PELOPS, THE HERO OF THE PELOPONNESOS
Some of the heroes famed in Greek song and story, and whose
descendants lived in Greece, had come from foreign countries, many of
them from Asia Minor. Greece and Asia Minor had always been closely
connected. Travellers from each were in the habit of visiting the
other country. Sometimes they traded together and sometimes made war
on each other.
One of the most powerful kingdoms of Asia Minor was Phrygia, and it
was ruled by a king of the name of Tantalos, who had at first governed
wisely and in the fear of the gods. He was made arrogant by
prosperity, and at length grew so overbearing and cruel even to his
own son, Pelops, that the gods determined to make an example of him.
They sent him living to Tartaros, the portion of Hades reserved for
the very worst offenders, there to endure a terrible punishment
forever.
He was placed up to his waist in the midst of running water, clear and
cool, under hanging boughs laden with lovely fruit. Yet he could not
reach the water or the fruit, and was always faint with hunger and
thirst. Whenever he bent down to get a drink of water it rapidly
rushed away from him, and if he lifted up his hand to pluck some of
the ripe fragrant fruit, a sudden gust of wind tossed the branches
high up into the air. Poor Tantalos never came nearer than this to
quenching his thirst or satisfying his hunger.
To make his misery more unbearable, a huge block of rock was poised
above his head, so lightly that it moved with every breeze, and he was
in perpetual fear of its falling down on him. Pelops, the son whom he
had abused in childhood, became a great favorite with the gods, and
they wished to make up to him for his father's cruelty. They gave him
a shoulder of ivory to replace the shoulder of which his father had
deprived him. When he grew up the gods helped him to leave his native
land, where he had been ill-treated, and they guided him across the
Ægean Sea, and around the southern point of Greece to Elis, where
Herakles had cleaned out the stables of Augeias. The capital of Elis
was the city of Pisa, where a king ruled who had a beautiful daughter
named Hippodameia. She must have been very fond of sports and
athletics, for her name means "The Tamer of Horses."
Hippodameia had many suitors, but her father, Œnomaos, had heard that
he would be dethroned by his daughter's husband, and so he did not
wish her to marry. He was very warlike, being a son of Ares, the God
of War, and he determined to kill all the suitors. So he proposed a
chariot race with each of the wooers, and promised that the one who
succeeded in winning the race should have his daughter in marriage; on
the other hand, if the suitor lost the race he should be put to death
by the king.
Œnomaos was a famous charioteer, and he had steeds which were swifter
than the wind. The race-course began at Pisa, and stretched as far as
the Isthmus of Corinth to the altar of Poseidon. Œnomaos believed in
himself and in his own skill. So great was his self-reliance, and so
sure was he of the swiftness of his horses, that whenever a suitor
came along he let him go ahead with his chariot drawn by four horses,
while he himself first sacrificed a ram to Zeus, and only at the end
of the ceremony mounted his chariot, having as driver, Myrtilos, and
being armed with a strong spear. Then he would overtake the suitor and
kill him. Thus he had already killed a great many.
Pelops, on his arrival at Pisa, saw Hippodameia, and at once had a
strong desire to make her his wife. When he saw that he could not
conquer Œnomaos by fair means he planned a trick. He secretly
approached the king's charioteer, Myrtilos, and said to him:
"Myrtilos, hear what I have to say to thee. Help me to win the race
and I will give thee half the kingdom when I become King of Pisa."
Hippodameia, too, who greatly admired the young man, advised the
charioteer to lend them his aid. Myrtilos accepted the proposal of
Pelops. On the day of the race Œnomaos again waited to sacrifice a ram
to Zeus, leaving Pelops to drive on ahead, and only mounted his
chariot after the offering was over, being sure that he should
overtake the suitor as he had done with the others.
But suddenly a wheel flew off from the king's chariot, and Œnomaos
fell to the ground, hurting himself badly. Myrtilos had removed the
pin which held the wheel on to the axle. Thus Pelops reached the
Isthmus before the king and won the race.
Œnomaos died of his injuries, and Pelops married Hippodameia, and took
possession of the kingdom. Then Myrtilos demanded half the kingdom as
it had been promised him by Pelops. But Pelops carried him to the sea
and cast him into it. On account of this crime the descendants of
Pelops, the Pelopides, had to suffer many misfortunes. Crime and craft
may answer an immediate purpose, but they are followed by divine
wrath.
Pelops instituted the famous Olympic games, which were celebrated
every fourth year, and lasted five days. And he did many other things
which were of great use to his people. In honor of Pelops, the great
peninsula, south of the Isthmus of Corinth, was called Peloponnesos,
which means Pelops' Island. The name was not quite correct at the
time, for the land was not an island but a peninsula. But after all
these thousands of years it has curiously come to pass that the old
name is a true one, for it was only a few years ago that the Isthmus
of Corinth was cut in two, and the Peloponnesos was in truth made an
island.