Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 16, 2026

Lampon

Lampon was an Athenian soothsayer and interpreter of dreams and oracles. Together with Xenocritus he founded the colony of Thurii in Italy at 444 BC or 443 BC. He was called "the expounder". His father most probably was Olympiodorus. Diodorus Siculus wrote about how the colony has been established.

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Lampon (Ancient Greek: Λάμπων) was an Athenian soothsayer and interpreter of dreams and oracles. Together with Xenocritus he founded the colony of Thurii in Italy at 444 BC or 443 BC.1 He was called "the expounder".2 His father most probably was Olympiodorus.3 Diodorus Siculus wrote about how the colony has been established.4

Cratinus satirized him in his comedy Δραπετίδες. Aristophanes also mentions him. Plutarch has a story of his foretelling the ascendancy of Pericles over Thucydides and his party.5

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