The Mythological Origins of the Olympics Part II

Curses

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

Image ID: 1619707. Greek car or chariot used in the games. (1812)

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Enduring Popularity of the Olympics

Although a far cry from the modern Olympics, the ancient Olympics also conferred prestige on associated cities, to say nothing of the athletes, and were extremely popular, money-making events.

Greek athletes participated in Olympic games once every four years, but only in the Peloponnesian city of Olympia, in Elis. The Olympic games didn't travel around, although there were three other, less prestigious sets of panhellenic games in other Greek cities. The area of the Olympics had temples to Zeus and Cronus among other gods who were honored by this event, whose traditional starting date is 776 B.C.

What Did the Games Commemorate?

The games themselves are said to commemorate an event in Greek mythology, but exactly which is uncertain. Although Heracles (Hercules) is involved in some versions of the origin myth, usually the associated hero is Pelops, who ruled and gave his name to the area. Heracles is sometimes listed as a descendant of Pelops and involved in the establishment of the Elean worship of Zeus that is an essential part of the ancient Olympics :

Pausanias 5. 13. 1 - 3:
"Within the Altis [i.e. the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia] there is also a sacred enclosure consecrated to Pelops, whom the Eleians as much prefer in honor above the heroes of Olympia as they prefer Zeus over the other gods. To the right of the entrance of the temple of Zeus, on the north side, lies the Pelopion (temple of Pelops). It is far enough removed from the temple for statues and other offerings to stand in the intervening space, and beginning at about the middle of the temple it extends as far as the rear chamber. It is surrounded by a stone fence, within which trees grow and statues have been dedicated.
The entrance is on the west. The sanctuary is said to have been set apart to Pelops by Herakles the son of Amphitryon. Herakles too was a great-grandson of Pelops, and he is also said to have sacrificed to him into the pit.

The Race Results:

A Curse on the Family of Hermes

Pelops was the son of Tantalus, the mortal who defied the gods and pays for his crimes by suffering torture eternally in the Underworld. Many say Tantalus served up his son as a feast to the gods, but an alternate version has Poseidon falling in lust with Pelops when he saw him at the Tantalus household feast, taking him away, and then repaying Pelops for his services with an amazingly fast, sometimes winged-horse chariot.

In a popular variation it isn't Poseidon who helps Pelops win the crucial race, but a son of Hermes, Myrtilos, the charioteer of Pelops' opponent.

Pelops' opponent is king of Pisa (an Elean city in the western Peloponnese), Oenomaus (Oinomaos), a possibly incestuous father who offers his daughter to any man who can beat him in a (rigged) chariot race. Perhaps he isn't incestuous, but has heard an oracular warning that his son-in-law will kill him.

Whatever the motivation of the king, the contest included a one-sided proviso that should the suitor lose, he would lose not only his race, but his head. Prior to Pelops' submission, 12-13 male heads already adorned the king's palace.

One difference in this final race was that Hippodamia (Hippodameia) may have already lost her heart to the latest suitor. She may have asked for the help of her father's charioteer, perhaps offering him sex in exchange, should Pelops win. Alternatively, Pelops may have made the same promise or offered the charioteer half the kingdom should he win.

Pelops would have that half a kingdom to give away because, since Hippodamia was the only child of the king, and since the race was to the death (or at least the proposed cheating would cause the death), the kingdom would come along with Hippodamia's hand in marriage. At any rate, Myrtilos took the bribe. Maybe he took both Hippodamia and Pelops' bribes and expected double pay. It doesn't matter here how he was motivated, just that he was. Instead of inserting the regular lynchpins in the wheels of the king's chariot accoutred with horses that were a gift from Ares, Myrtilos inserted ones made of wax. Maybe instead of wax, he left the lynchpins out completely.

One might wonder how the charioteer planned to escape when the chariot toppled over and was dragged along the course by the still racing horses, but I don't have an answer for that. Maybe he planned to use his knife to cut the straps binding him to the horses at the first sign of wheel loosening. Perhaps Myrtilos was the regular charioteer, just as Pelops' regular charioteer was a man named Killos, but in this one event, maybe the father-in-law-to-be and the suitor drove without charioteers. It may be that Hippodamia was in the chariot with her fiance. Here is what Apollonius of Rhodes says about those standing in the chariots:

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 752 ff :
"And therein were fashioned two chariots, racing, and the one in front Pelops was guiding, as he shook the reins, and with him was Hippodameia at his side, and in pursuit Myrtilos urged his steeds, and with him Oinomaos had grasped his couched spear, but fell as the axle swerved and broke in the nave, while he was eager to pierce the back of Pelops."

The race proceeded as Hippodamia and Pelops planned, to the dismay of Oenomaus, who must have been in the chariot with Myrtilos at the time he realized what was going on, for he cursed his charioteer with his dying breath -- at least in some versions.

To thank Zeus for his help in winning the race, Pelops established the Olympic games. Pausanias 5.16.4 says Hippodamia set up a set of games for women to thank Hera, who also had a temple in the precinct, for her deliverance from her father.

A Curse on the Family of Pelops

Oenomaus' wasn't the only curse. Another curse came from Myrtilos' lips when Pelops threw him into the sea after he had tried to receive his just payment/rape Hippodamia. The descendants of Hippodamia and Pelops are known as the House of Atreus, a family with a legendary curse on their heads.

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E2. 2 - 10:
"[Pelops] on account of his surpassing beauty he became a minion of Poseidon, who gave him a winged chariot, such that even when it ran through the sea the axles were not wet. Now Oinomaos, the king of Pisa, had a daughter Hippodameia, and whether it was that he loved her, as some say, or that he was warned by an oracle that he must die by the man that married her, no man got her to wife; for her father could not persuade her to cohabit with him, and her suitors were put by him to death. For he had arms and horses given him by Ares, and he offered as a prize to the suitors the hand of his daughter, and each suitor was bound to take up Hippodameia on his own chariot and flee as far as the Isthmos of Korinthos, and Oinomaos straightway pursued him, in full armour, and if he overtook him he slew him; but if the suitor were not overtaken, he was to have Hippodameia to wife. And in this way he slew many suitors, some say twelve; and he cut off the heads of the suitors and nailed them to his house.
So Pelops also came a-wooing; and when Hippodameia saw his beauty, she conceived a passion for him, and persuaded Myrtilos, son of Hermes, to help him; for Myrtilus was charioteer to Oinomaos. Accordingly Myrtilos, being in love with her and wishing to gratify her, did not insert the linchpins in the boxes of the wheels, and thus caused Oinomaos to lose the race and to be entangled in the reins and dragged to death; but according to some, he was killed by Pelops. And in dying he cursed Myrtilos, whose treachery he had discovered, praying that he might perish by the hand of Pelops.

Pelops, therefore, got Hippodameia; and on his journey, in which he was accompanied by Myrtilos, he came to a certain place, and withdrew a little to fetch water for his wife, who was athirst; and in the meantime Myrtilos tried to rape her. But when Pelops learned that from her, he threw Myrtilos into the sea, called after him the Myrtoan Sea, at Cape Geraistos; and Myrtilos, as he was being thrown, uttered curses against the house of Pelops.

When Pelops had reached Okeanos and been cleansed by Hephaistos, he returned to Pisa in Elis and succeeded to the kingdom of Oinomaos, but not till he had subjugated what was formerly called Apia and Pelasgiotis, which he called Peloponnesos after himself. The sons of Pelops were Pittheus, Atreus, Thyestes, and others."

References

_{"The Winning of Hippodameia"

William Hansen

Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-) , Vol. 130, (2000), pp. 19-40.}

_{Neil Faulkner A Visitor's Guide to the Ancient Olympics}