Palamedes

Palamedes was a Euboean prince, son of King Nauplius in Greek mythology. He joined the rest of the Greeks in the expedition against Troy. He was associated with the invention of dice, numbers, and letters. Family Palamedes's mother was either Clymene (daughter of King Catreus of Crete), Hesione, or Philyra. He was the brother of Oeax and Nausimedon. Mythology Although he is a major character in some accounts of the Trojan War, Palamedes is not mentioned in Homer's Iliad. After Paris took Helen to Troy, Agamemnon sent Palamedes to Ithaca to retrieve Odysseus, who had promised to defend the marriage of Helen and Menelaus. Odysseus did not want to honor his oath, so 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 revealed his sanity.