Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops was a legendary hero and king of Pisa in the western Peloponnese, renowned as the son of Tantalus and the eponymous ancestor of the Peloponnesians, after whom the peninsula—literally "Island of Pelops"—is named.[1] His tale encompasses themes of divine intervention, betrayal, and cursed lineage, beginning with his sacrificial death at the hands of his father and culminating in his establishment of a powerful dynasty that included forebears of the Trojan War heroes Agamemnon and Menelaus.[1] Pelops' story, preserved in ancient sources such as Pindar and Apollodorus, also links to the origins of the Olympic Games through his chariot race victory and subsequent cult worship at Olympia.[1] Pelops was born to Tantalus, king of Sipylus in Lydia, and his mother was either Dione or Eurynassa.[1] Seeking to test the gods' omniscience or out of hubris, Tantalus slaughtered Pelops, boiled his body in a cauldron, and served it to the Olympians during a banquet; only Demeter, distraught over the abduction of her daughter Persephone, unwittingly consumed the shoulder.[1] The gods, horrified by the act, resurrected Pelops, with Demeter replacing the missing shoulder with one made of ivory—a detail from sources like Apollodorus, while Pindar in his Olympian Ode 1 mentions the ivory shoulder but rejects the cannibalism explanation. This resurrection marked Pelops as a figure of divine favor and human ambition, setting the stage for his later exploits.[2] Exiled from Asia Minor, Pelops arrived in Greece and sought to marry Hippodamia, the beautiful daughter of King Oenomaus of Pisa, who challenged all suitors to a chariot race, killing those who lost.[1] Unwilling to risk defeat, Pelops bribed Oenomaus' charioteer, Myrtilus, with the promise of half the kingdom and a night with Hippodamia to replace the bronze linchpins of the king's chariot with wax ones.[1] During the race, the chariot disintegrated, allowing Pelops to triumph; he then slew Oenomaus and claimed both the throne and his bride.[1] When Myrtilus later demanded his reward, Pelops drowned him at sea, prompting the charioteer to curse Pelops' entire family line—a malediction that haunted his descendants, including the Atreid dynasty, as recounted in Apollodorus' Bibliotheca.[1] As king, Pelops expanded his rule over much of the Peloponnese, conquering local populations and founding a prosperous realm centered at Olympia.[1] He fathered numerous children, notably Atreus and Thyestes with Hippodamia, whose offspring ruled Mycenae and Sparta, linking Pelops directly to the epic cycles of Homer's Iliad.[1] His descendants also included Pittheus, grandfather of Theseus, and through Alcathous, connections to the Heraclid line.[1] The myth of Pelops evolved over time, with his cult at Olympia shifting from a hero's worship tied to hunting and chariot rituals in the Archaic period to a more national Elis symbol by Classical times, evidenced by dedications of horse and bull figurines at the sanctuary.[2]Family and Background
Parentage and Early Life
Pelops was the son of Tantalus, a Phrygian king of Sipylus in Asia Minor renowned for his hubris and favor among the gods, and Dione, a daughter of the Titan Atlas.[3] In some ancient traditions, his mother is instead named Euryanassa, daughter of the river-god Pactolus, or Clytia.[4] Tantalus himself was a son of Zeus and the nymph Plouto (or Pluto), daughter of Cronus and Rhea, thus linking Pelops directly to the divine lineage as a great-grandson of the Titan Cronus.[5] Pelops had two siblings: his sister Niobe, who later became queen of Thebes and mother to numerous children slain by Apollo and Artemis, and his brother Broteas, a hunter known for carving the image of the goddess Cybele into Mount Sipylus.[5] The family resided on Mount Sipylus in Lydia (or Phrygia, according to some accounts), where Tantalus ruled as a wealthy and privileged mortal, often hosting divine banquets that underscored his proximity to the Olympians. Little is detailed of Pelops' infancy beyond his birth into this opulent yet ill-fated household, though Pindar describes him as a youth of extraordinary beauty who caught the eye of Poseidon during a feast at Sipylus, leading to his abduction to Olympus as the god's cupbearer—events that marked the prelude to his later restoration and relocation to Greece. These early years in Asia Minor established Pelops' foreign origins, contrasting with his eventual eponymous role in Greek geography.Marriage and Descendants
Pelops wed Hippodamia, the daughter of King Oenomaus of Pisa, following his victory in the chariot race that served as the condition for their union; this marriage not only secured his claim to Hippodamia but also established a political alliance that bolstered Pelops' authority in the Peloponnese as he succeeded Oenomaus.[6] With Hippodamia, Pelops fathered several children, including the sons Atreus, Thyestes, and Pittheus, as well as daughters such as Nicippe and Lysidice; other sons attributed to this union in ancient accounts include Alcathous, Troezen, Dias, Cynosurus, Corinthus, and Hippalmus.[6][1] Nicippe married Sthenelus, son of Perseus, and bore him Eurystheus, the king of Mycenae who later imposed the Labors on Heracles. Alcathous founded the city of Megara and became its king, while Pittheus ruled Troezen and was the grandfather of Theseus through his daughter Aethra. Pelops also had a son named Chrysippus by the nymph Axioche (or Danais in some variants), making him a half-brother to the children of Hippodamia; Chrysippus, Pelops' favorite, met a tragic end when he was abducted by Laius of Thebes during the Nemean Games and subsequently died, either by suicide or at the hands of his half-brothers Atreus and Thyestes.[5][7] As the progenitor of the Pelopids, Pelops' lineage extended through Atreus and Thyestes to prominent figures in Greek mythology, notably linking to the Trojan War cycle: Atreus became king of Mycenae and fathered Agamemnon and Menelaus, the brothers who led the Greek forces against Troy, while Thyestes sired Aegisthus, whose actions intertwined with the house of Atreus.[6] This genealogical tree, as outlined in Apollodorus, positions the Pelopids as a central heroic dynasty originating from Pelops' unions.[6]| Key Descendants of Pelops | Relation | Notable Role |
|---|---|---|
| Atreus | Son (by Hippodamia) | King of Mycenae; father of Agamemnon and Menelaus |
| Thyestes | Son (by Hippodamia) | Rival to Atreus; father of Aegisthus |
| Pittheus | Son (by Hippodamia) | King of Troezen; grandfather of Theseus |
| Alcathous | Son (by Hippodamia) | Founder and king of Megara |
| Nicippe | Daughter (by Hippodamia) | Mother of Eurystheus |
| Chrysippus | Son (by Axioche) | Abducted by Laius; tragic figure in the family line |