Calchas

, a celebrated soothsayer, son of Thestor. He accompanied the Greeks to Troy, in the office of high priest; and he informed them that the city could not be taken without the aid of Achilles, that their fleet could not sail from Aulis before Iphigenia was sacrificed to Diana, and that the plague could not be stopped in the Grecian army before the restoration of Chryseis to her father. He told them also that Troy could not be taken before 10 years’ siege. He had received the power of divination from Apollo. Calchas was informed that as soon as he found a man more skilled than himself in divination, he must perish; and this happened near Colophon, after the Trojan war. He was unable to tell how many figs were in the branches of a certain fig tree; and when Mopsus mentioned the exact number, Calchas died through grief. See: Mopsus . Homer , Iliad , bk. 1 , li. 69 .— Aeschylus , Agamemnon .— Euripi des , I phi gene i a .— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 43 .