Melampus
Μελάμπους
(Μελάμπους), the author of two little Greek works still extant.
He lived probably in the third century B. C., as the Divinatio is addressed to "king Ptolemy," who is supposed by Fabricius (Biblioth. Gr. vol. i. p. 99, ed. vet.) to have been Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Works
Περὶ Παλμῶν Μαντική, Divinatio ex Palpitatione, Περὶ Ἐλαιῶν τοῦ Σάματος, De Naevis Oleaceis in Corpore. Both the works (as might be anticipated from the titles) are full of superstitions and absurdities.
Editions
They were first published in Greek by Camillus Peruscus, in his edition of Aelian's Varia Historia, &c., Rom. 1545, 4to.
Translations
They were translated into Latin by Nicolaus Petreius, and published together with Meletius, De Natura Hominis, Venet. 1552, 4to. They have also been translated into French and German. The last and best edition is that by J. G. F. Franz, in his Scriptores Physiognomiae Veteres, Altenburg, 1780, 8vo.
Further Information
Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. i. p. 99, ed. vet.; Choulant, Handb. d. Bücherkunde j ür die Aeltere Medicin, p. 415.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.