedemon byZeus was also said to be the daughter of Agenor.[32]
Zeus saw Agenor's daughterEuropa gathering flowers and immediately fell in love with her. Zeus transformed himself into a white bull and carried Europa away to the island ofCrete. He then revealed his true identity and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Agenor, meanwhile, sent Europa's brothers, Cadmus and Cilix in search of her, telling them not to return without her. In some versions of the tale, Agenor sends her other brothers as well: Phineus or Thasus (and of course Phoenix in the versions in which Cadmus's father is Agenor).
As Europa could not be found, none of the brothers returned.[34] Cadmus consulted theoracle ofDelphi and was advised to travel until encountering acow. He was to follow this cow and to found a city where the cow would lie down; this city becameThebes. Cilix searched for her and settled down inAsia Minor. The land was calledCilicia after him.
According to the chroniclerMalalas, when Agenor was about to die, he ordered that all the land he had conquered be divided among his three sons. Phoenix took Tyre and its hinterland, and called the country Phoenicia after himself. Similarly, Syros call the country allotted to him Syria. Likewise, Cilix called the latitudes allotted to him Cilicia.[35]
Virgil calledCarthage the city of Agenor,[36] by which he alluded to the descent ofDido from Agenor. GermanphilologistPhilipp Karl Buttmann pointed out that the genuinePhoenician name of Agenor wasChnas orKhna, which was the same asCanaan, and upon these facts he built the hypothesis that Agenor or Chnas was the same as the Canaan in the books ofMoses.[37]Quintus Curtius Rufus considered Agenor to have been the founder ofSidon, and he was also popularly supposed to have introduced thePhoenician alphabet, which was later taught byCadmus to the Greeks and became the foundation of their own writing system.[38]
^Herodotus (2003) [1954]. Marincola, John (ed.).Histories. Translated by de Sélincourt, Aubrey (Reprint ed.). New York:Penguin Books. p. 155.ISBN978-0140449082.But from the birth ofDionysus, the son ofSemele, daughter ofCadmus, to the present day is a period of about 1000 years only; ...
^Even though Phineus was called the son of Agenor according to Apollodorus, his mother may be different because only three sons (Cadmus, Phoenix and Cilix) were born to Agenor and Telephassa.
Gaius Valerius Flaccus,Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928.Online version at theio.com.
Hesiod,Catalogue of Women fromHomeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.Online version at theio.com
Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Sophocles,Sophocles. Vol 1: Oedipus the king. Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone. With an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 20. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1912.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Suida,Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Tzetzes, John,Book of Histories, Book VII-VIII translated by Vasiliki Dogani from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826.Online version at theio.com
