 A number of pseudepigraphal works of divination were circulated in Classical and Hellenistic times under the name Melampus.According to Herodotus and Pausanias (vi.17.6), on the authority of Hesiod, his father was Amythaon, whose name implies the "ineffable" or "unspeakably great"; thus Melampus and his heirs were "Amythaides" of the "House of Amythaon".In Homer's "Odyssey", a digression concerning the lineage of Theoclymenus, "a prophet, sprung from Melampus' line of seers", sketches the epic narrative concerning Melampus with such brevity that its details must have been familiar to Homer's audience.