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Cadmus of Miletus was, according to some ancient authorities, the oldest of the logographi. Modern scholars who accept this view, assign him to about 550 BC; others regard him as purely mythical. A confused notice in the Suidas mentions three persons of the name: the first, the inventor of the alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
; the second, the son of Pandion
Pandion

Pandion can have several meanings.*Pandion I and Pandion II, two kings of Athens in Greek mythology*Pandion , genus of birds of prey with a single member: the Osprey ...
, according to some the first prose
Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
 writer, a little later than Orpheus
Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary figure, probably from Thracian origin, venerated by the Greeks and Thracians of the Classical age as a chief among poets and musicians, and the perfector of the lyre invented by Hermes....
, author of a history of the foundation of Miletus
Miletus

Miletus was an ancient city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria. Evidence of first settlement at the site has been made inaccessible by the rise of sea level and deposition of sediments from the Maeander....
 and of Ionia
Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
 generally, in four books; the third, the son of Archelaus, of later date, author of a history of Attica
Attica

Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
 in fourteen books, and of some poems of an erotic character.






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Cadmus of Miletus was, according to some ancient authorities, the oldest of the logographi. Modern scholars who accept this view, assign him to about 550 BC; others regard him as purely mythical. A confused notice in the Suidas mentions three persons of the name: the first, the inventor of the alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
; the second, the son of Pandion
Pandion

Pandion can have several meanings.*Pandion I and Pandion II, two kings of Athens in Greek mythology*Pandion , genus of birds of prey with a single member: the Osprey ...
, according to some the first prose
Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
 writer, a little later than Orpheus
Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary figure, probably from Thracian origin, venerated by the Greeks and Thracians of the Classical age as a chief among poets and musicians, and the perfector of the lyre invented by Hermes....
, author of a history of the foundation of Miletus
Miletus

Miletus was an ancient city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria. Evidence of first settlement at the site has been made inaccessible by the rise of sea level and deposition of sediments from the Maeander....
 and of Ionia
Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
 generally, in four books; the third, the son of Archelaus, of later date, author of a history of Attica
Attica

Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
 in fourteen books, and of some poems of an erotic character. As Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus....
 (Judicium de Thucydide, c. 23) distinctly states that the work current in his time under the name of Cadmus was a forgery, it is most probable that the two first are identical with the Phoenicia
Phoenicia

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and the Palestinian territories....
n Cadmus
Cadmus

Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology mythology, was a Phoenician prince, the son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix , Cilix and Europa ....
, who, as the reputed inventor of letters, was subsequently transformed into the Milesian and the author of an historical work. In this connection it should be observed that the old Milesian nobles traced their descent back to the Phoenician or one of his companions. The text of the notice of the third Cadmus of Miletus in the Suidas is unsatisfactory; and it is uncertain whether he is to be explained in the same way, or whether he was an historical personage, of whom all further record is lost.