PALAMEDES


Meaning of PALAMEDES in English

[Greek heroic] Palamedes, who was the son of the Euboian king Nauplius (2) and queen Clymene (4) and who was also the grandson of Poseidon and Amymone (one of the fifty Danaus' daughters) was the personification of time-honoured wisdom. But he was also a tragical hero in the Greek myths, because he was the first example of an error of justice. Palamedes' invention get into all spheres of life. It was he who discovered counting and coinage, weights and measures (which are atributted to Hermes too) and military ranks and the game of pessoi (a forerunner of chess). And a certain method of mixing wine in proportions of 2 to 5 belonged to his ideas. Even the four (sometimes the eleven) supplementary letters of the Greek alphabet are connected to his inventions, therefore according to some myths, also other persons participated in this field. The story about life and death of Palamedes was kept in the Greek tradition. According to this narration the Mycenaean king Agamemnon sent Palamedes to Ithaca to...

Read more ...

Encyclopedia Mythica English dictionary.      Английский энциклопедический словарь греческой мифологии.