Editing Pelops

{{Short description|Mythical character}}
{{other uses|Pelops (Sparta)|Pelops (mythology)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image = Pelops cropped.svg
| siblings = {{ubl|[[Niobe]]|[[Broteas]]}}
| name = Pelops
| offspring = [[Atreus]], [[Thyestes]], [[Nicippe]], [[Pittheus]], [[Chrysippus of Elis|Chrysippus]], and [[#Genealogy|others]]
| consort = {{ubl|[[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]]|[[Axioche]]}}
| abode = [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]]
| deity_of = King of [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]]
| parents = [[Tantalus]] and [[Dione (mythology)#Nymph or sea-nymph|Dione]]
}}
{{Greek mythology sidebar}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Pelops''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː|l|ɒ|p|s|,_|ˈ|p|ɛ|l|ɒ|p|s}}; {{Langx|grc|Πέλοψ|Pélops}}) was king of [[Pisa (Greece)|Pisa]] in the [[Peloponnesus]] region ({{lang|grc|Πελοπόννησος}}, <small>lit.</small> "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of [[Tantalus]] and the father of [[Atreus]].

He was venerated at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], where his cult developed into the [[founding myth]] of the [[Ancient Olympic Games|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 [[Tantalus]]<ref>[[Tyrtaeus]], fr. 12.7; ''[[Cypria]]'' fr. 16.4; [[Simonides of Ceos|Simonides]], fr. 11.36; [[Pindar]], ''[[Pindar's First Olympian Ode|Olympian Odes]]'' 1.36; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#124 124], [https://topostext.org/work/206#245 245] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#273 273]</ref> and either [[Dione (mythology)|Dione]],<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#82 82]-[https://topostext.org/work/206#84 83]</ref> [[Euryanassa]],<ref>[[Scholia]] ad [[Euripides]], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4] & [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/96/mode/1up?view=theater 11]</ref> [[Eurythemista]],<ref name=":0">Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/96/mode/1up?view=theater 11]</ref> or [[Clytie|Clytia]].<ref>Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/96/mode/1up?view=theater 11] from [[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]], fr. 93</ref> In some accounts, he was called a [[Legitimacy (family law)|bastard]] son of Tantalus while others named his parents as [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] and the [[nymph]] [[Linus (mythology)|Linos]]. Others would make Pelops the son of [[Hermes]] and [[Calyce (mythology)|Calyce]]<ref>Scholion on [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 2.104b</ref> while another says that he was an [[Achaea (ancient region)|Achaean]] from [[Olenus (Achaea)|Olenus]].<ref>Scholia on Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' 1.37a & 9.51.a ([[Fragmente der griechischen Historiker|FGrHist]] 298 F1) with the historian Autesion as the authority</ref><ref>[[Robert Fowler (academic)|Robert 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."</ref>

Of [[Phrygians|Phrygian]]<ref>[[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]], fr. 119; [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]], fr. 76; [[Aeschylus|Aischylus]], fr. 158, 162; [[Herodotus]], 7.8.1 & 7.11.4; [[Bacchylides]], ''[[Epinikion|Epinician Odes]]'' 8.31; Ai. 1292; [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'' 824–5; Euripides, fr. 223.101-2 ([[Antiope of Thebes|Antiope]]); cf. Scholia ad Pindar, 01.9.15a; ad Lycophron, 150</ref> or [[Lydia]]n<ref>Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' 1.1.24 & 9.9</ref> birth, he departed his homeland for Greece, and won the crown of [[Pisa (Greece)|Pisa]] or [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] from King [[Oenomaus]] in a chariot race, then married Oenomaus's daughter, [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]].

Pelops and Hippodamia had numerous children. Their sons include [[Pittheus]]<ref>Euripides, ''[[Children of Heracles|Heracleidae]]'' 207; Euripides, ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' 683'';'' [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.15.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 3.15.7] & [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.2.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops E.2.10]; Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.30.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.30.8]; [[Plutarch]], ''Theseus'' 3.1 & 7.1; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]; ad Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' 1.144c-e</ref> (or his mother was [[Dia (mythology)|Dia]]<ref>Scholia ad Pindar, ''Olympian Ode'' 1.144</ref>), [[Troezen (mythology)|Troezen]],<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.30.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.30.8]; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref> [[Alcathous of Megara|Alcathous]],<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.12.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 3.12.7]; Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.1.41.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 1.41.3]; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]; ad Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' 1.144c–e</ref> [[Dimoetes]],<ref>[[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]], [https://topostext.org/work/550#31 31] from [[Phylarchus]]</ref> [[Atreus]],<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 2.104; Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.4.6] & [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.2.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops E.2.10]; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#84 84], [https://topostext.org/work/206#88 88], [https://topostext.org/work/206#124 124] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#224 224]; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref> [[Thyestes]],<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 2.104; Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.4.6] & [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.2.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops E.2.10]; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#84 84], [https://topostext.org/work/206#86 86], [https://topostext.org/work/206#87 87], [https://topostext.org/work/206#124 124] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#246 246]; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref> [[Copreus of Elis|Copreus]],<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.5.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.5.1]</ref> [[Hippalcimus]]<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.4 14]</ref> ([[Hippalcus]],<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#84 84]</ref> Hippalcmus<ref name="ReferenceA">Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]; ad Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' 1.144c–e</ref>), [[Sciron]],<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.1.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops E.1.2]</ref> [[Sicyon (mythology)|Sicyon]],<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.6.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.6.5] with [[Ibycus]] as the authority</ref> [[Epidaurus (mythology)|Epidaurus]],<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.2.26.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.26.2] as what [[Ancient Elis|Eleans]] claims</ref> [[Cleones]]<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.15.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.15.1]; Scholia on Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref> ([[Cleonymus (mythology)|Cleonymus]]),<ref>Acusilus, fr. 3; Pherecydes, fr. 20</ref> [[Letreus]],<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.22.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 6.22.8]</ref> [[Dyspontos]],<ref>Tryphon, fr. 87 Velsen ap. [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/241#D245.12 ''Dyspontion (Δυσπόντιον)'']</ref> Pelops the younger,<ref name="ReferenceB">Scholia ad Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'' 1.144c–e</ref> [[Argeus (Greek myth)|Argeius]],<ref>Scholia ad Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecain07dindgoog/page/170/mode/1up?view=theater 4.10] & [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecain07dindgoog/page/173/mode/1up?view=theater 22]; ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]; Pherecydes, fr. 132</ref> [[Dias (mythology)|Dias]],<ref name="ReferenceA" /> [[Eleius|Aelius]], [[Corinthus]], [[Cynosurus (mythology)|Cynosurus]] and [[Hippasus (mythology)|Hippasus]].<ref>Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref>

Four of their daughters married into the House of [[Perseus]]: [[Astydameia]] (who married [[Alcaeus (mythology)|Alcaeus]]),<ref name="ReferenceC">Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.2.4.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.4.5]</ref> [[Nicippe]] (who married [[Sthenelus]]),<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.2.4.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.4.5]; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref> [[Lysidice (daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia)|Lysidice]] (who married [[Mestor]]),<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.2.4.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 2.4.5]; Plutarch, ''Theseus'' 7.1; Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.14.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 8.14.2]; Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]</ref> and [[Eurydice of Mycenae|Eurydice]] (who married [[Electryon]]).<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#9.1 4.9.1]</ref> Another daughter of Pelops, [[Mytilene (mythology)|Mytilene]] was called the mother of [[Myton (mythology)|Myton]] by [[Poseidon]].<ref name="Stephanus">Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#M465.5 Mytilēnē (Μυτιλήνη)]''</ref>

By the nymph [[Axioche]] ({{lang|grc|Ἀξιόχη}})<ref>Scholia ad Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaineuripi00schwgoog/page/n128/mode/1up?view=theater 4]; ad Pindar, ''Olympian Ode'' 1.144</ref> or Danais<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''Parallela minora'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Para.+33&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0219:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 33]</ref> Pelops was father of [[Chrysippus of Elis|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.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
{| class="wikitable"
|+<big>Comparative table of Pelops' family</big>
! rowspan="3" |'''Relation'''
! rowspan="3" |Names
! colspan="25" |Sources
|-
| rowspan="2" |''Tyrt.''
| colspan="2" |''Homer''
| rowspan="2" |''Cyp.''
| rowspan="2" |''(Sch. on)''
''Pher.''
| rowspan="2" |''Sim.''
| rowspan="2" |''Acus.''
| colspan="4" |''Pindar''
| colspan="3" |''Euripides''
| rowspan="2" |''Dio.''
| rowspan="2" |''Part.''
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |''Apd.''
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |''Plu.''
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |''Hyg.''
| rowspan="2" |''Pau.''
| rowspan="2" |''Steph.''
| rowspan="2" |''Tzet.''
|-
| ''-''
|''Sch.''
| ''-''
| colspan="3" |''Sch.''
|''-''
| colspan="2" |''Sch.''
|-
| rowspan="6" |''Parents''
|Tantalus
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
| colspan="3" rowspan="6" |
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| colspan="2" rowspan="6" |
| colspan="2" rowspan="6" |
|✓
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|Hermes and Calyce
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|✓
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|Tantalus and Clytia
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|✓
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|Tantalus and Eurythemiste
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|✓
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|Tantalus and Euryanassa
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|✓
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|✓
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|Tantalus and Dione
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|✓
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| rowspan="4" |''Wife''
|Hippodamia
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Dia
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|✓
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|Axioche
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|✓
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|✓
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|Danais
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|✓
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| rowspan="26" |''Sons''
|Atreus
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Thyestes
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Argeius
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Cleonymus or
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|✓
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|✓
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|Cleones
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|Pittheus
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|✓
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|✓
|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Alcathous
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|✓
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|Troezen
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|✓
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|✓
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|Hippalcmus or
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|✓
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|✓
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|Pelops the Younger
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|Dias
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|✓
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|✓
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|(A)Eleius
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|Corinthus
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|Cynosurus
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|Hippasus
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|Dimoetes
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|?✓
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|Copreus
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|Sciron
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|Hippalcus or
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|Hippalcimus
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|Sicyon
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== Mythology ==

=== Tantalus' savage banquet ===
Pelops' father was [[Tantalus]], king at [[Spil Mount|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 as a lover and the story of his death was a rumour spread after his dissapearance by neighbours envious of Tantalus's prosperity.<ref>Pindar, ''Olympian'' 1, 39–52.</ref>

After Pelops's resurrection, [[Poseidon]] took him to [[Mount Olympus|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 (daughter of Oenomaus)|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 racing|chariot race]] and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace. [[Pausanias (geographer)|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:<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.21.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 6.21.9–11] with a reference to ''[[Megalai Ehoiai]]'' fr. 259(a)</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
# 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 (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]])
# Aristomachus
# Prias
# Pelagon
# Aeolius
# Cronius
# Erythras, son of [[Leucon]]
# [[Eioneus]], son of [[Magnes (mythology)|Magnes]]
{{div col end}}

[[File:Pelops and Hippodamia racing.jpg|thumb|left|Pelops and [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]] racing in a bas-relief ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])]]
Pelops came to ask for her hand and prepared to race Oenomaus. Worried about losing, Pelops went to the seaside and invoked Poseidon, his former lover.<ref>Pindar, ''First Olympian Ode'' 71</ref> Reminding Poseidon of their love ("[[Aphrodite]]'s sweet gifts"), he asked Poseidon for help. Smiling, Poseidon caused a chariot drawn by untamed winged horses to appear.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Tusculanae Disputationes'' 2.27.67 (noted in Kerenyi 1959:64).</ref>

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' cause in order for him to win the race.<ref>{{cite book|title = Theopompus the Historian |isbn=978-0-7735-0837-8|author=Gordon S. Shrimpton|publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |year= 1991}}</ref>

The second, found in several versions, has Pelops, still unsure of himself, the winged horses and chariot of divine providence he had secured. Oenomaus' charioteer, [[Myrtilus]], a son of [[Hermes]], is persuaded to help Pelops win by promising Myrtilus half of Oenomaus' kingdom and the first night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting together Oenomaus' 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' 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 [[Ancient Olympic Games#Origin mythology|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 notes<ref>Burkert, ''Homo Necans'' 1983, p 95f.</ref> 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, Olympia|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 [[Ancient Elis|Elis]],<ref>G. Devereux, "The abduction of Hippodameia as '[[cause|aiton]]<nowiki>' of a Greek animal husbandry rite" ''</nowiki>''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.</ref> and the influence of Elis at Olympia that grew in the seventh century.

=== Curse of the Pelopidai ===
As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops for his ultimate betrayal. This was one of the sources of the curse that destroyed his family: two of his sons, [[Atreus]] and [[Thyestes]], killed their half brother, [[Chrysippus (mythology)|Chrysippus]], who was his favorite son and was meant to inherit the kingdom; Atreus and Thyestes were banished by him together with Hippodamia, their mother, who then hanged herself; each successive generation of descendants suffered greatly by atrocious crimes and compounded the curse by committing more crimes, as the curse weighed upon Pelops' children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren including Atreus, Thyestes, [[Agamemnon]], [[Aegisthus]], [[Menelaus]], and finally [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]], who was acquitted by a court of law convened by the gods [[Athena]] and [[Apollo]]. Although commonly referred to as "the curse of the [[Atreus|Atreides]]", the circle of atrocious events began two generations before Atreus and continued for two generations after him, before being formally absolved by the [[Erinyes|Furies]] in court. Many decades after Pelops's death, his grandson Menelaus, having survived the long-lasting [[Trojan War]] and stranded in Egypt, would recount his numerous plights and wish Pelops had perished for good at Tantalus' dinner, so that Atreus, and therefore Agamemnon and Menelaus himself, would never have been born.<ref>Euripides, ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0100%3Acard%3D386 386-405]</ref>

== Cult ==
=== Origin ===
Pelops is believed to have [[Anatolia]]n origins. He may have been originally worshipped in [[Phrygia]] or [[Lydia]] or both.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' 14.21</ref> Other ancient mythographers connect him with [[Paphlagonia]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#74.1 4.74.1]; Istros (FGrHist 334, F 74)</ref> He may have come from the Paphlagonian town of Enete.<ref name="Pelops">[http://www.theoi.com/Heros/Pelops.html Pelops] at theoi.com</ref> Thucydides says simply that Pelops was "from Asia".<ref>[[Thucydides]], 1.9.2</ref>

Others represent him as a native of Greece, who came from [[Olenia|Olenos]] in Achaia, or perhaps from [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]].<ref name="Pelops"/>

Also, according to [[Strabo]], Pelops' cult may have come to the [[Peloponnese]] originally from [[Phthiotis]], and was first based in [[Laconia]]: "... the Achaeans of Phthiotis came down with Pelops into the Peloponnesus, took up their abode in Laconia ..."<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/8E*.html The Geography of Strabo, Vol 4] uchicago.edu</ref>

=== Shrines ===
[[File:Remains of the Pelopeion in Olympia on October 14, 2020.jpg|thumb|Remains of the [[Pelopion]] in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]]]

The shrine of Pelops at Olympia, the [[Pelopion]], "drenched in glorious blood",<ref>Pindar, ''First Olympian Ode''</ref> described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.5.13.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 5.13.1–3]</ref> stood apart from the temple of Zeus, next to Pelops' gravesite by the ford in the river. It was enclosed with a circle of stones. Pelops was propitiated as a [[chthonic]] deity, at night with the offering of a black ram. His remains were contained in a chest near the sanctuary of Artemis Kordax (Pausanias 6.22.1), though in earlier times a gigantic shoulder blade was shown; during the [[Trojan War]], [[John Tzetzes]] said, Pelops' shoulder-blade was brought to [[Troy]] by the Greeks because the Trojan prophet [[Helenus]] claimed the Pelopids would be able to win by doing so.<ref>Adrienne Mayor, ''The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times'' (Princeton University Press, 2000) discusses the uses made of giant fossil bones in Greek cult and myth.</ref> Pausanias was told the full story: the shoulder-blade of Pelops was brought to Troy from [[Pisa (Greece)|Pisa]], the rival of Elis; on the return, the bone was lost in a shipwreck, but afterwards recovered by a fisherman, miraculously caught in his net.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.13.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 5.13.4]</ref>

Giant-sized bones were and are often found in Greece, the remains of gigantic prehistoric animals. In ancient times there was obviously no knowledge of dinosaurs or mammoths, and such findings were believed to be actual remains of legendary heroes or demigods, and to reflect the supposedly supernatural stature of humans of the long-bygone [[Greek Heroic Age|Heroic Age]]. The bones' provenance was then determined according to local legends about ancient burials, with political expedience also playing a major role, helped along by convenient dreams, visions or priestly auguries.

== Gallery ==
<gallery class="center">
Throne of Pelops Mount Sipylus Manisa Turkey.jpg|"Throne of Pelops" at Yarıkkaya locality in [[Mount Sipylus]]
Pelops and Hippodamia; Base relief, Metropolitan Museum, New York City.jpg|Pelops and Hippodamia; bas-relief, Metropolitan Museum of Art
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Commons category}}
* House of [[Atreus]]
* [[Ancient Elis]]
* [[Mount Sipylus]]
* [[Niobe]]
* [[Nyctimus]]

== Notes ==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Ancient sources ==
{{refbegin}}
*[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' VI, 403–11
*''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', [[Epitome]] II, 3–9; V, 10
*[[Pindar]], Olympian Ode I
*[[Sophocles]], ''Electra'' 504 and ''[[Oinomaos]]'' Fr. 433
*[[Euripides]], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' 1024–1062
*[[Diodorus Siculus]], Histories 4.73
*[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], Fables: 84 – [[Oenomaus]]
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], Description of Greece 5.1.3-7, 5.13.1, 6.21.9, 8.14.10-11
*[[Philostratus the Elder]], Imagines 1.30 – Pelops
*[[Philostratus the Younger]], Imagines 9 – Pelops
{{refend}}

== Modern sources ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | last=Burkert | first=Walter | author-link=Walter Burkert | title=Homo Necans | publisher=University of California Press | year=1983 | chapter=Pelops at Olympia | pages=93–103 }}
*{{cite book | last=Kerenyi | first=Karl | author-link=Károly Kerényi | title=The Heroes of the Greeks | publisher=Thames and Hudson | location=New York/London | year=1959 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Patay-Horváth |first1=András |title=Pelops and the Peloponnese |journal=Orbis Terrarum, Internationale Zeitschrift für historische Geographie der Alten Welt |date=2017 |volume=15 |pages=113–130}}
* {{cite book |last1=Patay-Horváth |first1=András |title=Transformations of Pelops: myths, monuments and cult reconsidered |date=2023 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9780367766986}}
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D13%3Aentry%3Dpelops-bio-1 "Pelops"]
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{refbegin}}
*[http://www.theoi.com/Heros/Pelops.html The Theoi Project, "Pelops"]
*[http://levigilant.com/Bulfinch_Mythology/bulfinch.englishatheist.org/b/pantheon/Pelops.html Pelops] at Bulfinch Mythology
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Pelops|short=x}}
{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Olympic Games]]
[[Category:Atreidai]]
[[Category:Deeds of Demeter]]
[[Category:Elean mythology]]
[[Category:Human sacrifice in folklore and mythology]]
[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Kings of Elis]]
[[Category:Kings of Phrygia]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Men of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Mythological city founders]]
[[Category:Mythological people from Anatolia]]