<Li> The immolation of Semele and the advent of Dionysus . </Li> <Li> The exploits of Heracles . </Li> <P> The Greeks attributed the foundation of Thebes to Cadmus, a Phoenician king from Tyre (now in Lebanon) and the brother of Queen Europa . Cadmus was famous for teaching the Phoenician alphabet and building the Acropolis, which was named the Cadmeia in his honor and was an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center . </P> <P> Archaeological excavations in and around Thebes have revealed cist graves dated to Mycenaean times containing weapons, ivory, and tablets written in Linear B. Its attested name forms and relevant terms on tablets found locally or elsewhere include 𐀳𐀣𐀂, te - qa - i, understood to be read as * Thēgwai̮s (Ancient Greek: Θήβαις, Thēbais, i.e. "at Thebes", Thebes in the dative - locative case), 𐀳𐀣𐀆, te - qa - de, for * Thēgwasde (Θήβασδε, Thēbasde, i.e. "to Thebes"), and 𐀳𐀣𐀊, te - qa - ja, for * Thēgwaja (Θηβαία, Thēbaia, i.e. "Theban woman"). </P>

According to tradition the founder of the city that became thebes was