Palamedes

Overview

Palamedes is a clever Greek hero associated with the Trojan War whose rivalry with Odysseus ends in betrayal and death in later tradition.

Generation

Trojan War

Symbols

Writing, dice, intelligence

Notes

Palamedes belongs to the wider Trojan War tradition rather than the central narrative of Homer's Iliad.

He is remembered especially for intelligence, invention and practical cleverness.

One famous tradition connects Palamedes with exposing Odysseus' attempt to avoid joining the expedition to Troy. Odysseus had pretended to be mad, but Palamedes devised a test that forced him to reveal that the madness was false.

The episode creates a lasting hostility between the two men.

Later tradition describes Palamedes being falsely accused of treason through a plot involving forged evidence or planted gold.

The Greeks condemn him, and Palamedes is killed.

His death becomes one of the darker episodes within the Greek camp, showing that the coalition fighting Troy is also divided by rivalry, resentment and deception.

Palamedes survived particularly strongly in later Greek literature as a symbol of intelligence destroyed by injustice.