The Hall of Melampus

Melampus was a seer who, as a child, received the understanding of the language of birds after two young snakes, whose lives he had saved, licked his ears when he was asleep. He later helped his brother Bias to marry Pero, daughter of King Neleus of Pylos. According to another legend, Melampus cured the insanity of the daughters of Proitus, prince of Tiryns; he and Bias then married two of the daughters. According to Pausanias (2nd century AD), there was a shrine to Melampus at Aegosthena (Megarid) and an annual festival.

This hall and its environs were quite devestated by the Sundering of the Gauntlet, but Stentor recently (1192-3) cleared the chamber of rubble and mostly restored it, such that it is now plain but beautiful. The hall also has a large shrine to the seer Melampus, which has several pristinely beautiful mosaics. These mosaics show both the baby scene and an older Melampus talking with a wide array of birds. A new (1193) mosaic on the floor of the chamber on the approach to the shrine shows several magi in stances similar to the elder Melampus, speaking with birds in a similar manner. Due to magics and mystical meaning invested in all of the mosaics and careful work by Stentor, a magus spending a season studying the mosaics:

• learns the spell "Speak with the Birds" (InAn(Au) 15),
• gains an experience point toward mastery of this spell, and
• treats the season as if it had been spent studying a Intéllego tractatus on the spell of Quality 6.

The specific magical effects of the mosaics are as follows:

• the central mosaic on the wall opposite the entryway will cast Speak with Birds an unlimited number of times per day such that the arcane energies exactly duplicate those of a magus casting a spell, rather than those of an enchanted device being activated; the affect even accounts for astrological variences,
• the mosaics flanking the central mosaic each have similar effects; both are fairly high level InVi effects with Imágonem requisites which allow detailed examination of "Speak with Birds" (and only this spell); one mosaic triggers the central mosaic's effect and allows examination thereof; the other allows examination of the spell as cast by a magus, and
• the mosaic on the floor on the approach to the shrine summons images of various magi who describe the mystical aspects and properties of the other three mosaics at some length; these images will respond to the activator in a limited fashion, pausing or repeating themselves on command and meeting the activator's gaze.

The hall itself is located en route to the Chamber of Venus.

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Last modified: Mon Jan 4, 1999 / Jeremiah Genest