Oenomaus

In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus (or Oinomaos, Oenamaus) of Pisa,In the ancient territory of Pisa lay Olympia. the father of Hippodamia, was the son of Ares, either by the naiad Harpina (daughter of the river god Phliasian Asopus, the armed (harpe)Theoi Project: Harpina. spirit of a spring near Pisa)Pausanias, 5.22.6; Diodorus Siculus, 4.73.1. or by Sterope, one of the Pleiades,Hyginus, Fabula 84 ("Oenomaus, son of Mars and Asterope, daughter of Atlas"), Fabula 250 ("Oenomaus, son of Mars by Asterie, daughter of Atlas"). whom some identify as his consort instead.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke 3. 110 - 111; Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 21; he was depicted on the pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia with Sterope, whom Pausanias also took for his wife: "On the right of Zeus Oinomaos with a helmet on his head, and by him Sterope his wife, who was one of the daughters of Atlas." He married, if not Sterope, then Evarete of Argos, the daughter of Acrisius and Eurydice. Yet others give Eurythoe, daughter of Danaus, either as his motherScholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 752 or consort.Tzetzes on Lycophron, 157 His children besides Hippodamia were Leucippus (who perished because of his love for Daphne) and Alcippe (mother of Marpessa by Evenus). Pausanias, who is generally skeptical about stories of humans descending from gods, makes Oenomaus son of a mortal father, Alxion.Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5. 1. 6 The genealogy offered in the earliest literary reference, Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris, would place him two generations before the Trojan War, making him the great-grandfather of the Atreides, Agamemnon and Menelaus. His name Oinomaos signifies him as a wine man.
== Courtship of Hippodamia ==
Pelops wanted to marry Hippodamia. King Oenomaus, 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 and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace.The story of Pelops' chariot race is told by Nestor to Menelaus, in Quintus Smyrnaeus's continuation of the Iliad (IV.527-34). Pausanias was shown what was purported to be the last standing column in the late 2nd 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.Pindar, First Olympian Ode. 71. 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.Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 2.27.67 (noted in Karl Kerenyi, The Heroes of the Greeks, 1959:64). Pelops and Hippodamia, very much in love, devised a plan to replace 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. Oenomaus' charioteer, Myrtilus, survived, but Oenomaus was dragged to death by his horses. Pelops then killed Myrtilus (by throwing him off a cliff into the sea as he cursed him) after the latter attempted to claim Hippodamia.
In memory of Oenomaus, the Olympic Games were created (or alternatively the Olympic Games were in celebration of Pelops' victory). As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops. This was the source of the curse that haunted future generation of Pelops' children, including Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Menelaus and Orestes. Also, the burial place of Myrtilus was a taraxippus in Olympia, a "horse-frightening place" during races. Oenomaus' chariot race was one legendary origin of the Olympic Games; one of its turning-posts was preserved, and round it grew an Elean legend of a burnt "house of Oenomaus", reported by Pausanias in the 2nd century CE.Eric L. Brulotte, "The "Pillar of Oinomaos" and the Location of Stadium I at Olympia", American Journal of Archaeology 98.1 (January 1994), pp. 53-64,
== Notes ==
== Bibliography ==
* Pindar, Olympian Ode, I (476 BCE)
* Sophocles, (1) Electra, 504 (430 - 415 BCE) & (2) Oenomaus, Fr. 433 (408 BCE)
* Euripides, Orestes, 1024-1062 (408 BCE)
* Bibliotheca, Epitome 2, 1-9 (140 BCE)
* Diodorus Siculus, Histories, 4.73 (1st c. BCE)
* Hyginus, Fables, 84: Oinomaus; Poetic Astronomy, ii (1st c. CE)
* Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.1.3 - 7; 5.13.1; 6.21.9; 8.14.10 - 11 (ca. 160 - 176 CE)
* Philostratus the Elder Imagines, I.30: Pelops (170 - 245 CE)
* Philostratus the Younger, Imagines, 9: Pelops (ca. 200 - 245 CE)
* First Vatican Mythographer, 22: Myrtilus; Atreus et Thyestes
* Second Vatican Mythographer, 146: Oenomaus
Category:Greek Mythology