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, to bring to the camp Ulysses, who, in order to avoid the expedition, pretended insanity, and, the better to carry on the imposition, often harnessed different animals to a plough, and sowed salt instead of barley. But Palamedes soon discovered the cheat. He knew that regret to part with Penelope, whom Ulysses had lately married, was his only reason for pre- tending 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 Pal- amedes. The king of Ithaca determined to take every op- portunity to distress him; and when all his attempts were frustrated, he had recourse to a base stratagem, and had Palamedes unjustly accused and convicted of treason, and stoned to death by the army. 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, ρ, 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 order of battle, and who placed sentinels round the camp, and excited their vigilance and attention by giving them a watchword.