Melampus- Greek HeroHero"First of the Seers"

The Gift of Prophecy

As a boy, Melampus rescued a nest of baby snakes after his servants killed their mother. The serpents repaid him: they came while he slept and licked his ears clean. He woke understanding the speech of birds and the worms gnawing in the wood of his house.

The Cattle of Phylacus

Melampus's brother Bias wanted to marry Pero, daughter of King Neleus of Pylos, but Neleus demanded the cattle of Phylacus as bride-price. Melampus knew he would be captured and imprisoned for a year if he tried. He went anyway.

He was caught and jailed. In his cell, he overheard woodworms in the roof beam above him discussing how the timber would collapse the next day. He demanded to be moved. The room fell in behind him, and Phylacus, astonished, asked Melampus to cure his son Iphiclus of impotence. A vulture told Melampus the cause: years earlier, Phylacus had been gelding rams near a sacred oak and drove the bloody knife into the bark. The boy Iphiclus, watching, had been terrified. Melampus told them to find the knife, scrape the rust into wine, and give it to Iphiclus to drink. The cure worked. Melampus won the cattle and secured Pero's hand for his brother.

The Madness of the Proetides

The three daughters of King Proetus of Tiryns were struck with a frenzy, punishment from Dionysus for rejecting his rites. They ran through the hills believing they were cows. Melampus offered to cure them for a third of the kingdom. Proetus refused. The madness spread to the other women of Argos. Melampus raised his price to two-thirds. Proetus had no choice.

Melampus chased the maddened women through the mountains until they could be caught and purified. He took his third of Argos.