Odysseus fakes insanity, early 17th century tapestry. Ptuj Ormož Regional Museum, Ptuj Slovenia
Although he is a major character in some accounts of the Trojan War, Palamedes is not mentioned inHomer'sIliad.
AfterParis tookHelen to Troy,Agamemnon sent Palamedes toIthaca to retrieveOdysseus, who had promised to defend the marriage of Helen andMenelaus. Odysseus did not want to honor his oath, so to feign insanity he plowed his fields with a donkey and an ox both hitched to the same plow, so the beasts of different sizes caused the plow to pull chaotically. Palamedes guessed what was happening and put Odysseus' son,Telemachus, in front of the plow. Odysseus stopped working and thus revealed his sanity.[5]
The ancient sources give different accounts of how Palamedes met his death.[1] ByHyginus's account, Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for ruining his attempt to stay out of theTrojan War. When Palamedes advised the Greeks to return home, Odysseus hid gold in his tent and wrote a fake letter purportedly fromPriam. Thus Palamedes was accused of treason and stoned to death by the Greeks.[6] InPausanias's version, Palamedes was drowned by Odysseus andDiomedes during a fishing expedition.[7] Still another version byDictys Cretensis relates that he was lured into a well in search of treasure, and then was crushed by stones.[8]
Ovid discusses Palamedes' role in theTrojan War in theMetamorphoses.[9] Palamedes' fate is described inVirgil'sAeneid.[10] In theApology,Plato describesSocrates as looking forward to speaking with Palamedes after death,[11] and intimates in thePhaedrus that Palamedes authored a work onrhetoric.[12]Euripides and many other dramatists have written dramas about his fate. The oratorGorgias also wrote aDefense of Palamedes, describing the defense speech that Palamedes gave when charged with treason.
Dares the Phrygian, Palamedes was illustrated as ". . .tall and slender, wise, magnanimous, and charming."[13]
Pausanias in hisDescription of Greece (2.20.3) says that inArgos there is a Temple of Fortune to which Palamedes dedicated the dice that he had invented;Plato inThe Republic (Book 7) remarks (through the character ofSocrates) that Palamedes claimed to have invented numbers.Hyginus claims Palamedes created eleven letters of theGreek alphabet:
TheFates,Clotho,Lachesis, andAtropo, created seven Greek letters: Α Β Η Τ Ι Υ. Others say thatMercury did it from the flight of cranes which make the shape of letters when they fly. However, Palamedes the son of Nauplius invented 11 letters.[14]
The major Dutch playwrightJoost van den Vondel wrote in 1625 the playPalamedes, based on the Greek myth. The play had a clear topical political connotation: the unjust killing of Palamedes stands for the execution of the statesmanJohan van Oldenbarnevelt six years earlier, which Vondel, like others in theDutch Republic, considered a judicial murder. In Vondel's version, responsibility for Palamedes' killing is attributed mainly toAgamemnon. The play's harsh and tyrannical Agamemnon was clearly intended to portray PrinceMaurits of Nassau. Authorities in Amsterdam found no difficulty in deciphering the political meanings behind Vondel's classical allusions and imposed a heavy fine on Vondel.
D. R. Reinsch, "Die Palamedes-Episode in der Synopsis Chronike des Konstantinos Manasses und ihre Inspirationsquelle," inByzantinische Sprachkunst. Studien zur byzantinischen Literatur gewidmet Wolfram Hoerandner zum 65. Geburtstag. Hg. v. Martin Hinterberger und Elisabeth Schiffer. Berlin-New York, Walter de Gruyter, 2007 (Byzantinisches Archiv, 20), 266–276.
Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN9780415186360.Google Books.
