Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/193

Rh PELOPS. cimus), Hippasus, Cleon, Argeius, Alcatlius, Aelius, Pittheus, Troezen, Nicippe and LysiJice. (Apol- lod. ii. 4. § 5 ; Schol. ad Eutip. Orest. 5.) By Axioche or the nymph Danais he is said to have been the father of Chrysippus (SchoL ad Eurip. L c. ; Plut. Parall. win. 33), and according to Pindar (i. 89) he had only six sons by Hippo- dameia, whereas the Scholiast [ad 01. i. 144) men- tions Pleisthenes and Chrysippus as sons of Pelops by Hippodameia. Further, while the common ac- counts mention only the two daughters above named, Plutarch [Tlies. 3) speaks of many daugh- ters of Pelops, Pelops was king of Pisa in Elis, and from him the great southern peninsula of Greece was believed to have derived its name Peloponnesus ; the nine small islands, moreover, which were situated off the Troezenian coast, opposite Methana, are said to have been called after him the Pelopian islands. (Paus. ii. 34. § 4.) According to a tradition which became very general in later times, Pelops was a Phrygian, who was expelled from Sipylus by Ilus (Paus. ii. 22. § 4, v. 13, § 4), whereupon the exile then came with his great wealth to Pisa (v. 1. § 5 ; Thucyd. i. 9 ; comp. Soph. Ajax, 1292 ; Pind. 01. i. 36, ix. 1.5) ; otliers describe him as a Paph- lagonian, and call him an Eneteian, from the Paphlagonian town of Enete, and the Paphlagonians themselves IleAoTrTjtoi (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 3.58, with the Schol., and 790 ; Schol. ad Find. 01. i. 37 ; Diod. iv. 74), while others again represent him as a native of Greece, who came from Olenos in Achaia. (Schol. ad Pind. I. c.) Some, further, call him an Arcadian, and state that by a stratagem he slew the Arcadian king Stymphalus, and scattered about tlie limbs of his body which he had cut to pieces. (ApoUod. iii. 12. § 6.) There can be little doubt that in the earliest and most genuine traditions, Pelops was described as a native of Greece and not as a foreign immigrant ; and in them he is called the tamer of horses and the favourite of Poseidon. (Horn. II. ii. 104 ; Paus. v. 1. §5, 8. § 1 ; Pind. 01. i. 38.) The legends about Pelops consist mainly of the story of his being cut to pieces and boiled, and of the tale concerning his contest with Oenomaus and Hippodameia, to which may be added the legends about his relation to his sons and about his remains. 1. Pelops cut to pieces and boiled. (Kpeovpyia IleAoTros.) Tantalus, the favourite of the gods, it is said, once invited them to a repast, and on that occasion he slaughtered his own son, and having boiled him set the tlesh before them that they might eat it. But the immortal gods, knowing what it was, did not touch it ; Demeter alone being absorbed by her grief about her lost daughter (others mentioned Thetis, Schol. ad Piyid. 01. i. 37), consumed the shoulder of Pelops. Hereupon the gods ordered Hermes to put the limbs of Pelops into a cauldron, and thereby restore to him his life and former appearance. When the process was over, Ciotho took him out of the cauldron, and as the shoulder consumed by Demeter was wanting, Demeter supplied its place by one made of ivory ; his descendants (the Pelopidae), as a mark of their origin, were believed to have one shoulder as white as ivory. (Pind. 01. i. 37, &c. with the Schol. ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 152 ; Hygin. Fab. 83 ; Virg. Georg. iii. 7 ; Ov. Met. vi. 404.) This story is not re- lated by all authors in the same manner, for according to some, Rhea restored Pelops, and Pan, PELOPS. 181 the companion of Rhea, danced on the occasion. (Schol. ad Aristid. p. 216, ed. Frommel ; Lucian, De Saltat. 54 ; Paus. v. 1 3. § 4.) Pindar, again, denies the story of the Kpiovpyta, and states that Poseidon, being in love with the beautiful boy Pelops, carried him oif, whereupon Pelops, like Ganymedes, for a time stayed with the gods. (01. i. 46, &c. ; comp. Schol. ad 01. i. 69 ; Eurip. Iph. Taur. 387 ; Philost. Imaff. i. 17 ; Lucian, t'Aanc/. 7 ; Tibull. i. 4, 57.) 2. Contest loith Oenomaus and Hippodameia. As an oracle had declared to Oenomaus that he should be killed by his son-in-law, he refused giving his fair daughter Hippodameia in marriage to any one. (Some said that he himself was in love with his daughter, and for this reason refused to give her to any one ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 156 ; Lucian, Charid. 19 ; Hygin. Fab. 253.) Many suitors however, appear- ing, Oenomaus declared that he would give her to him, who should conquer him in tlie chariot-race, but that he should kill those that should be con- quered by him. [Oenomaus.J Among other suitors Pelops also presented himself, but when he saw the heads of his conquered predecessors stuck up above the door of Oenomaus, he was seized with fear, and endeavoured to gain the favour of Myrti- lus, the charioteer of Oenomaus, promising hira half the kingdom if he would assist him in gaining Hippodameia. Myrtilus agreed, and did not pro- perly fasten the wheels to the chariot of Oenomaus. so that he might be upset during the race. The plan succeeded, and Oenomaus dying pronounced a curse upon Myrtilus. When Pelops returned home with Hippodameia and Myrtilus, he resolved to throw the latter into the sea. As Myrtilus sank, he cursed Pelops and his whole race. (Hygin. Fab.U ; Schohac^ Find. Oil 114 ; Diod. iv. 73 ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 183.) This story too is re- lated with various modifications. According to Pindar, Pelops did not gain the victory by any stratagem, but called for assistance upon Poseidon, who gave him a chariot and horses by which he overcame Oenomaus. [01. i. 109, &c.) On the chest of Cypselus where the race was represented, the horses had wings. (Paus. v. 17. § 4 ; comp. Apollon. Rhod. i. 752, &c. ; Hippodameia and Myrtilus.) In order to atone for the murder of Myrtilus, Pelops founded, the first temple of Hermes in Peloponnesus (Paus. v. 15. §5), and he also erected a monument to the unsuccessful suitors of Hippodameia, at which an annual sacri- fice was offered to them (vi. 21. § 7). When Pe- lops had gained possession of Hippodameia, he went with her to Pisa in Elis, and soon also made him- self master of Olympia, where he restored the Olympian games with greater splendour than they had ever had before. (Pind. 01. ix. 16 ; Paus. v. 1. § 5, 8. § 1.) He received his sceptre from Hermes and bequeathed it to Atreus. (Horn. 11. ii. 104.) 3. The sons of Pelops. Chrysippus who was the favourite of his father, roused the envy of his bro- thers, who in concert with Hippodameia, prevailed upon the two eldest among them, Atreus and Thyestes, to kill Chrysippus. They accomplished their crime, and threw the body of their murdered brother into a well. According to some Atreus alone was the murderer (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 800), or Pelops himself killed him (Schol. ad Thucyd. i. 9), or Chrysippus made away with himself (Schol. ad Eurip. Fhocn. 1760), or Hippo- N 3