Agenor

Family

Agenor was born in Memphis, Egypt, the son of Poseidon and Libya, and had a twin brother named Belus. Belus stayed in Egypt and ruled there, while Agenor left to rule in Phoenicia. In an uncommon version of the story, they had a third brother named Enyalios.

Other accounts say Agenor was actually the son of Belus and brother of Phineus, Phoenix, Aegyptus, and Danaus. The writer Tzetzes followed this tradition but added Ninus as a sixth brother. Tzetzes also claimed there were two Agenors: the first was Belus's brother, and the second was Belus's son, making the second Agenor the uncle of the first.

The identity of Agenor's children also varied. He was considered the father of Europa, Cadmus, Cilix, Phoenix, Phineus, Thasus, and sometimes Syros and Cepheus. His wife was named as Telephassa, Argiope, Antiope, or Tyro; the last gave her name to the city of Tyre.

According to Pherecydes of Athens, Agenor's first wife was Damno, daughter of Belus, who bore Phoenix and two daughters, Isaia and Melia. Isaia married Aegyptus, and Melia married Danaus. Agenor then fathered Cadmus with Argiope, daughter of the river-god Neilus.

In the Iliad, Europa is clearly the daughter of Phoenix. The Ehoeae attributed to Hesiod, along with Bacchylides, Moschus, and various scholia, confirm that either Cadmus or Europa were children of Phoenix. Pherecydes also made Cilix and Phineus sons of Phoenix, and added an otherwise unknown son named Doryclus. Most later sources, however, list Cadmus and Cilix as direct sons of Agenor, without mentioning Phoenix.

When Phoenix did appear, he was listed as a brother of Cadmus and Cilix. Whether Phoenix was Agenor's brother or son, his role was limited to inheriting the kingdom and becoming the namesake of the Phoenicians. All accounts agree on a Phoenician king with several children, including two sons named Cadmus and Cilix and a daughter named Europa.

A woman named Eidothea, wife of Phineus, was called the sister of Cadmus and thus possibly a daughter of Agenor. Taygete, usually one of the Pleiades and mother of Lacedemon by Zeus, was also said to be Agenor's daughter.

Mythology

Agenor’s daughter Europa was picking flowers when Zeus spotted her and instantly fell for her. Changing himself into a white bull, he swept her away to Crete, where he revealed who he truly was and she became the island’s first queen. Back home, Agenor ordered Europa’s brothers—Cadmus and Cilix—to go find her and not come back without her. Some versions of the story add other brothers, like Phineus, Thasus, or Phoenix (when Cadmus’s father is given as Agenor).

Since Europa could not be located, none of the brothers returned. Cadmus went to the oracle at Delphi, which told him to wander until he met a cow, then follow it and build a city where it lay down; that city became Thebes. Cilix kept searching and eventually settled in Asia Minor, and the region was named Cilicia after him. According to the writer Malalas, as Agenor neared death, he commanded that all the lands he had conquered be split among his three sons.

Phoenix received Tyre and its surrounding area, calling the country Phoenicia after himself. Syros named his allotted territory Syria. Cilix did the same with his portion, calling it Cilicia.

Identity and deeds

The city of Carthage was called "the city of Agenor" by Virgil, referencing Dido’s lineage from Agenor. The German scholar Philipp Karl Buttmann argued that Agenor’s original Phoenician name was Chnas or Khna, identical to Canaan, and from this he proposed that Agenor and the biblical Canaan were the same figure. According to Quintus Curtius Rufus, Agenor founded Sidon. Popular tradition also credited him with creating the Phoenician alphabet, which Cadmus later passed to the Greeks, forming the basis of Greek writing.