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Hippodamia (also Hippodamea and Hippodameia), was a daughter of King Oenomaus
Oenomaus

In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus of Pisa was the son of Ares by Harpina and father of Hippodamia. By some accounts Sterope is considered to be his mother by Ares, instead of Harpina....
 and wife of Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 with whom her offspring were Thyestes
Thyestes

In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Olympia, Greece, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia, Greece....
, Atreus
Atreus

In Greek mythology, Atreus was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, a king of Mycenae, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae....
, and Pittheus
Pittheus

In Greek mythology, Pittheus was a son of Pelops and father of Aethra. He was the King of Troezen. He was a wise man and understood the words of Aegeus' prophesy when no one else did....
, Alcathous
Alcathous

Alcathous was the name of several people in Greek mythology:*Alcathous, son of Pelops, killed the Cithaeronian lion.*Alcathous, son of Aesyetes, husband of Hippodameia, the daughter of Anchises and sister of Aeneas, who was educated in the house of Alcathous....
.

ng grown to manhood, Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 wanted to marry Hippodamia. King Oenomaus
Oenomaus

In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus of Pisa was the son of Ares by Harpina and father of Hippodamia. By some accounts Sterope is considered to be his mother by Ares, instead of Harpina....
, her father, fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law, had killed thirteen suitors of Hippodamia after defeating them in a chariot race
Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, Roman Empire and Byzantine empire sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse?they frequently suffered serious injury and even death?but generated strong spectator enthusiasm....
 and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace.






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Hippodamia (also Hippodamea and Hippodameia), was a daughter of King Oenomaus
Oenomaus

In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus of Pisa was the son of Ares by Harpina and father of Hippodamia. By some accounts Sterope is considered to be his mother by Ares, instead of Harpina....
 and wife of Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 with whom her offspring were Thyestes
Thyestes

In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Olympia, Greece, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia, Greece....
, Atreus
Atreus

In Greek mythology, Atreus was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, a king of Mycenae, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae....
, and Pittheus
Pittheus

In Greek mythology, Pittheus was a son of Pelops and father of Aethra. He was the King of Troezen. He was a wise man and understood the words of Aegeus' prophesy when no one else did....
, Alcathous
Alcathous

Alcathous was the name of several people in Greek mythology:*Alcathous, son of Pelops, killed the Cithaeronian lion.*Alcathous, son of Aesyetes, husband of Hippodameia, the daughter of Anchises and sister of Aeneas, who was educated in the house of Alcathous....
.

Courtship

Having grown to manhood, Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 wanted to marry Hippodamia. King Oenomaus
Oenomaus

In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus of Pisa was the son of Ares by Harpina and father of Hippodamia. By some accounts Sterope is considered to be his mother by Ares, instead of Harpina....
, her father, fearful of a prophecy that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law, had killed thirteen suitors of Hippodamia after defeating them in a chariot race
Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, Roman Empire and Byzantine empire sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse?they frequently suffered serious injury and even death?but generated strong spectator enthusiasm....
 and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace. Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
 was shown what was purported to be the last standing column in the late second century CE. 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. Reminding Poseidon of their love ("Aphrodite
Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
's sweet gifts"), he asked Poseidon for help. Smiling, Poseidon caused a chariot drawn by winged horses to appear. In an episode that was added to the simple heroic chariot race, Pelops, still unsure of himself (or alternatively, Hippodamia herself), convinced Oenomaus' charioteer, Myrtilus
Myrtilus

In Greek mythology, Myrtilus was a divine hero, a son of Hermes on Theobula, and charioteer of King Oenomaus of Pisa in Elis, on the northwest coast of the Peloponnesus....
, a son of Hermes
Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. An Twelve Olympians, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of general commerce, and of the cunni...
, to help him win. Myrtilus was convinced by Pelops or Hippodamia promising him half of Oenomaus' kingdom and the first night in bed with Hippodamia. The night before the race, while Myrtilus was putting Oenomaus' chariot together, he replaced the bronze linchpins attaching the wheels to the chariot
Chariot

The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC....
 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. Pelops then killed Myrtilus (by throwing him off a cliff into the sea) after the latter attempted to rape Hippodamia.

As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops. This was the source of the curse that haunted future generation of Hippodamia's and Pelops' children, including Atreus
Atreus

In Greek mythology, Atreus was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, a king of Mycenae, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae....
, Thyestes
Thyestes

In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Olympia, Greece, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia, Greece....
, Agamemnon
Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon / is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra; different mythological versions make him the king either of Mycenae or of Argos....
, Aegisthus
Aegisthus

In Greek mythology, Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes and of his daughter, Pelopia.Thyestes felt he had been deprived of the Mycenae throne unfairly by his brother, Atreus....
, Menelaus
Menelaus

Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria....
 and Orestes
Orestes (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Orestes was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek theatre and of various legends connected with his madness and purification....
.

Abduction

During the wedding of Hippodameia and Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
, the barbaric centaurs who had been invited became wildly intoxicated, attacking the other guests and even the hosts. The centaurs were eventually tamed, and order restored. The Abduction of Hippodameia
The Abduction of Hippodameia

The Abduction of Hippodameia by the French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse is a classical subject blended with violent emotion, sensuality, and raw animal power....
 was also the subject of a sculpture by French artist Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse
Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse was a France sculptor and Painting. He was the father of Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse.Carrier-Belleuse made many terra cotta pieces, but possibly the most famous is The Abduction of Hippodameia depicting the Greek mythological scene of a centaur kidnapping Hippodameia on her wedding day....
.

Walter Burkert notes that though the story of Hippodamia's abduction figures in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women
Catalogue of Women

The Catalogue of Women is an Ancient Greek literature poem. Ancient writers sometimes attributed it to Hesiod, although the poem contains a few references to events and things after Hesiod's time that could suggest that they were later added or that the epic is of a completely different author....
 and on the chest of Cypselus
Cypselus

Cypselus was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC.With increased wealth and more complicated trade relations and social structures, Ancient Greece city-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings; Corinth, the richest archaic polis, led the way....
 (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 at Olympia
Temple of Zeus

The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, built in 470-456 BCE, was the ancient Greek temple in Olympia, Greece, dedicated to the chief of the gods, Zeus....
, the myth of the chariot race only became important at Olympia with the introduction of chariot racing
Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, Roman Empire and Byzantine empire sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse?they frequently suffered serious injury and even death?but generated strong spectator enthusiasm....
 in the twenty-fifth Olympiad (680 BCE). G. Devereux connected the abduction of Hippodamia with animal husbandry taboos of Elis, and the influence of Elis at Olympia that grew in the seventh century.

See also

  • Pelops
    Pelops

    In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
  • The Abduction of Hippodameia
    The Abduction of Hippodameia

    The Abduction of Hippodameia by the French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse is a classical subject blended with violent emotion, sensuality, and raw animal power....