Hippodamia

Pelops arrived at the court of Oenomaus, king of Elis, and saw Hippodamia, the king’s daughter. Her beauty won his heart. Hippodamia also fell in love with him. Oenomaus had made marriage dangerous for her suitors. He declared that she would marry only the man who defeated him in a chariot race. Every unsuccessful suitor would be put to death. The race ran from Pisa to the altar of Poseidon at Corinth. The suitor could set out while Oenomaus made his sacrifice to Zeus, and the king would follow afterwards in his swift horses and chariot.

Pelops possessed a winged chariot given to him by Poseidon. When he appeared for the contest, Oenomaus recognised the horses, but trusted his own team and allowed the race to begin. Pelops set off while the king performed his sacrifice. Nearing the altar, Pelops looked back and saw Oenomaus close behind, carrying a spear. Pelops then received Poseidon’s aid. The wheels of Oenomaus’s chariot came away, and the king became caught in the reins and was dragged to his death. In one account, Pelops himself killed him.

Hippodamia had persuaded Myrtilos, son of Hermes and Oenomaus’s charioteer, to help Pelops. Myrtilos loved her and wished to please her, so he failed to place the axle pins in the wheel hubs. This caused Oenomaus’s defeat. As he died, Oenomaus recognised the treachery and cursed Myrtilos, praying that Pelops would bring about his death. Pelops had therefore won the race and Hippodamia.

Later, while travelling with Hippodamia, Pelops went a short distance to fetch water for her because she was thirsty. Myrtilos then tried to rape her. When Hippodamia told Pelops what had happened, Pelops threw Myrtilos into the sea at Cape Geraistos. It became known as the Myrtoan Sea. Pelops and Hippodamia were then united.

Hippodamia urged Atreus and Thyestes to kill Chrysippus, because she feared that he would displace her own children in the succession. Chrysippus was Pelops’s illegitimate son and his favoured child. Atreus and Thyestes were also sons of Pelops, and were connected with the succession of the Pelopids. They accepted Hippodamia’s plan and carried out the murder.

Pelops discovered that Atreus and Thyestes had killed Chrysippus. He expelled them from his land, and they left their father’s kingdom of Pisa in Elis. Their expulsion formed part of the events that later led to the Pelopids ruling Mycenae. The Mycenaeans had received an oracle instructing them to choose a Pelopid as their king. They therefore sent for Atreus and Thyestes.

At this time, the brothers were already outside Pisa. They had been summoned to Midea in Argos by Sthenelos, and went there after their expulsion from Pelops’s kingdom. Hippodamia also fled to Midea after Chrysippus was murdered and Atreus and Thyestes were expelled. She died there. This account connects Chrysippus’s murder with the movement of Atreus and Thyestes towards Midea, and with the later association of the Pelopid succession with the rule of Mycenae.