Palamedes’s ἐφεῦρε πεσσοὺς κυβοὺς τε in Hellenistic Poetry and in John Malalas’s Chronographia

According to a fragment by Sophocles (Soph. fr. 479 Radt), the πεττεία was supposedly invented by Palamedes, Odysseus’s enemy. This paper aims to elucidate the role of Palamedes’s invention of board games (ἐφεῦρε πεσσοὺς κυβοὺς τε) and its connotations of cleromancy (in the expression ‘καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ γραμμᾶς κινεῖ λίθον,’ that is, ‘and she moves the pebble from the (sacred) line,’ in Theocritus Idyll VI, 18). This is a ‘sign of despair’ or ‘being in an imposible position’ and has a complementary connotation of κλῆρος, of a random nature (‘to try one’s luck’), in the interpretation of the proverb (the πεττεία was invented by Palamedes, Odysseus’s enemy, and Daphnis personifies Odysseus). This paper also compares the symbology of the universe and the cosmic harmony, as quoted in the Chronographia of Malalas (Book V): The chessboard symbolizes the universe as a whole, the pieces thrown onto the board depict the planetary motions: ‘it was he who invented first the game of dice and gambling drawing inspiration from the motion of the seven planets which bring joy and sorrow to men according to a partial destiny, since thanks to its merit the board for playing dice represents the earthly world, the twelve squares symbolize the number of the signs of the Zodiac.’