Melibokus, Mountain summit in Bergstraße region, Germany

Melibokus is a 517.4-metre summit on the western edge of the Odenwald, on the boundary between Bensheim-Auerbach and Alsbach-Hähnlein. Its broad, rounded form is densely wooded, with dark Malchite cliffs near the top. A slender concrete tower and a former military radio mast rise above the canopy.

Landgrave Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt built a stone lookout tower here in 1772. From 1936 it served as a night-flight beacon on the Frankfurt–Darmstadt–Stuttgart route, its rotating light mounted 28.4 m above the summit and visible about 65 km away. Two 18-year-olds blew it up in 1945 as Allied troops advanced. The concrete mast standing today is a later US Army radio relay, not the old tower.

The medieval name was Mons Malscus, recorded in 1012; the settlement of Malchen nearby keeps a related form. Humanist scholars replaced it with Melibocus, a Latinised version of Ptolemy's Melobokon, wrongly thought to name this hill. The older name Malschen survived in local speech, and the summit rocks are called Malchite after it.

The summit is accessible from Zwingenberg railway station via hiking trails, with the Nibelungensteig path leading directly to the peak. Sturdy footwear and water are recommended, especially for those planning longer walks.

The summit cliffs are made of dark Malchite, a rock formed when magma intruded into fissures of the 354-million-year-old tonalite massif. A ramp on the cliff top north of the summit serves experienced hang-glider pilots as a launch site.