a Greek chief, son of Nauplius king of Euboea, by Clemene. He was sent by the Grecian princes who were going to the Trojan war, in order to bring Ulysses to the camp, who, to avoid the expedition, pretended insanity; and the better to carry on the imposition, he often harnessed different animals to a plough, and sowed salt instead of barley. Palamedes soon discovered the cheat. He knew that regret to part with Penelope, whom Ulysses had lately married, was his only reason for pretending insanity; and to demonstrate this, Palamedes took Telemachus, of whom Penelope had lately been delivered, and put him before his father's plough. Ulysses turned the plough a different way, not to hurt his child. He was therefore obliged to attend the Greek princes to the war; but a mortal enmity took place between Ulysses and Palamedes. The king of Ithaca determined to take every opportunity to distress him; and when all his expectations were frustrated, he was mean enough to bribe one of his servants, and to make him dig a hole in his master's tent, and there conceal a large sum of money. After this Ulysses forged a letter in Phrygian characters, as from Priam to Palamedes. In the latter the Trojan king seemed to beg Palamedes to deliver into his hands the Grecian army, according to the conditions which had been previously agreed upon when he received the money. This Palamedes forged letter was carried, by means of Ulysses, before the princes of the Grecian army. Palamedes was summoned, and made the most solemn protestations of innocence, but in vain. The money that was discovered in his tent served to corroborate the accusation; and he was therefore found guilty by the whole army, and stoned to death. Homer is silent about the unfortunate fate of Palamedes; and Pausanias mentions, that it had been reported by some that Ulysses and Diomedes had drowned him in the sea as he was fishing on the coast. Philostratus, who mentions the tragical story as above related, adds, that Achilles and Ajax buried his body with great pomp on the sea shore; and that they raised upon it a small chapel, where sacrifices were regularly offered by the inhabitants of Troas. Palamedes was a man of learning as well as a soldier; and, according to some, he completed the alphabet of Cadmus by the addition of the four letters θ, ψ, χ, φ, during the Trojan war. To him also is attributed the invention of dice and backgammon; and it is said that he was the first who regularly ranged an army in a line of battle, and who placed sentinels round the camp, and excited their vigilance and attention by giving them a watch-word.