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The Pelopides are the descendants of
Pelops 1: mainly
Atreus, Thyestes 1, the
Atrides (Agamemnon and
Menelaus),
Aegisthus,
Orestes 2, and
Tisamenus 2. They ruled the Peloponnesus until the
return of the
HERACLIDES. Synoptic
account:
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Tantalus 1
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Himas' daughter Pluto 3 was seduced by
Zeus, and had by him a
child Tantalus 1, who
became king of Paphlagonia in northern Asia Minor,
but was later driven out of the country by Ilus 2,
the founder of Troy.
Tantalus 1 is best
known for having told men about the mysteries of
the gods, and attempted to share ambrosia with his
fellows. For these crimes, he is still being
punished in Hades by
having a stone impending on him, and by not being
able to eat or drink, since the water in the lake
dries out, and the fruits in the trees are lifted
by the wind each time he tries to reach either.
During his lifetime,
Tantalus 1 had three
children by Dione 3, daughter of
Atlas; these were Niobe 2,
Broteas 4, and Pelops 1.
The grave of Tantalus
1 is at Mount Sipylus, which is east of Smyrna
in Asia Minor; near by, there is a lake called
after him.
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Niobe 2
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Tantalus 1's
daughter Niobe 2 became queen in
Thebes, but left the city
after the killing of her children—the
NIOBIDS —by
Apollo and
Artemis, and returned to
her father's home at Sipylus, where on praying to
Zeus, she was transformed
into a stone from which tears flow night and day
(though some say that she sheds tears only in
summertime). It is told that Niobe 2's husband
Amphion 1 was a great
musician, having learned the musical Lydian mode
and added three strings to the four old ones,
following the teaching of his father-in-law
Tantalus 1.
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Broteas 4
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Some affirm that
Tantalus 1's son
Broteas 4 was father of Tantalus 3, and that the
latter was
Clytaemnestra's
first husband. But others assert that Tantalus 3's
father was Thyestes 1, brother of
Atreus. It is told that a
man called Broteas went mad and threw himself into
fire, but it is not certain whether this Broteas is
the same as the son of
Tantalus 1.
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Pelops
1
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Slaughtered
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Tantalus 1's son
Pelops 1 was slaughtered
by his own father, cut up, boiled, and offered as a
meal at a feast of the gods. It was then that
Demeter, unwittingly,
ate his arm; but when
Tantalus 1's outrage
was discovered, Pelops 1
was given life again by the will of the gods, who
joined his limbs together. However, since the
shoulder was not complete,
Demeter fitted an ivory
one in its place [for the bone of
Pelops 1 see also
Trojan War]. It is
told that, because of his beauty,
Pelops 1 became a minion
of Poseidon, who gave
him a winged chariot, the axles of which were not
wet even when it ran through the sea.
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Emigration
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Pelops 1 left father
and country , coming to that part of Hellas that
later was called after him: the Peloponnesus.
According to General Thucydides,
Pelops 1 arrived with
vast wealth to a needy country, a combination of
circumstances that secured his success [see
Thucydides' account at
Trojan War].
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The bride
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Pelops 1 became the
last of the SUITORS OF HIPPODAMIA 3, the daughter
of King Oenomaus 1 of
Pisa (in Elis, northwestern
Peloponnesus), and the only successful among them.
Many before him had died while attempting to become
the son-in-law of the king of Pisa. For
Oenomaus 1 used to put
to death his daughter's suitors and nail their
heads to his house, fearing an oracle that had
declared that he would die whenever his daughter
should marry.
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Oenomaus 1
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King Oenomaus 1,
who had received from Ares
arms and horses, offered as a prize to the SUITORS
the hand of his daughter, forcing each of them to
take up the bride on his own chariot, and flee as
far as the Isthmus of
Corinth. Then
Oenomaus 1 pursued
him, killing the suitor if he overtook him; and
only if the suitor were not overtaken, was he given
Hippodamia 3 to wife. By this procedure, he slew
many suitors, and after killing them, he cut off
their heads and nailed them to his house.
All these things were already tradition at the
house of Oenomaus 1
when Pelops 1 arrived
with the determination to win the bride for
himself.
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The bribe wins the bride
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Realizing the difficulty of his task,
Pelops 1 approached
Myrtilus, son of Hermes
and charioteer of Oenomaus
1, and persuaded him to change sides, after
promising him half of the kingdom for his help. So
when it was time to yoke the horses, Myrtilus
simply did not put the pin in the wheels of his
master's chariot.
However, others say that when
Pelops 1 appeared,
Hippodamia 3 fell immediately in love with him, and
that it was she who persuaded Myrtilus to help
Pelops 1. And they add
that because Myrtilus himself was in love with her
and wished to gratify her, he did not insert the
linchpins in the boxes of the wheels.
In any case, Myrtilus let himself be transformed
into a saboteur, and thus he got
Pelops 1 a stolen
victory: The king lost the race, being entangled in
the reins and dragged to death, or as some say, he
was killed by Pelops 1.
When about to die, the king discovered Myrtilus'
treachery, and cursing him, prayed that the traitor
might perish by the hand of
Pelops 1.
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Saboteur without wages
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That came to pass. For when
Pelops 1 saw the king
dead, the bride his, and himself about to become a
respectable man of power, he started to see things
in a different light, thinking that the whole
affair would disgrace him. Consequently, he not
only refused to keep his promise to Myrtilus, but
also cast him into the sea, as if to eliminate an
accomplice or witness.
However, others say that when all three were
returning from the race,
Pelops 1 withdrew to
fetch some water, and that Myrtilus, taking
advantage of Pelops 1's
absence, tried to rape Hippodamia 3. So
Pelops 1, having learned
on his return what had happened, threw Myrtilus
into the sea—which was called after him the
Myrtoan Sea—at Cape Geraestus.
In any case, this was the end of Myrtilus; but
before dying he uttered terrible curses against the
house of Pelops 1, whose
descendants—particularly
Atreus, Thyestes 1,
Agamemnon,
Aegisthus, and
Orestes 2 —took
good care to fulfil with their follies.
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Pelops 1's
originality in finding names
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This is how Pelops 1
became king, ruling over what was formerly called
Apia and Pelasgiotis, which he now called
Peloponnesus after himself.
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The children of
Pelops 1
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Notes about some of his children
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Hippalcimus 1 became one of the
ARGONAUTS.
Nicippe 1 is mother of
Eurystheus.
Alcathous 3 became famous for having
killed the Cithaeronian lion.
Copreus became the herald of
Eurystheus.
Pittheus, king of
Troezen, became
grandfather of Theseus
through his daughter Aethra 2.
Troezen 1 was also son of
Pelops 1, the city
Troezen being named
after him.
Letreus founded Letrini in
Elis.
Pelops 1 had by
Danais an illegitimate son Chrisyppus 2 whom
Laius 1 (later king of
Thebes) loved, carrying
him off. Pelops 1
recovered this son through war, although others
have said otherwise.
There are other children attributed to
Pelops 1, but they are
also said to have other parentages.
Atreus and
Thyestes 1 excelled in cruelty and folly
among the children of Pelops
1:
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Atreus and Thyestes 1
agree in that each wants power for himself
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It is told that once a golden lamb appeared
among the sheep of
Atreus; but his wife
Aerope 1, having a love affair with Thyestes 1,
gave him the golden lamb. At the time, the
Mycenaeans had received an oracle which bade them
choose a Pelopid for their king, and when a
discussion took place concerning the throne,
Thyestes 1 declared that the kingdom ought to
belong to him who owned the golden lamb. When
Atreus agreed, Thyestes 1
produced the lamb that her mistress had secretly
given him, and was made king. However,
Zeus sent
Hermes to instruct
Atreus to stipulate with
Thyestes 1 that Atreus
himself should be king if the sun should go
backwards; and when Thyestes 1, deeming such an
event impossible, agreed, the sun set in the east
by the will of the god. Thus
Atreus got the kingdom,
and banished his brother.
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Atreus imitates his
grandfather's method
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The good news for
Atreus were that he now
was king, the bad news being that his wife was
adulterous. So when he learned about it, he plotted
against his brother:
He invited him to come to
Mycenae, and prepared a
special dinner according to family tradition, that
is, one resembling the dinner
Tantalus 1 had once
offered to the gods. For this purpose, he murdered
two or three of Thyestes 1's sons, and cutting them
limb from limb, boiled them and served them up to
Thyestes 1, except the extremities, which he showed
to his brother once he had eaten what he thought to
be a delicious meal. And when the infamous dinner
was ended, he banished him again.
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The fatal sword
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While suffering such a disgrace, Thyestes 1
consulted the Oracle, which declared that he would
be able to retaliate if he had intercourse with his
own daughter. And being in
Sicyon, Thyestes 1 did
ravish his own daughter Pelopia 4, although he did
not know who the girl was. During the ravishing,
she drew his sword from the sheath, and hid it
under the pedestal of a statue. The next day,
Thyestes 1 went back to Lydia without his weapon.
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Birth of Aegisthus
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In the meantime, misery had come to
Mycenae, as they
thought, because of the crime of
Atreus; an oracle then
declared that he should restore the kingdom to
Thyestes 1, or bring him back to the city.
Atreus then came to
King Thesprotus 2, looking for Thyestes 1; but when
he saw Pelopia 4 in the court, he asked that she be
given to him in marriage, believing she was
Thesprotus 2's daughter. The king handed her over
to him, and when she gave birth to
Aegisthus,
Atreus thought him to be
his own son.
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Death of Atreus
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Years passed and
Atreus, who was still
looking for his brother, sent his sons
Agamemnon and
Menelaus to inquire
about Thyestes 1 at
Delphi. There they met,
by chance, their uncle, who still asked the Oracle
about taking vengeance on his brother. Having
seized him, they brought him to
Mycenae and cast him
into prison. Having thus recalled Thyestes 1 to
Mycenae as the Oracle
had ordained, Atreus bade
Aegisthus, whom he
believed to be his third son, to kill Thyestes 1 in
his confinement.
Aegisthus then came to
the prison to carry out Atreus' request, but he
appeared in front of the prisoner wearing the sword
that Thyestes 1 had lost when he ravished his own
daughter Pelopia 4. And when Thyestes 1 asked him
where he had got it,
Aegisthus replied that
his mother Pelopia 4 had given it to him. They then
summoned Pelopia 4, who said that she had stolen it
from the unknown man who had raped her by night,
the same who was
Aegisthus' father.
This is how father and son learned who they were,
but Pelopia 4, realising who the father of her son
was, snatched the sword and plunged it in her
breast.
Aegisthus came back
to Atreus with the bloody
instrument of murder, and
Atreus rejoiced because
he thought Thyestes 1 was dead. But
Aegisthus killed
Atreus as he was
sacrificing on the shore, and restored the kingdom
of Mycenae to Thyestes
1.
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The Atrides
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Agamemnon and
Menelaus came as exiles
to the court of King Polyphides 1 of
Sicyon, but later they
were supported in their return by
Tyndareus, and with
his help they drove away Thyestes 1 to live in
Cythera, an island off the southern coast of the
Peloponnesus.
The Atrides married the daughters of
Tyndareus:
Agamemnon married
Clytaemnestra,
becoming king of
Mycenae, and
Menelaus married
Helen (also called
daughter of Zeus). When
Tyndareus died, he was
succeeded by Menelaus
as king of Sparta.
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Agamemnon in Aulis
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Peace was disturbed when the Trojan
Paris came to
Sparta and abducted
Helen while
Menelaus was away
attending the funeral of
Catreus (his mother's
father).
Because of The Oath of
Tyndareus [see
SUITORS OF HELEN],
an alliance was formed to punish the Trojans for
the abduction of Helen,
and Agamemnon was
appointed commander in chief of this alliance that
gathered at Aulis, a harbour in Boeotia.
However, the Achaean fleet, being wind bound in
Aulis, could not sail to
Troy; and
Agamemnon, following
what he believed to be the wise counsel of the seer
Calchas, agreed to
sacrifice his daughter
Iphigenia in order to
obtain propitious winds.
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Agamemnon's death
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Whatever happened at Aulis (for some say that
Iphigenia was saved by
Artemis, while others
affirm that she was indeed sacrificed),
Clytaemnestra had
reasons to be angry at her husband, not only on
account of her daughter.
So while Agamemnon
was busy at Troy,
Clytaemnestra took
Aegisthus as her
lover, and when
Agamemnon returned to
Mycenae, they both
murdered him. This is how
Aegisthus paved his
way to the Mycenaean throne, which had once
belonged to both his uncle and his father. He ruled
in Mycenae for seven
years.
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Orestes 2
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Agamemnon's son
Orestes 2 was smuggled
away when Aegisthus
took over power in
Mycenae, and stayed in
exile until he was a grown-up man. Then he returned
to Mycenae, and with
Pylades' help, he murdered his own mother and her
lover in order to avenge his father.
Orestes 2 became the
ruler of a vast territory: besides
Mycenae and
Argos, he extended his
rule over the greater part of
Arcadia, and succeeded
to the throne of Sparta.
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Tisamenus 2
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Orestes 2 was killed
by the bite of a snake at Oresteum in
Arcadia. On his death,
Tisamenus 2, his son by
Hermione, became king.
It was under the latter's reign that the
HERACLIDES returned
to the Peloponnesus, and some affirm that Tisamenus
2 was killed by them. The
HERACLIDES claimed
their share of power in the Peloponnesus because
they were descendants, through
Heracles 1, of
Perseus 1, founder of
Mycenae, whereas
Tisamenus 2 was a Pelopid, and in their eyes, an
usurper.
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Return to Asia
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Orestes 2 had also a
bastard son Penthilus 1 by Erigone 1, daughter of
Aegisthus and
Clytaemnestra. He
is said to have led the Aeolian colonisation (which
preceded the Ionian), and to have advanced as far
as Thrace sixty years after the
Trojan War (about the
time of the return of the
HERACLIDES).
The sons of Tisamenus 2 were Daimenes, Sparton
1, Tellis, Leontomenes, and Cometes 4. They led the
Achaeans who settled in
Ionia (Asia Minor).
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