Editing Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)

{{Short description|Greek mythological figure}}
[[File:Pèlops i Hipodamia, frontó oriental del temple de Zeus, Museu Arqueològic d'Olímpia.JPG|thumb|250px|Pelops and Hippodamia from the east pediment of the Temple of Zeus in [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]].]]

'''Hippodamia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|ɪ|p|oʊ-|d|ə|ˈ|m|aɪ|.|ə}},<ref>"Glossary Index" in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]: A New Verse Translation'' by David Raeburn (2004), Penguin, {{ISBN|978-0-14-044789-7}}, p.&nbsp;695.</ref> {{IPAc-en|h|ɪ|ˌ|p|ɒ|d|ə|-}};<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2sUAAAAYAAJ&dq=Rule%252030&pg=PA66 |title=A Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Names: To which are Added, Terminational Vocabularies of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Proper Names: with Observations on the Greek and Latin Accent and Quantity |last=Walker |first=John |date=1830 |publisher=J.F. Dove |pages=9, 13, 66 |language=en}}</ref> also '''Hippodamea''' and '''Hippodameia'''; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ἱπποδάμεια  "she who masters horses" derived from {{lang|grc|ἵππος}} ''hippos'' "horse" and {{lang|grc|δαμάζειν}} ''damazein'' "to tame") was a [[Greek mythology|Greek mythological]] figure. She was the queen of [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]] and the wife of [[Pelops]], appearing with Pelops at a potential cult site in Ancient Olympia. 

Although Hippodamia does not speak within her mythologies, she is spoken about by both Onemous and Pelops. It is stated that Hippodamia is Onemous' only joy, and is a virtuous child. Onemous considered many men inferior to his daughter.

== Family ==
Hippodamia was the daughter of King [[Oenomaus]] of Pisa either by [[Sterope (Pleiad)|Sterope]], daughter of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] and [[Pleione (mythology)|Pleione]], [[Evarete]], daughter of [[Acrisius]] and [[Eurydice of Argos|Eurydice]], or [[Eurythoe]],<ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 157</ref> daughter of [[Danaus]]. She was probably the sister of [[Leucippus (mythology)|Leucippus]] and [[Alcippe (mythology)|Alcippe]], wife of [[Evenus of Aetolia|Evenus]] and mother of [[Marpessa of Aetolia|Marpessa]].

Hippodamia married [[Pelops]], son of King [[Tantalus]] of [[Lydia]], and their children are as follows: Astydameia, [[Atreus]], [[Corpreus]], Dias, Eurydice, Hippalcimus, Hippasus, Lysidice, Mytilene, Nicippe, [[Pittheus]], [[Thyestes]], and Troezen.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 29, 2015 |title=Hippodamia |url=https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Hippodamia/hippodamia.html |access-date=2023-05-16 |website=greekmythology.com}}</ref>

== Mythology ==
[[File:Pelops and Hippodamia; Base relief, Metropolitan Museum, New York City.jpg|thumb|A base relief made in the Roman Empire, this relief depicts Pelops (left) and Hippodamia (right) likely communicating after the chariot race. ]]Hippodamia's father, King [[Oenomaus]] of Pisa, was fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law. So when suitors arrived, he told them they could marry his daughter only if they defeated him in a [[Chariot racing|chariot race]], and if they lost, they would be executed. Eighteen suitors of Hippodamia had perished in this way, and Oenamaus had affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] was shown what was purported to be the last standing column in the late second century CE; the same author mentions that Pelops erected a monument in honor of all the suitors before himself, and enlists their names, which are as follows:<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', 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 (mythology)|Crotalus]]
# [[Acrias (mythology)|Acrias]] of [[Lacedaemon]], founder of Acriae
# [[Capetus (mythology)|Capetus]]
# [[Lycurgus (mythology)|Lycurgus]]
# [[Lasius (mythology)|Lasius]]
# [[Chalcodon]]
# [[Tricolonus]]
# [[Aristomachus (mythology)|Aristomachus]]
# [[Prias]]
# [[Pelagon]]
# [[Aeolius]]
# [[Cronius (mythology)|Cronius]]
# [[Erythras]], son of [[Leucon]]
# [[Eioneus]], son of [[Magnes (mythology)|Magnes]]
{{div col end}}[[File:Pelops and Hippodamia racing.jpg|thumb|Made during Rome's [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Julio-Claudian era]] of 27 BCE-68 CE, this terracotta relief shows Pelops (in front) with Hippodamia (in back) riding a chariot. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Terracotta plaque with Pelops and Hippodamia {{!}} Roman {{!}} Augustan or Julio-Claudian |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/252499 |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref>]]Pelops,<ref>{{Cite web |title=PELOPS - Elean Hero & King of Greek Mythology |url=https://www.theoi.com/Heros/Pelops.html |access-date=2023-05-16 |website=www.theoi.com}}</ref> son of King Tantalus of Lydia, came to ask for Hippodamia's hand in marriage 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 winged horses to appear.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Tusculanae Disputationes'' 2.27.67 (noted in Kerenyi 1959:64).</ref>

In an episode that was added to the simple heroic chariot race, Pelops, still unsure of his fate, convinced Oenomaus's charioteer, [[Myrtilus]], a son of [[Hermes]], to help him win. Myrtilus agreed to Pelops' wishes as Pelops promised him half of Oenomaus' kingdom and the first night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting Oenomaus's chariot together, he replaced the bronze linchpins attaching the wheels to the [[chariot]] axle with fake ones made of beeswax. The race began, 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.

When Myrtilus tried to claim his reward and lay with Hippodamia, Pelops killed Myrtilus by throwing him off a cliff into the sea. As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops and Hippodamia. Although this curse didn't affect Pelops and Hippodamia's prosperity, as they came to have fourteen children, the curse was enacted and haunted Hippodamia and Pelops' children [[Atreus]] and [[Thyestes]] as well as their descendants [[Agamemnon]], [[Aegisthus]], [[Menelaus]] and [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grove |first=Matthewe |title=The most famous and tragicall historie of pelops and hippodamia where unto are adioyned sundrie pleasant deuises, epigrams, songs and sonnetts |year=1587 |location=London |language=English}}</ref>

== Hippodamia within Ancient Olympia ==
The first cult site of Hippodamia and Pelops appeared in Olympia, called the Hippodameion. The true location of the Hippodameion remains unknown, yet the time period is thought to be during the [[Late Helladic]] period. It was thought that the Hippodameion was located near the sacred groves within Olympia, known as the [[Altis]], yet some historians dispute this. The Hippodameion likely contained items similar to other cults that showed up around the time period, including statues of Pelops and Hippodamia along with terracotta pots depicting their stories.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, OLYMPIA Greece. |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=olympia |access-date=2023-05-16 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>[[File:Archaeological Site of Ancient Olympia - 9.jpg|thumb|Part of the Altis within Ancient Greece, these pillars were made of local stones, such as limestone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=UNESCO World Heritage |title=Archaeological Site of Olympia |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/517/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref> ]][[Walter Burkert]] notes that though the story of the contest for Hippodamia's hand figures in the Hesiodic ''[[Megalai Ehoiai]]'' and on the chest of [[Cypselus]] (ca. 570 BCE) that was conserved at Olympia, and though preparations for the chariot-race figured in the east pediment of the great [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|temple of Zeus at Olympia]], the myth of the chariot race only became important at Olympia with the introduction of [[chariot racing]] in the twenty-fifth Olympiad (680 BCE).<ref>Burkert, ''Homo Necans'' 1983, p 95f.; ''Megalai Ehoiai'' fr. 259.</ref> [[Georges Devereux]] connected the "courtship" of Hippodamia with animal husbandry taboos of Elis,<ref>G. Devereux, "The abduction of Hippodameia as 'Aition' of a Greek animal husbandry rite" ''SMSR'' '''36''' (1965), pp 3-25. Burkert, in following Devereux's thesis, attests Herodotus iv.30, Plutarch's ''Greek Questions'' 303b and Pausanias 5.5.2.</ref> and the influence of Elis at Olympia that grew in the seventh century.

== See also ==
* [[Heraean Games]]
* [[Theseus saving Hippodamia]], 1908 sculpture

==References==
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[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Suicides in Greek mythology]]