In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops's Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus.
He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the people of Peloponnesus, but for all Hellenes. At the sanctuary at Olympia, chthonic night-time libations were offered each time to "dark-faced" Pelops in his sacrificial pit (bothros) before they were offered in the following daylight to the sky-god Zeus (Burkert 1983:96).
Family Pelops was a son of TantalusTyrtaeus, fr. 12.7; Cypria fr. 16.4; Simonides, fr. 11.36; Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.36; Hyginus, Fabulae 124, 245 & 273 and either Dione,Hyginus, Fabulae 82-83 Euryanassa,Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4 & 11 Eurythemista,Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 11 or Clytia.Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 11 from Pherecydes, fr. 93 In some accounts, he was called a bastard son of Tantalus while others named his parents as Atlas and the nymph Linos. Others would make Pelops the son of Hermes and CalyceScholion on Homer, Iliad 2.104b while another says that he was an Achaean from Olenus.Scholia on Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.37a & 9.51.a (FGrHist 298 F1) with the historian Autesion as the authorityRobert Fowler, Early Greek Mythography: Commentary 14.1 (2013): "These two genealogies were probably meant to cancel Pelops' foreign origins; the first is transparently derived from the passage upon which the scholiast is commenting."
Of PhrygianHecataeus, fr. 119; Hellanicus, fr. 76; Aischylus, fr. 158, 162; Herodotus, 7.8.1 & 7.11.4; Bacchylides, Epinician Odes 8.31; Ai. 1292; Sophocles, Antigone 824–5; Euripides, fr. 223.101-2 (Antiope); cf. Scholia ad Pindar, 01.9.15a; ad Lycophron, 150 or LydianPindar, Olympian Odes 1.1.24 & 9.9 birth, he departed his homeland for Greece, and won the crown of Pisa or Olympia from King Oenomaus in a chariot race, then married Oenomaus's daughter, Hippodamia.
Pelops and Hippodamia had numerous children. Their sons include PittheusEuripides, Heracleidae 207; Euripides, Medea 683; Apollodorus, 3.15.7 & E.2.10; Pausanias, 2.30.8; Plutarch, Theseus 3.1 & 7.1; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4; ad Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.144c-e (or his mother was DiaScholia ad Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.144), Troezen,Pausanias, 2.30.8; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4 Alcathous,Apollodorus, 3.12.7; Pausanias, 1.41.3; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4; ad Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.144c–e Dimoetes,Parthenius, 31 from Phylarchus Atreus,Homer, Iliad 2.104; Apollodorus, 2.4.6 & E.2.10; Hyginus, Fabulae 84, 88, 124 & 224; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4 Thyestes,Homer, Iliad 2.104; Apollodorus, 2.4.6 & E.2.10; Hyginus, Fabulae 84, 86, 87, 124 & 246; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4 Copreus,Apollodorus, 2.5.1 HippalcimusHyginus, Fabulae 14 (Hippalcus,Hyginus, Fabulae 84 HippalcmusScholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4; ad Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.144c–e), Sciron,Apollodorus, E.1.2 Sicyon,Pausanias, 2.6.5 with Ibycus as the authority Epidaurus,Pausanias, 2.26.2 as what Eleans claims CleonesPausanias, 2.15.1; Scholia on Euripides, Orestes 4 (Cleonymus),Acusilus, fr. 3; Pherecydes, fr. 20 Letreus,Pausanias, 6.22.8 Dyspontos,Tryphon, fr. 87 Velsen ap. Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Dyspontion (Δυσπόντιον) Pelops the younger,Scholia ad Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.144c–e Argeius,Scholia ad Homer, Odyssey 4.10 & 22; ad Euripides, Orestes 4; Pherecydes, fr. 132 Dias, Aelius, Corinthus, Cynosurus and Hippasus.Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4
Four of their daughters married into the House of Perseus: Astydameia (who married Alcaeus),Apollodorus, 2.4.5 Nicippe (who married Sthenelus),Apollodorus, 2.4.5; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4 Lysidice (who married Mestor),Apollodorus, 2.4.5; Plutarch, Theseus 7.1; Pausanias, 8.14.2; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4 and Eurydice (who married Electryon).Diodorus Siculus, 4.9.1 Another daughter of Pelops, Mytilene was called the mother of Myton by Poseidon.Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Mytilēnē (Μυτιλήνη)
By the nymph Axioche ()Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 4; ad Pindar, Olympian Ode 1.144 or DanaisPseudo-Plutarch, Parallela minora 33 Pelops was father of Chrysippus. The latter was also called the son of Hippodamia and brother of Pleisthenes who was sometimes called the son of Pelops by another woman. +Comparative table of Pelops's familyRelationNamesSourcesTyrt.HomerCyp.(Sch. on) Pher.Sim.Acus.PindarEuripidesDio.Part.Apd.Plu.Hyg.Pau.Steph.Tzet. -Sch. -Sch.-Sch.ParentsTantalus✓✓✓✓✓Hermes and Calyce✓Tantalus and Clytia✓Tantalus and Eurythemiste✓Tantalus and Euryanassa✓✓Tantalus and Dione✓WifeHippodamia✓✓✓✓Dia✓Axioche✓✓Danais✓SonsAtreus✓✓✓✓Thyestes✓✓✓✓Argeius✓✓✓Cleonymus or✓✓Cleones✓✓Pittheus✓✓✓✓✓✓Alcathous✓✓✓✓Troezen✓✓Hippalcmus or✓✓Pelops the Younger✓Dias✓✓(A)Eleius✓Corinthus✓Cynosurus✓Hippasus✓Dimoetes?✓Copreus✓Sciron✓Hippalcus or✓Hippalcimus✓Sicyon✓Epidaurus✓Letreus✓Dyspontos✓Chrysippus✓✓✓✓✓✓Pleisthenes✓DaughtersEurydice✓Lysidice✓✓✓Astydamia✓Nicippe✓Mytilene✓
Mythology
Tantalus's savage banquet Pelops's father was Tantalus, king at Mount Sipylus in Anatolia. Wanting to make an offering to the Olympians, Tantalus cut Pelops into pieces and made his flesh into a stew, then served it to the gods. Demeter, deep in grief after the abduction of her daughter Persephone by Hades, absentmindedly accepted the offering and ate the left shoulder. The other gods sensed the plot, however, and held off from eating of the boy's body. While Tantalus was banished to Tartarus, Pelops was ritually reassembled and brought back to life, his shoulder replaced with one of ivory made for him by Hephaestus. Pindar mentioned this tradition in his First Olympian Ode, only to reject it as a malicious invention. Instead, Pindar relates that he was taken by Poseidon and the story of his death was a rumour spread after his disappearance by neighbours envious of Tantalus's prosperity.
After Pelops's resurrection, Poseidon took him to Olympus, and made him the youth apprentice, teaching him also to drive the divine chariot. Later, Zeus found out about the gods' stolen food and their now revealed secrets, and threw Pelops out of Olympus, angry at his father, Tantalus.
Courting Hippodamia Having grown to manhood, Pelops wanted to marry Hippodamia. Her father, King Oenomaus, fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law, had killed eighteen suitors of Hippodamia after defeating them in a chariot race and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace. Pausanias was shown what was supposedly the last standing column in the late second century CE; he wrote that Pelops erected a monument in honor of all the suitors who had preceded him:Pausanias, 6.21.9–11 with a reference to Megalai Ehoiai fr. 259(a)
Marmax Alcathous, son of Porthaon Euryalus Eurymachus Crotalus Acrias of Lacedaemon, founder of Acriae Capetus Lycurgus Lasius Chalcodon Tricolonus (descendant of another Tricolonus, who was a son of Lycaon) Aristomachus Prias Pelagon Aeolius Cronius Erythras, son of Leucon Eioneus, son of Magnes
Pelops came to ask for her hand and prepared to race Oenomaus. Worried about losing, Pelops went to the seaside and invoked Poseidon. Reminding Poseidon of their friendship, he asked Poseidon for help. Smiling, Poseidon caused a chariot drawn by untamed winged horses to appear.Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 2.27.67 (noted in Kerenyi 1959:64).
Two episodes involving charioteers were added into the plain account of the heroic chariot race. In the first related by Theopompus, having received the horses, Pelops hastens to Pisa to defeat Oenomaus. On the way, his charioteer Cillus (also named Sphaerus) dies and stands in a dream over Pelops, who was highly distressed about him, to make requests for a funeral. Pelops complies by burying his ashes magnificently; he raises a mound to erect a temple dedicated to Apollo, which he names Apollo Cillaeus, and also founds a city besides the mound and the temple which he also names Cilla, after his charioteer and friend. Both the temple and the city are mentioned in the first book of Homer's Iliad and suggestions regarding their exact location have been made. Furthermore, Cillus, even after his death, appears to have helped Pelops's cause in order for him to win the race.
The second, found in several versions, has Pelops, still unsure of himself, the winged horses and chariot of divine providence he had secured. Oenomaus's charioteer, Myrtilus, a son of Hermes, is persuaded to help Pelops win by promising Myrtilus half of Oenomaus's kingdom and the first night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting together Oenomaus's chariot, he replaced the bronze linchpins attaching the wheels to the chariot axle with fake ones made of beeswax. The race started, and went on for a long time, but just as Oenomaus was catching up to Pelops and readying to kill him, the wheels flew off and the chariot broke apart. Myrtilus survived, but Oenomaus was dragged to death by his horses. Here lies the main differences in the versions, while all then see Pelops kill Myrtilus (by throwing him off a cliff into the sea) after the latter attempted to rape Hippodamia, some have Pelops give the promise to Myrtilus of Hippodamia's virginity and then either renege the agreement or Myrtilus being impatient and trying to take her beforehand, others have Hippodamia, noticing Pelops's insecurity, giving the promise behind the back of Pelops, who then falsely believed it was an attempted rape.
Olympic Games After his victory, Pelops organized chariot races as thanksgiving to the gods and as funeral games in honor of King Oenomaus, in order to be purified of his death. It was from this funeral race held at Olympia that the beginnings of the ancient Olympic Games were inspired. Pelops became a great king, a local hero, and gave his name to the Peloponnese. Walter Burkert notesBurkert, Homo Necans 1983, p 95f. that though the story of Hippodamia's abduction figures in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and on the chest of Cypselus (c. 570 BCE) that was conserved at Olympia, and though preparations for the chariot-race figured in the east pediment of the great temple of Zeus at Olympia, the myth of the chariot race only became important at Olympia with the introduction of chariot racing in the twenty-fifth Olympiad (680 BCE). G. Devereux connected the abduction of Hippodamia with animal husbandry taboos of Elis,G. Devereux, "The abduction of Hippodameia as 'aiton' of a Greek animal husbandry rite" ''SMSR 36 (1965), pp 3-25. Burkert, in following Devereux's thesis, attests Herodotus iv.30, Plutarch's Greek Questions 303b and Pausanias 5.5.2. and the influence of Elis at Olympia that grew in the seventh century.
Curse of the Pelopidai