Myrtilus

Oenomaus, king of Pisa in Elis, offered his daughter Hippodamia to the suitor who could defeat him in a chariot race. An oracle had warned him that he would die on the day of her marriage. He therefore made every unsuccessful suitor pay with his life. The race ran from Pisa to the altar of Poseidon at Corinth. Each suitor could start while Oenomaus sacrificed to Zeus, but the king then pursued him with his own swift horses.

Pelops arrived to seek Hippodamia’s hand. She fell in love with him and persuaded Myrtilus, Oenomaus’s charioteer and a son of Hermes, to help them. Myrtilus accepted Pelops’s bargain. He removed the linchpins, or axle pins, from Oenomaus’s chariot wheels. In one account, wax replicas replaced them. Myrtilus loved Hippodamia and wanted to please her, but his act left the royal chariot unable to withstand the race.

Pelops began while Oenomaus performed his sacrifice. The king soon gained on him, carrying a spear as he drove. As the chariots pressed towards the finish, Oenomaus’s wheels failed. He became entangled in the reins and was dragged to his death. Some accounts say that Pelops killed him. Oenomaus recognised Myrtilus’s treachery as he died and cursed him, praying that Pelops would bring about his death. Pelops therefore won the race and Hippodamia’s hand.

Later, while Pelops and Hippodamia travelled with Myrtilus, Pelops went a short distance to fetch water for his thirsty wife. Myrtilus then tried to rape her. When Hippodamia told Pelops, he threw Myrtilus into the Myrtoan Sea at Cape Geraistos. The sea was said to bear Myrtilus’s name.