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Pelops 1 was slaughtered by his father, boiled,
and offered as a meal to the gods, who having
discovered this disgusting circumstance, brought
him to life again. Pelops 1 emigrated from
Phrygia, seized the
kingdom of Oenomaus 1,
and having expanded it, called it Peloponnesus
after himself.
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Pelops 1's impious father
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Pelops 1's impious father
Tantalus 1, being a
son of Zeus, was for some
time a favourite of the gods, and
Zeus, they say, used to
confide his plans to him. But since those who enjoy
privileges not seldom take undue advantage, also
Tantalus 1 became
boastful and assumed that whatever he conceived
would be allowed to such a nice fellow like
himself. So for example, he gave himself to gossip
and started to report Zeus'
plans to mortal men.
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Pelops 1 served as a meal
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In addition, he also felt that time could be
ripe to play some jokes at the gods' expense.
Accordingly, he slain his own son Pelops 1, and cut
him up serving him as an splendid meal at a banquet
of the gods. It was then that
Demeter ate Pelops 1's
arm, but when the gods discovered the bizarre trick
that Tantalus 1 had
played on them, they, joining all limbs together
again, restored Pelops 1 to life.
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Pelops 1's ivory shoulder
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And Demeter, noticing
that the shoulder was not complete, for she had
eaten of it, fixed one of ivory in its place and
Pelops 1 was made whole again.
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Favourite of
Poseidon
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Pelops 1 came back to life, they say, fairer
than ever, and that is why
Poseidon, admiring the
beauty of the young man, fell in love with Pelops 1
and gave him a winged chariot the axles of which
were not wet even when it ran through the sea.
Naturally, some believe that these are deceptive
stories embroidered with lies.
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Emigrant Pelops 1
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Having escaped alive from the banquet of the
gods, Pelops 1 must have deemed inconvenient to
stay in his cruel father's home in Mount Sipylus
near Smyrna in Asia Minor, for he emigrated to
Hellas where he met great success because, says
General Thucydides, Pelops 1 carried with him a
vast wealth to a needy country. But it has also
been told that Pelops 1 was forced to withdraw when
Ilus 2, the founder of
Troy, launched an army
against him. Pelops 1 arrived to Hellas
approximately at the time when
Perseus 1 went to hunt
Medusa 1.
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The king of Pisa
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Now, in the district of
Elis in Peloponnesus there
was a king Oenomaus 1,
who ruled in the city of Pisa, owning arms and
horses which Ares had given
him. Some have affirmed that this king was too much
in love with his own daughter Hippodamia 3, but
others have said that an oracle had declared that
the man who would marry her was the same who would
kill him. For one of these reasons, or for both, or
for others unknown, King
Oenomaus 1 lacked the
disposition, or the talent, to become what some
would call a caring father-in-law. And his
temperament not being gentle, but instead rather
fierce, he devised a system in order to get rid of
his daughter's suitors.
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Dealing with Oenomaus
1
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Oenomaus 1 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 to wife. Applying this method, he slew
many suitors (the SUITORS OF HIPPODAMIA 3 were at
least nineteen), and after killing them he cut off
their heads, and nailed them to his house so that
all could learn how dear his daughter was to him.
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Pelops 1 wishes to marry the princess
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Wishing to marry this princess, Pelops 1 came to
the residence of Oenomaus
1 asking for the hand of Hippodamia 3, but when
he saw the nailed heads of his predecessors Pelops
1 regretted having come, for the king's horses were
known to be swifter than the wind.
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Myrtilus bribed
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When Pelops 1 understood that this four-horse
race was impossible to win in a regular way, he
decided to leave fair play by obtaining the
confidence of the king's charioteer Myrtilus, whom
he promised half of the kingdom if he would help
him to come across this dangerous situation. And
yet some have said 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.
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Myrtilus saboteur
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And either because Myrtilus, son of
Hermes, expected to rule
over half of the kingdom, or because 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.
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Myrtilus cursed
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That is how Myrtilus let himself be turned into
a saboteur, letting Pelops 1 get a stolen victory.
For King Oenomaus 1
lost the race, being entangled in the reins and
dragged to death or, as some say, being killed by
Pelops 1. When the king was dying, he discovered
Myrtilus' treachery, and cursing him, he prayed
that he might perish by the hand of Pelops 1.
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Pelops 1 feels respectable now
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When Pelops 1 saw that the king was dead, the
bride was his, and himself was about to become a
respectable man of power, inheriting the kingdom of
the man he had murdered, he started to see things
in a different light, thinking that the whole
affair would disgrace him.
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Traitor receives payment
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So he refused to keep his promise to Myrtilus,
who was both accomplice and witness, and he cast
him into the sea. However, some say that when all
three were returning from the race, Pelops 1
withdrew to fetch some water, and then Myrtilus
tried to rape Hippodamia 3. When Pelops 1, on his
return, learned what had happened he threw Myrtilus
into the sea, which was called after him the
Myrtoan Sea, which is between the Peloponnesus and
the islands called Cyclades.
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Myrtilus' curse
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But before dying, Myrtilus uttered curses not
only against Pelops 1 but also against his whole
house, for, they say, the punishment for breaking
an oath also comes upon the descendants of the
sinner. And that is why it could be said many years
later:
"O
chariot-race of Pelops long ago, source of many a
sorrow, what disaster you have brought upon this
land! For ever since Myrtilus sank to rest beneath
the waves, hurled to utter destruction from his
golden chariot in disgraceful outrage, from that
time to this, outrage and its many sorrows were
never yet gone from this house." [Mycenaean
women. Sophocles,
Electra
504]
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Pelops 1 takes power
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Having been purified by
Hephaestus for the
murder of Myrtilus, Pelops 1 returned to Pisa, took
also possession of
Olympia, and in time
expanded his kingdom to what was formerly called
Apia and Pelasgiotis, calling it Peloponnesus after
himself. According to the people of
Elis, Pelops 1 was the
first to found a temple of
Hermes in Peloponnesus,
for he wished to avert the wrath of the god for the
death of Myrtilus.
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The kingdom of Pelops 1
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The kingdom of Pelops 1 was a flourishing one,
and when he held the games in
Olympia he surpassed in
splendour all of his predecessors. Pelops 1 may be
said to have been the strongest of the kings in
Peloponnesus, in part because of his wealth, but
also because he gave many daughters in marriage to
men of power and rank, and appointed many of his
sons among the cities as their rulers. Also Pelops
1 gave King Amphion 1
of Thebes his sister
Niobe 2 as wife. From that union the
NIOBIDS were born, who
were later killed by the children of
Leto. But above all, the
descendants of Pelops 1 infiltrated, through
marriage, the royal house of
Mycenae, and eventually
(counting from
Eurystheus) took
power in the city, keeping it until the
HERACLIDES, who are
Perseids (that is, descendants of
Perseus 1, the founder
of Mycenae), invaded the
Peloponnesus.
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Pelops 1 does not punish love
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While Oedipus' father
Laius 1 was still in
exile, he lived in Peloponnesus, being hosted by
Pelops 1. Laius 1 fell in
love with Pelops 1's bastard son Chryssipus 2, son
of the nymph Danais, and carried him off, being
pursued and arrested by the legitimate sons of
Pelops 1 and Hippodamia 3,
Atreus and Thyestes 1.
But Laius 1 obtained
mercy from the king, for apparently Pelops 1 did
not wish to punish a man on account of his love.
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Pelops 1 banishes his queen and wife
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But Queen Hippodamia 3 plotted against bastard
Chrysippus 2, and arguing that he would become a
contestant for the throne, she tried to persuade
her sons to murder him. As they refused, Hippodamia
3 visited at night Laius
1 and Chrysippus 2 when they were asleep, and
taking the sword of the Theban, she wounded
Chrysippus 2 and fixed the sword in his body, so
that Laius 1 would be
suspected. However, Chrysippus 2 acknowledged the
truth before dying, and King Pelops 1 banished his
wife, who, according to some, committed suicide.
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Epilogue
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The death of Pelops 1 has not been reported, but
it is known that his shoulder blade in ivory was
precious to the Achaeans fighting in
Troy. For it had been
prophesied that Troy could
only be taken if the bone of Pelops 1 were brought
from Pisa to the front at
Troy. After the sack of
Troy, the bone was supposed
to be returned to Pisa, but the ship carrying the
bone was wrecked off Euboea in a storm. It was only
many years later that Damarmenus, a fisherman from
Eretria in the island of Euboea, drew up the bone
from the sea. For some time he kept it hidden in
the sand, but it was afterwards restored to
Elis, following
instructions from the oracle at
Delphi.
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Namesake
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Pelops 2 is the son of
Agamemnon and
Cassandra. He was
killed by Aegisthus
while still a baby.
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Parentage [two versions]
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Mates
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Offspring
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Notes
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Hippodamia 3
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Alcathous 3
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This is the man who is said to have killed the
Cithaeronian lion. Alcathous 3 married first Pyrgo
1, and afterwards Evaechme 1. The latter was
daughter of Megareus 2, the Boeotian who helped
King Nisus 1 of Megara in
his war against Minos 2.
Automedusa, daughter of Alcathous 3, married Iolaus
1, charioteer of Heracles
1.
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Astydamia 1
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Astydamia 1 married Alcaeus 1, son of
Perseus 1, and had by
him Amphitryon, who
is the stepfather of
Heracles 1.
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Atreus
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Atreus became king of
Mycenae. Once a golden
lamb appeared among his sheep, but his wife, being
in love with Thyestes 1, gave him the golden lamb.
The people of Mycenae
had received an oracle which bade them choose one
of the Pelopides for
their king. And in the course of the dispute
concerning the kingdom, Thyestes 1 declared that
the throne ought to belong to him who owned the
golden lamb. When Atreus
agreed to this, Thyestes 1 produced the lamb, and
was appointed king. But
Zeus sent
Hermes to tell
Atreus to stipulate with
Thyestes 1 that Atreus
should be king if the sun should go backwards.
Thyestes 1, believing that impossible, agreed, but
the sun did set in the east. In this way
Atreus got the kingdom,
and banished his brother.
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Cleones
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Copreus
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Copreus was the herald of
Eurystheus, the man
who imposed the
LABOURS to
Heracles 1. Copreus
had a son Periphetes 1, who was killed by
Hector 1 during the
Trojan War.
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Epidaurus
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Epidaurus has been also called son of Argus 5,
and son of Apollo.
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Eurydice 11
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Eurydice 11 married Electryon 1, and had by him
a daughter Alcmena,
mother of Heracles 1.
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Hippalcimus 1
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One of the
ARGONAUTS.
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Letreus
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Founder of Letrini in
Elis.
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Nicippe 1
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Nicippe 1 married King Sthenelus 3 of
Mycenae, and had by him
Alcyone 3, Medusa 2, and
Eurystheus.
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Pittheus
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Pittheus united the inhabitants of Hyperea and
Anthea into a new city, which he called
Troezen after his
brother. He became king of
Troezen, and later he
caused King Aegeus 1 of
Athens to lie with his
daughter Aethra 2, who became mother of
Theseus.
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Sciron
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Sciron is said to have disputed with Nisus 1
about the throne. He compelled passers-by to wash
his feet, and in the act of washing he kicked them
into the sea to be the prey of a huge turtle. This
is one of the evil-doers killed by
Theseus in his way to
Athens. Many other
parentages have been attributed to Sciron.
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Sicyon
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King of Sicyon, but he
is also called son of Metion 1, son of Erechtheus,
and son of Marathon.
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Thyestes 1
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Thyestes 1 had a dispute with his brother
Atreus concerning the
kingdom of Mycenae, and
was banished [see Atreus above]. Thyestes 1 had by
her own daughter Pelopia 4 a son
Aegisthus, who became
king of Mycenae, having
murdered Agamemnon,
son of Atreus, son of
Pelops 1.
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Troezen 1
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The city Troezen was
called after him by his brother Pittheus.
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Danais
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Chrysippus 2
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See main text above.
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