‘Pelops, son of Tantalos, having come to Pissa /

with fast-footed horses, marries the daughter of Oinomaos'

 

 

Chapter 1. THE LEGENDARY ORIGINS OF EQUESTRIAN OLYMPICS:

A LOVE STORY OR A FRAUD?

 

 

Oinomaos was king of Elis, and Pisa in western Peloponnese was its capital (not to be confused with Piza in Italy, the site of the ‘leaning-tower’). The king had one daughter of marriageable age, Hippodameia, name derived from hippos and damao [Gr: horse, tame; horse-tamer]. She was exceptionally pretty as far as we can judge from her images on several vases and statues [Fig 1.1]. By royal decree, prospective suitors of the princess were required to prove their worth by driving away with her aboard their chariots [Fig 1.2]. The king would follow in his own chariot and spear the unfortunate man if he overtook him   A prediction of the Delphic oracle had informed Oinomaos that he would die at his daughter’s marriage thus he devised a stratagem to keep her unmarried so as to preserve his own life.

 

 

                                                                                        

 

Fig 1.1. East pediment sculptures of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Musee de Louvre, Paris. On the reconstructed east pediment (left) are the heroes short before the chariot race of Pelops versus Oinomaos. In the center lies the majestic figure of Zeus. At his sides are the opposed couples (Oinomaos & wife Sterope, and Pelops & Hippodameia) flanked by their horses. At the corners of the pediment figure the potamioi [river] deities of Olympia, Kladeos and Alpheios. We ignore the name of the great sculptor, but we are filled with awe at his achievement.

 

 

 

It seems that the chariot race was to start at the River Kladeos and finish at the temple of Poseidon in Corinth - a distance of over 150 miles. The suitor had to drive with Hippodameia at his side. This clause was cunningly introduced by Oinomaos, who was convinced that every suitor would be carried away by her beauty, become absent-minded and lose the contest.

 

 

 

 

Fig 1.2 (left). Red-figured amphora c. 410 BCE. Museo Civico, Arezzo, Italy. On the chariot, dressed in heavy Phrygian attire, Pelops drives to his victory as indicated by the wreath on his head.  Hippodameia clad in bridal gown raises her right hand in surprise, staring at the two pigeons sent by Aphrodite symbolizing the princess's fate to become the spouse of the ‘dark-faced’ hero [pelos = dark]. Right: Roman relief depicting the chariot of Pelops preceding that of King Oinomaos.

 

The king always allowed his opponent a head start while he stayed behind to sacrifice a ram to Zeus [Fig 1.3]. Α son of the god Ares, who had given him a team of swift mares, Oinomaos was convinced he could never lose a race. He had the support of his expert charioteer, Myrtilos, a son of Hermes, who would overhaul the suitor’s chariot. Oinomaos would spear the driver, bury his body next to Olympia's hippodrome, and hang the head of his unfortunate victim above the palace gateway. The score was thirteen dead suitors after Pindar [Olympian 1] or seven-teen after Pausanias [V.1.7], when Pelops arrived from Phrygia in Asia Minor.

 

 

Fig 1.3. Red-figured crater c. 380-370 BCE. Museo Archeologico, Napoli  Oinomaos prepares the traditional sacrifice before mounting his tethrippon (four-horse chariot). The horses are waiting for him with their charioteer Myrtilos on the upper left (only the horses' legs shown here).  At right, Pelops and Hippodameia have already started the race as their horses are seen flying above the sea. The Phrygian youth is sure of winning the race against his ruthless father-in-law.

 

 

 

Τhe Peloponnese bears his name until today in honor of his formidable exploits [nessos = island]. Undoubtedly, the young Ionian prince became a great local hero despite being a xenos [foreigner], according to Thucydides (1.9). Glory, honor and prestige were to become the rewards of all legendary chariot victories in the ancient Hellenic world.

 

 

 

There are two versions of what happened when Pelops became the suitor of Hippodameia.  My preference is the first, in which a young and cunning Pelops bribes the king’s charioteer Myrtilos to replace the bronze axle-pins of his master's chariot with pins made of wax. Net result: Myrtilos starts, pins melt, Oinomaos is thrown off the chariot and is killed. As predicted by the oracle his last race is lost, and Pelops drives off with his bride. In dying, however, Oinomaos curses Myrtilos to die by Pelops’ own hand. In this version of the myth Pelops is able to achieve a fraudulent victory by bribing Myrtilos because he knows that the young man is passionately in love with the beautiful princess, but is afraid to challenge her father and master [Pausanias V.20.6]

 

 

Τhe version is to be found in one of Pindar’s odes [Olympian 1, 67-100]. Known for his moral convictions, Pindar would not allow his hero to win by cheating, preferring helpful intervention by the gods.

 

 

Returning to the destruction of the palace, its single remaining pillar was, according to Pausanias, revered at Olympia for centuries, and stood near what was to be the site of the temple of Zeus. Though all traces of it have long since disappeared, the site was visited and described by that venerable writer ca. 173 BCE. Modern excavations have not revealed evidence of the palace’s foundations, and I am inclined to believe that the pillar was not part of the palace but rather the winning post for chariot races that were originally run towards the sacred grove when Pelops initiated the first contests at Olympia. Another theory has it that the pillar may have been part of Oinomaos’s stables.

 

 

 

This hypothesis is supported by a curious instance of accidental archaeology in Roman times.  Pausanias tells the story of a senator who was digging the foundations of his statue near the ‘pillar of Oinomaos’ some time in the 2nd c.CE. Workers came across fragments of arms, horse bits and head collars. These finds may have been offerings of victorious charioteers since it was customary to set up dedications in bronze trappings on the banks of the Stadion or the Hippodrome. These offerings would be inscribed with the name of the donor or the victorious owner, but almost never with the name of the charioteer. It seems that in those days horse owners were an ungrateful lot. It is a pity that, for this reason, a truly magnificent sculpture by an unknown artist the ‘Charioteer’ [Fig 1.4] has remained anonymous to this day. We shall probably never know who the young man was but my hope is that, some day, a researcher will hit upon a clue revealing the boy's identity.  Naturally, since I was born in Macedonia, I would prefer such a discovery to reveal a Macedonian origin.

 

 

 

 

Fig 1.4. The bronze ‘Charioteer’ 478-475 BCE, Museum of Delphi. Dedicated by the tyrant of Gela Polyzalos for his tethrippon victory at the Pythian contests. Α most famous masterpiece of an unknown Greek sculptor and his anonymous ephebe of extreme beauty. The two brothers of Polyzalos, Gelon and Hieron, had won several chariot races at Olympia and Delphi before him.

 

 

So begins the story of the ancient equestrian contests at Olympia: a Pelops-Hippodameia love story, or a Pelops-Myrtilos fraud case. It is my opinion that the love story must have preceded the fraud.  Whether consciously or otherwise, I have forgiven the founder of the loveliest Greek ‘island’ and of the hardest Olympic contest the Phrygian hero’s lack of moral rectitude. Thanks to the young Ionian, and to the tragedian Sophokles who rendered his story unforgettable, we can safely place the pre-Olympic origins of a sport dear to my heart, the Hippika, at Olympia’s hippodrome.

 

There are serious reasons to be grateful to brave Pelops but also to his lovely bride Hippodameia. More than enough evidence exists of her being the first lady to initiate the “female Olympics”, known as Heraia, as they honored the goddess Hera [see Chapter 6]. The couple, perhaps moved by remorse, organized Olympic contests both for men and for women. Thus it is not surprising that, as reported by ancient historians, they were both honored with temples whose ruins have been unearthed, reminding us of the gratitude we owe this fabulous couple. In fact, there are several modern writers, who claim that the first Olympic contest was the chariot race initiated by Pelops and Hippodameia rather than the dromos run by the heroic Herakles, who measured the 600-feet of the Stadium at the times of King Augeias. I concur.