Editing Pelops (section)

=== Curse of the Pelopidai ===
As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops for his ultimate betrayal. This was one of the sources of the curse that destroyed his family: two of his sons, [[Atreus]] and [[Thyestes]], killed their half brother, [[Chrysippus (mythology)|Chrysippus]], who was his favorite son and was meant to inherit the kingdom; Atreus and Thyestes were banished by him together with Hippodamia, their mother, who then hanged herself; each successive generation of descendants suffered greatly by atrocious crimes and compounded the curse by committing more crimes, as the curse weighed upon Pelops' children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren including Atreus, Thyestes, [[Agamemnon]], [[Aegisthus]], [[Menelaus]], and finally [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]], who was acquitted by a court of law convened by the gods [[Athena]] and [[Apollo]]. Although commonly referred to as "the curse of the [[Atreus|Atreides]]", the circle of atrocious events began two generations before Atreus and continued for two generations after him, before being formally absolved by the [[Erinyes|Furies]] in court. Many decades after Pelops's death, his grandson Menelaus, having survived the long-lasting [[Trojan War]] and stranded in Egypt, would recount his numerous plights and wish Pelops had perished for good at Tantalus' dinner, so that Atreus, and therefore Agamemnon and Menelaus himself, would never have been born.<ref>Euripides, ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0100%3Acard%3D386 386-405]</ref>