Editing Pelops (section)

=== Courting Hippodamia ===
Having grown to manhood, Pelops wanted to marry [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]]. Her father, King [[Oenomaus]], fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law, had killed eighteen suitors of Hippodamia after defeating them in a [[Chariot racing|chariot race]] and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] was shown what was supposedly the last standing column in the late second century CE; he wrote that Pelops erected a monument in honor of all the suitors who had preceded him:<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.21.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Pelops 6.21.9–11] with a reference to ''[[Megalai Ehoiai]]'' fr. 259(a)</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
# Marmax
# Alcathous, son of [[Porthaon]]
# Euryalus
# Eurymachus
# Crotalus
# Acrias of [[Lacedaemon]], founder of Acriae
# Capetus
# Lycurgus
# Lasius
# [[Chalcodon]]
# Tricolonus (descendant of another Tricolonus, who was a son of [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]])
# Aristomachus
# Prias
# Pelagon
# Aeolius
# Cronius
# Erythras, son of [[Leucon]]
# [[Eioneus]], son of [[Magnes (mythology)|Magnes]]
{{div col end}}

[[File:Pelops and Hippodamia racing.jpg|thumb|left|Pelops and [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]] racing in a bas-relief ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])]]
Pelops came to ask for her hand and prepared to race Oenomaus. Worried about losing, Pelops went to the seaside and invoked Poseidon, his former lover.<ref>Pindar, ''First Olympian Ode'' 71</ref> Reminding Poseidon of their love ("[[Aphrodite]]'s sweet gifts"), he asked Poseidon for help. Smiling, Poseidon caused a chariot drawn by untamed winged horses to appear.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Tusculanae Disputationes'' 2.27.67 (noted in Kerenyi 1959:64).</ref>

Two episodes involving charioteers were added into the plain account of the heroic chariot race. In the first related by [[Theopompus]], having received the horses, Pelops hastens to Pisa to defeat Oenomaus. On the way, his charioteer Cillus (also named Sphaerus) dies and stands in a dream over Pelops, who was highly distressed about him, to make requests for a funeral. Pelops complies by burying his ashes magnificently; he raises a mound to erect a temple dedicated to [[Apollo]], which he names Apollo Cillaeus, and also founds a city besides the mound and the temple which he also names Cilla, after his charioteer and friend. Both the temple and the city are mentioned in the first book of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and suggestions regarding their exact location have been made. Furthermore, Cillus, even after his death, appears to have helped Pelops' cause in order for him to win the race.<ref>{{cite book|title = Theopompus the Historian |isbn=978-0-7735-0837-8|author=Gordon S. Shrimpton|publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |year= 1991}}</ref>

The second, found in several versions, has Pelops, still unsure of himself, the winged horses and chariot of divine providence he had secured. Oenomaus' charioteer, [[Myrtilus]], a son of [[Hermes]], is persuaded to help Pelops win by promising Myrtilus half of Oenomaus' kingdom and the first night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting together Oenomaus' chariot, he replaced the bronze linchpins attaching the wheels to the chariot axle with fake ones made of beeswax. The race started, and went on for a long time, but just as Oenomaus was catching up to Pelops and readying to kill him, the wheels flew off and the chariot broke apart. Myrtilus survived, but Oenomaus was dragged to death by his horses. Here lies the main differences in the versions, while all then see Pelops kill Myrtilus (by throwing him off a cliff into the sea) after the latter attempted to rape Hippodamia, some have Pelops give the promise to Myrtilus of Hippodamia's virginity and then either renege the agreement or Myrtilus being impatient and trying to take her beforehand, others have Hippodamia, noticing Pelops' insecurity, giving the promise behind the back of Pelops, who then falsely believed it was an attempted rape.