Palamedes

▪ Greek legend

      in Greek legend, the son of Nauplius (king of Euboea) and Clymene and a hero of the Trojan War. Palamedes is a prominent figure in post-Homeric legends about the siege of Troy. Before the war, according to the lost epic Cypria, he exposed the trickery of Odysseus, who had feigned madness to avoid military service; by placing the infant Telemachus in the path of Odysseus' plow in the field, he forced that king to admit his sanity.

      During the siege of Troy, Palamedes alternated with two other Greek heroes, Odysseus and Diomedes, in guiding the army in the field, but his ability aroused their envy. In the Cypria the other two drowned Palamedes while fishing or persuaded him to seek treasure in a well, which they thereupon filled with stones. In various lost tragedies, Agamemnon, Diomedes, and Odysseus had an agent steal into his tent and conceal a letter that contained money and purported to come from King Priam of Troy. They then accused Palamedes of treasonable correspondence with the enemy, and he was stoned to death. His father, Nauplius, avenged him, first by visiting the homes of Greek leaders and encouraging their wives to commit adultery and, then when the men were at sea, burning a light to lead their ships onto dangerous rocks.

      Palamedes had a reputation for sagacity, and the ancients attributed a number of inventions to him, including the alphabet, numbers, weights and measures, coinage, board games, and the practice of eating at regular intervals.

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