Palladium
in classical antiquities, a celebrated statue of Pallas or Minerva, on the preservation of which depended the safety of the city of Troy. This circumstance being known to the Greeks during the Trojan War, Ulysses and Diomedes, by the advice and aid of Helenus, son of Priam, climbed secretly by night over the ramparts of Troy and carried it off.
In chemistry, a tetrad metallic element discovered by Wollaston in 1803. It is found associated with platinum and gold, in South America. It resembles platinum in its malleability and ductility, but is more fusible, less dense, and has a more silvery appearance.
In mineralogy, an isometric native metal, not found pure, but mostly alloyed with a little platinum and iridium. Sometimes found in minute octahedrons, but mostly as grains, with native platinum, in Brazil.