Melampus (Ancient Greek: Μελάμπους) was a seer/soothsayer and healer from Pylos in Messenia. He eventually ruled part of the Kingdom of Argos. He was the son of Amythaon and Idomene and grandson of Cretheus and Tyro. He was the twin brother of Bias and the brother of Aeolia and Perimele.
Etymology[]
His name means “black foot” or “man with the black feet” as, according to the legend, when he was a neonate he was left by his mother with his feet exposed to the bright sun
Mythology[]
Early Years[]
When Melampus was a young boy, he told his servants not to kill two snakes. Grateful, the snakes gave Melampus the ability to speak with animals.
Another version says that he found a mother snake that had been crushed under a cart and two orphaned babies. Rather than leaving them he gave the snake a burial and raised the young ones. To thank him they licked his ears so clean that he was able to understand animals.
Late in his life, Melampus was kidnapped. In his cell, he overheard two termites talking, claiming they would be finished eating through Melampus' ceiling the next morning. Melampus called his captors and demanded a move. He made such an uproar that the kidnappers agreed. When the ceiling collapsed the next morning, the kidnappers decided he was a prophet and that to hold on to him might offend the gods. They let him go.
When his brother Bias married his cousin Pero who was the daughter of Neleus. It was said that Neleus would not allow his daughter to marry anyone unless the suitor brought him the oxen of Iphiclus. These Melampus achieved with courage and using his supernatural abilities of speaking with animals, upon winning the challenge he arranged the marriage of Pero and Bias.
When the barber of Midas found out he has ass' ears he dug a hole into the ground to tell his secret for he can not maintain himself to keep the secret. All was well until the next spring, when a reed sprouted up from the hole and whispered to the other reeds that Midas had the ears of a donkey. These reeds in turn whispered the secret to all creatures who passed. Soon the birds learned the news and brought it to Melampus. Melampus told all his friends and soon the entire kingdom knew about the former king's miserable secret.
According to Herodotus, the introducer of the worship of Dionysus and the creator of an entire school of magic healers known as the Melampodians. At Argos, Melampus was held to be the first priest of Dionysus and originator of mysterious customs at ecstatic festivals and ceremonies of expiation. [1]
Division of Argos[]
There are conflicting accounts as to how Melampus and his brother Bias became Kings of Argos, the commonality between the accounts is Melampus bargaining with the King to split the Kingdom of Argos and to include his brother as well.
King Anaxagoras[]
According to the versions regarding Anaxagoras, the King offered a reward for anybody that could heal his son Alector, who suffered from a strange malady. Melampus killed an ox and talked to the vultures that came to eat the corpse. They said that the last time they had had such a feast was when the king had made a sacrifice. They told Melampus that the prince had been frightened of the big, bloody knife and the king tossed it aside to calm the child. It had hit a tree and injured a hamadryad, who cursed the prince with the sickness. The hamadryad told Melampus that the boy would be healed if the knife was taken out of the trunk of the tree and boiled, then the prince should drink the rusty water that resulted. Melampus followed her directions and, as payment for the cure, demanded two thirds of the kingdom for himself, and one third for his brother, Bias. The king agreed.
King Proetus[]
According to the versions regarding Proetus, when the women of Argos were driven mad by Dionysus, in the reign of Proetus, Melampus was brought in to cure them, but demanded a third of the kingdom as payment. The king refused, but the women became wilder than ever, and he was forced to seek out Melampus again, who this time demanded both a third for himself and another third for his brother Bias. The king felt he had no choice but to agree, and so Melampus led them to the city of Lusi where they were healed of their madness in a sanctuary of Artemis.
Melampus (left, holding staff) purifying the daughters of Proetus with Dionysus (right, holding cup)[2]
Melampus was succeeded by his son Antiphates. His descendants continued to rule their portion of Argos until the death of Melampus' great-great-grandson Amphilochus, upon which the share reverted to Anaxagoras' descendant (Sthenelius). He is supposed to have lived at the dawn of the Mycenaean era, i.e. around 1600 BC, his lineage lasting down to the brothers Alcmaeon and Amphilochus, who fought in the Trojan War.
Family[]
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| Preceded by: Anaxagoras (King of united Argos) |
King of Argos (Melampid branch) Mythic |
Succeeded by Antiphates |
Gallery[]
![Melampus in Wrath of Gods[3]](/wiki/File:Snake01c.jpg "Snake01c.jpg (19 KB)")