Myrtilus

Myrtilus was the son of the god Hermes and the charioteer of King Oenomaus of Pisa. He betrayed his master in the chariot race for Hippodamia’s hand, helping Pelops to win, and was then thrown into the sea by Pelops. His dying curse was held to explain the troubles of the house of Pelops, the family of Atreus and Agamemnon.

Myrtilus’ Parentage and Service to Oenomaus

The Greeks said that Myrtilus was a son of Hermes and that he served Oenomaus as charioteer (Pausanias 8.14.10; Apollodorus, Epitome 2.6). Hyginus reports that some made him the son of Hermes by Clytia and said that after his death his father set his body among the stars as the Charioteer (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.13).

Oenomaus, king of Pisa, had a daughter Hippodamia. According to Apollodorus, he had arms and horses from Ares, and each suitor had to take up Hippodamia on his chariot and flee to the Isthmus of Corinth. Oenomaus pursued in full armour and killed any man he overtook, cutting off his head and nailing it to his house. Some said he killed twelve suitors (Apollodorus, Epitome 2.5).

Pausanias, who tells the story as the people of Arcadia told it at Pheneus, says that Myrtilus was himself in love with Hippodamia but lost his nerve at the thought of competing, and so served Oenomaus as charioteer. In the earlier races he drove the mares craftily forward while Oenomaus shot the suitor down as he came near (Pausanias 8.14.10–11).

Myrtilus and Pelops

When Pelops arrived to compete, Hippodamia saw his beauty and fell in love with him. In Apollodorus, she persuaded Myrtilus to help Pelops, and Myrtilus, in love with her himself, wished to please her (Apollodorus, Epitome 2.6–7). Pausanias gives a different bargain: Pelops swore an oath that Myrtilus could lie with Hippodamia for one night (Pausanias 8.14.11). Hyginus tells yet another: Pelops, fearing the king’s cruelty, persuaded Myrtilus by promising him half the kingdom (Hyginus, Fabulae 84).

The Sabotaged Chariot

Apollodorus says that Myrtilus did not put the linchpins into the wheel boxes, so that Oenomaus was entangled in the reins and dragged to death, though some said that Pelops killed him. Pherecydes also told it without any linchpins, while another version had Myrtilus put in a linchpin of wax (Pherecydes, fragment 93). Hyginus likewise has Myrtilus leave the pins out of the wheels, so that the chariot fell apart and the horses dragged Oenomaus (Hyginus, Fabulae 84). Dying, Oenomaus discovered the treachery and cursed Myrtilus, praying that Pelops would kill him (Apollodorus, Epitome 2.7).

The Death of Myrtilus

In Apollodorus, Pelops won Hippodamia and set out with her and Myrtilus. At a certain place he went off to fetch water for his thirsty wife, and Myrtilus tried to rape her. When Pelops learned of it from her, he threw Myrtilus into the sea at Cape Geraestus; the water was called the Myrtoan Sea after him (Apollodorus, Epitome 2.8). As he was thrown, Myrtilus cursed the house of Pelops. Pausanias gives the cause as Pelops’ refusal to keep his oath, and says Pelops threw him out of the ship (Pausanias 8.14.11). Euripides places the murder at Geraestus, “when Pelops drove his four-horse chariot over the sea” (Euripides, Orestes 988–996), and Sophocles speaks of Myrtilus plunged into the sea, hurled headlong from his gold-covered chariot (Sophocles, Electra 504–515).

Burial and Worship

The people of Pheneus said that the tide cast up Myrtilus’ body, that they buried it behind the temple of Hermes, and that they still sacrifice to him at night every year as to a hero (Pausanias 8.14.10–11). At Olympia, Pausanias reports that Pelops built an empty mound for Myrtilus and sacrificed to him to calm the anger of the murdered man; this was said to be the Taraxippus, the “frightener of horses” (Pausanias 6.20.17). The Eleans said that Pelops founded the first temple of Hermes in the Peloponnese to avert the god’s anger for Myrtilus’ death (Pausanias 5.1.7). At Olympia, the temple of Zeus showed Myrtilus on its pediment, seated in front of the four horses of Oenomaus (Pausanias 5.10.6).

The Curse on the House of Pelops

Later writers made Myrtilus’ death the beginning of the family’s troubles. Euripides’ Orestes says the house was cursed by the murder of Myrtilus, and connects it to the golden lamb, “the offspring of the son of Maia”, born among the flocks of Atreus (Euripides, Orestes 988–1000, 1547–1548); Sophocles likewise says that since Myrtilus was drowned the misery has never left the house (Sophocles, Electra 504–515). In Apollodorus, Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis, but when a golden lamb appeared he failed to do so (Apollodorus, Epitome 2.10–11), and Plato mentions the portent of the golden lamb in the quarrel of Atreus and Thyestes (Plato, Statesman 268e). Plato also explains the name Pelops as “he who sees only what is near”, because in murdering Myrtilus he could not foresee the misery that would overwhelm his whole race (Plato, Cratylus 395c).

Myrtilus Sources

Apollodorus, Epitome 2.4–11; Hyginus, Fabulae 84 and Astronomica 2.13; Pherecydes, fragment 93; Pausanias 5.1.7, 5.10.6, 6.20.17, 8.14.10–11; Euripides, Orestes 988–1000 and 1547–1548; Sophocles, Electra 504–515; Plato, Statesman 268e, Cratylus 395c.

See Also: Hermes, Oenomaus, Hippodamia, Pelops, Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Orestes, Chrysippus