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"O chariot-race of
Pelops long ago, source of many a sorrow
..." [Mycenaean women. Sophocles,
Electra
504]
"If the loving gifts of
Cyprian
Aphrodite result in any gratitude,
Poseidon, then restrain the bronze spear of
Oenomaus, and speed me in the swiftest chariot to
Elis, and bring me to victory. For he
has killed thirteen suitors, and postpones the
marriage of his daughter."
[Pelops 1's prayer to
Poseidon. Pindar,
Olympian
Odes
1.75]
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This is the king of Pisa (in
Elis) who used to put to
death his daughter's suitors and nail their heads
to his house; for an oracle had declared that he
would die whenever his daughter Hippodamia 3, a
woman of exceptional beauty, should marry.
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Uncertain parentage
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Oenomaus 1's wife and mother of Hippodamia 3 was
probably Evarete, the sister of
Danae; for it is told that
when Polydectes 1 fell in love with the latter, he
called together his friends in order to collect
funds to give Hippodamia 3 a wedding gift. But
others have said that Oenomaus 1 was married to
Sterope 3, one of the
PLEIADES.
It is not clear, however, which wedding was
meant, and some have suggested that this was one of
Polydectes 1's manoeuvres to win the hand of
Danae. Furthermore, it has
been also suggested that Oenomaus 1 was bound to
refuse any idea of giving his daughter in marriage,
either because he himself was in love with her, or
because an oracle had predicted his death at the
hands of his daughter's husband.
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How he got rid of the suitors
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Nevertheless, Oenomaus 1 pretended to be willing
to give his daughter in marriage, and offered as a
prize to the suitors the hand of his daughter, and
each suitor had to take up Hippodamia 3 on his own
chariot and flee as far as the Isthmus of
Corinth. Then Oenomaus 1
pursued him and if he overtook him he killed him;
and only if the suitor were not overtaken, he was
given Hippodamia 3 as wife.
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The SUITORS OF HIPPODAMIA 3
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In this way, Oenomaus 1, with the arms and
horses that Ares gave him,
slew many suitors, cutting off their heads and
nailing them to his house. And he used to sacrifice
to Zeus whenever he engaged
in a chariot-race with one of the suitors. As he
killed them, the suitors were laid disrespectfully
in a common grave; but later
Pelops 1 raised a
monument to them all, sacrificing yearly to them as
heroes.
The suitors are said to be twelve, but others
have counted differently:
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SUITORS OF HIPPODAMIA 3
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Notes
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All killed by Oenomaus 1 except
Pelops 1
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Acrias.
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The sixth suitor of Hippodamia 3. He is
believed to have been a Lacedaemonian and
the founder of Acriae.
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Aeolius.
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Alcathous 1.
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The second suitor of Hippodamia 3.
Alcathous 1 was son of Porthaon and Euryte
2. Some say he was killed by
Tydeus 2.
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Aristomachus 3.
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Capetus 1.
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Chalcodon 3.
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Cronius 1.
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Crotalus.
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The fifth suitor of Hippodamia 3.
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Eioneus 3.
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Son of Magnes 1, son either of
Aeolus 1 and
Enarete, or of
Zeus and Thyia 2.
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Erythras 2.
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Erythras 2, after whom Erythrae in
Boeotia was named, was son of Leucon 1,
son of Athamas
1 and Themisto 2.
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Euryalus 6.
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The third suitor of Hippodamia 3.
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Eurymachus 1.
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The fourth suitor of Hippodamia 3.
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Lasius.
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Lycurgus 6.
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Marmax.
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The first suitor of Hippodamia 3.
Oenomaus 1, after having killed Marmax,
slew also the suitor's mares, Parthenia
and Eripha. To these the king granted
burial to the mares, and, as they say, a
river received the name Parthenia, being
called so after the mare of Marmax.
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Pelagon 4.
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Pelops 1.
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Pelops 1
killed Oenomaus 1 and married Hippodamia
3.
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Prias.
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Tricolonus 2.
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A descendant of Tricolonus 1, son of
Lycaon 2.
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Myrtilus saboteur
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Wishing to marry this princess,
Pelops 1, an Asian
immigrant, came to the residence of Oenomaus 1
asking for the hand of Hippodamia 3, but when he
saw the nailed heads of his predecessors, he
regretted having come, for the king's horses were
known to be swifter than the wind.
When Pelops 1
understood that this four-horse race was impossible
to win by fair means, he sought the confidence of
the king's charioteer Myrtilus, to whom he promised
half of the kingdom if he should help him to win
the race. It is also said that when
Pelops 1 appeared,
Hippodamia 3 fell immediately in love with him, and
that it was she who persuaded Myrtilus to help this
suitor.
In any case, either because Myrtilus, son of
Hermes, expected to rule
over half of the kingdom or because, as some say,
he was himself in love with Hippodamia 3, he did
not insert the linchpins in the boxes of the wheels
of his master's chariot, thus turning himself into
a treacherous saboteur.
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Death and curses
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As a result Oenomaus 1 lost the race, being
entangled in the reins and dragged to death, or as
some say, being killed by
Pelops 1, who before the
race had sacrificed to
Athena. But when the king
was dying, he discovered Myrtilus' treachery, and
cursing him, he prayed that he might perish by the
hand of Pelops 1, which
happened shortly after under unclear circumstances.
And Myrtilus, on dying, let fall upon his murderer
a terrible curse that pestered his whole house for
several generations.
Some have said, however, that Oenomaus 1 killed
himself disheartened by grief; but in any case
Pelops 1 took, after his
death, both his daughter and kingdom. In order to
avert Hermes' wrath for
the death of his son Myrtilus,
Pelops 1 built the first
temple to the god in the Peloponnesus, but to no
avail.
This race took place when Epeius 1 was king of
Elis. The charioteer of
Pelops 1 was Sphaerus
(Cillas).
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Tomb
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Oenomaus 1 was buried on the other side of the
river Cladeus, and more than one thousand years
after his death, his tomb, a mound of earth with a
stone wall built round it, could still be seen,
along with the ruins of buildings in which the king
used to keep his horses.
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Wooden pillar
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Before these events, some tell, Oenomaus 1 had
his house destroyed by fire, after it was struck by
lightning. A wooden pillar that stood in his house
could still be seen in Pausanias' times (c. AD
150), although held together by bands. A bronze
tablet in front of it told its story:
Stranger, I am
a remnant of a famous house,
I, who once was a pillar in the house of
Oenomaus;
Now by Cronus' son I lie with these bands upon
me,
A precious thing, and the baleful flame of fire
consumed me not. [Pausanias,
Description
of Greece 5.20.7.]
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"Frightener of Horses"
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Oenomaus 1 has also been related to Taraxippus
('Frightener of Horses'), who frightened the horses
during the race-courses at
Olympia. On one side of
the race-course there was a round altar or mound,
and on passing it, the horses were seized with
fear, causing the chariots to crash and the
charioteers to be injured. For this reason the
charioteers offered sacrifices to Taraxippus before
the race. Some have believed that this was an empty
mound made by Pelops 1
to honour Myrtilus; for thanks to his trick the
horses of Oenomaus 1 were frightened, and
Pelops 1 won the race.
Accordingly, some thought that it was Oenomaus 1
himself who frightened the horses; but others have
blamed the ghost of Alcathous 1, one of the SUITORS
OF HIPPODAMIA 3.
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Others with identical name
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- Oenomaus 2. See
ACHAEANS.
- Oenomaus 3. See
TROJANS.
- Oenomaus 4 fought in the army of
Dionysus 2 in the
Indian War and was killed by Corymbasus
[Nonn.28.101].
- Oenomaus 5. Father of Oenopion 2 and
Staphylus 3, two captains who supported
Dionysus 2 in his
conflict against
Poseidon concerning
Beroe 5 [Nonn.43.60].
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