Pelops in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Pelops

36 passages from 11 ancient authors that tell of Pelops, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Pelops was the king of the city of Pisa in Peloponnesus, in Greek mythology. His father was Tantalus, the founder of the dynasty of the Atreides, whil... For the story in one place, read our article on Pelops.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 2.102–210Agamemnon tests the armyAt the assembly Agamemnon holds the sceptre of Zeus and tells the Achaeans that Zeus has deceived him and that they must flee home, though he means to try them. The army surges toward the ships like waves, and the ships are already being dragged down when Hera sends Athena to Odysseus. He takes Agamemnon's sceptre, checks the chiefs and sends the men back to the assembly.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.2.1–16Tantalus, Pelops and the house of AtreusThe Epitome describes the punishment of Tantalus in Hades, Pelops' revival after being boiled at the gods' banquet, and his winning of Hippodamia from Oenomaus with the help of the charioteer Myrtilus, whom he then drowns. It follows the sons of Pelops: Atreus and Thyestes quarrel over the kingdom of Mycenae because of the golden lamb, Atreus serves Thyestes his own sons, and Aegisthus, born to Thyestes by his daughter, kills Atreus. It ends with Agamemnon, Menelaus and the children of Agamemnon.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.4.1–5Perseus: Danae, Medusa and AndromedaAn oracle tells Acrisius that his daughter's son will kill him, so he shuts Danae in a brazen chamber, but she bears Perseus to Zeus and is cast into the sea with him in a chest. On Seriphus, Polydectes sends Perseus to fetch the Gorgon's head; with help from Hermes and Athena he gets the nymphs' gear from the Phorcides and beheads Medusa, from whom Pegasus and Chrysaor spring. He rescues Andromeda from a sea monster, turns Polydectes to stone, and accidentally kills Acrisius with a discus at Larissa, so fulfilling the oracle. The section ends with Perseus's descendants and the birth of Eurystheus.

Pindar (3)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.1–116Olympian 1: for Hieron — Pelops and TantalusPindar opens with the praise of water and gold and of the Olympic games as the greatest of contests, and hails Hieron of Syracuse, victor with the horse Pherenicus. He rejects the tale that the gods ate the flesh of Pelops, and tells instead how Poseidon, in love, carried the boy off to Olympus after the banquet of Tantalus, and how Tantalus is punished for stealing nectar and ambrosia with a rock hanging over his head. Pelops later prays to Poseidon, overcomes Oenomaüs in the chariot race and wins Hippodameia. The ode ends with a prayer that Hieron keep his greatness and that Pindar be the foremost poet among Hellenes.
Pindar, Olympian Odes 3.1–45Olympian 3: for Theron — Heracles and the olive treePindar prays to the Dioscuri and to Helen as he honours Theron of Acragas, victor in the chariot race, and links his crown to the olive of Olympia. He tells how Heracles, who had set up the games, brought the olive from the land of the Hyperboreans and the Ister to shade the bare precinct of Pelops, after chasing the golden-horned hind for Eurystheus. He ends by saying that Theron's prowess has reached the pillars of Heracles, beyond which none can go.
Pindar, Olympian Odes 10.1–105Olympian 10: for Hagesidamus — Heracles and the first Olympic gamesPindar owes Hagesidamus of Locri a song for his boxing victory and praises the Western Locrians and the trainer Ilas, whom he likens to Achilles beside Patroclus. He tells how Heracles killed the Molionidae and punished Augeas, then founded the Olympic games beside the tomb of Pelops, with altars to the gods and the naming of the hill of Cronus. He lists the first winners and compares the victor to Ganymede.

Sophocles (1)

Sophocles, Electra 472–557First stasimon; Clytaemnestra defends the killing of AgamemnonThe Chorus say that Justice will come, since the dream means that the murder will be avenged, and recall the old chariot race of Pelops, the source of the curse on the house. Clytaemnestra comes out and complains that Electra runs loose when Aegisthus is away and slanders her. She defends her killing of Agamemnon by saying that he sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia, and Electra asks leave to answer her.

Euripides (7)

Euripides, Orestes 960–1012Electra's dirge for the house of PelopsElectra takes up a dirge, beating her head and calling the vote of the citizens a murdering one. She laments the fall of the race of Pelops and wishes she could reach the rock where Tantalus hangs. She recalls the curse that began with Myrtilus, the golden lamb sent by Hermes, and the changing of the sun's course.
Euripides, Children of Heracles 181–235First episode: Iolaus pleads for the children as Theseus' kinIolaus tells the king that he has the right to speak, as a suppliant in a free land, and that the exiles have nothing more to do with Argos. He tells Demophon that Heracles and Theseus were the sons of first cousins, and that he himself sailed with Theseus and Heracles as their squire, and begs him to save the children. The Chorus pities them.
Euripides, Suppliants 253–285First episode: Adrastus and the Chorus appeal to TheseusAdrastus says that he did not come to make Theseus the judge of his misfortune, but to cure it, and that, if his fortunes prove him wrong, he does not come to be punished. The Chorus adds its plea, saying that the Argives and Athenians share ancestors, and begs Theseus not to betray the suppliants.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1–66Prologue: Iphigenia at Artemis' temple among the TauriansIphigenia tells the story of her house, from Pelops to Atreus, and how her father Agamemnon, to win a fair wind for Troy, brought her to Aulis to be sacrificed to Artemis, who put a deer in her place and carried her to the land of the Taurians. She is now the priestess of the goddess in a temple where Greek strangers are sacrificed, and she tells of a dream that has led her to think that her brother Orestes is dead.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 822–899Second episode: the tokens and the embrace of brother and sisterOrestes offers a last proof, the old spear of Pelops that was kept in her rooms, and Iphigenia recognizes him and embraces him. They speak of the fortune that gave them back to each other, and of her narrow escape from sacrificing her own brother. She asks how she can send him safely home, since escape by land or by sea seems impossible.
Euripides, Helen 1230–1277Sixth episode: Helen asks for a funeral at seaHelen offers to make peace with Theoclymenus and asks to perform a funeral for her husband, though there is no body to bury. She explains that in Greece the dead lost at sea are honored with offerings let down into the sea. Menelaus, as the stranger, lists what is required: a blood-offering, a couch, bronze arms and a ship with rowers.
Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 473–527First episode: Menelaus relents but Agamemnon fears the armyMenelaus swears by Pelops and Atreus that he will speak the truth, says that the sight of his brother in tears has made him pity him, and withdraws his former demands, asking whether he could not find another bride. The Chorus Leader calls it a generous speech, and Agamemnon thanks him. Agamemnon answers that the whole army will force him to the sacrifice, once Calchas and Odysseus reveal the oracle.

Apollonius Rhodius (2)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.721–909Jason and Hypsipyle on LemnosJason puts on the purple mantle that Athena gave him, woven with scenes such as the Cyclopes at their forge, and goes to the city. Hypsipyle tells him how the women drove out the men and offers him her father's rule. The Argonauts linger on Lemnos until Heracles rebukes them, and Hypsipyle bids Jason a tearful farewell.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1537–1693Triton, and Talos of CreteTriton, in the form of a young man, gives Euphemus a clod of earth and later shows the way out of Lake Triton to the sea. At Crete the bronze man Talos hurls rocks at Argo until Medea overcomes him with her spells and he falls.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.71.1–4.75.6Asclepius, Aeacus, Pelops and the kings of TroyThe historian gives the birth and healing art of Asclepius and the descendants of Asopus' daughters, including Aeacus and his sons Peleus and Telamon. He then tells of Oenomaüs and the chariot race by which Pelops wins Hippodameia, and of Tantalus, and ends with the first kings of Troy, from Teucrus and Dardanus down to Priam.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.313–411The Lycian peasants; Marsyas; PelopsAfter Niobe's fate men worship Leto (Latona) more zealously, and one recalls the peasants of Lycia, who refused Leto water to drink when she came, wandering with her twins, and who were turned into frogs. Another tells of the satyr Marsyas, who challenged Apollo to a contest on the pipes and was flayed alive for his presumption. Pelops, the brother of Niobe, mourns for her, and his ivory shoulder, which the gods made for him after Tantalus served him up at a banquet, is shown.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.412–541Tereus and PhilomelaThe kings of Greece come to console Pelops, but Athens, beset by war, sends no one. Tereus, king of Thrace, who has helped Athens, is given the king's daughter Procne in an ill-omened marriage. Years later Procne asks to see her sister, and Tereus goes to Athens to fetch Philomela, and desires her. He takes her to a hut in the woods and rapes her, and she reproaches him bitterly and says that she will tell everyone what he has done.

Pausanias (15)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.13.1–11Olympia: the Pelopium, the shoulder-blade of Pelops and the great altar of ZeusPausanias describes the Pelopium and its annual sacrifice of a black ram, with the rule against eating the sacrificial flesh and entering the temple of Zeus. He tells how the fisherman Damarmenus recovered Pelops’ shoulder-blade and notes traces of Pelops in Lydia. He then describes the altar of Olympian Zeus, built of ashes, its dimensions and the monthly plastering with Alpheus water.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.10.1–10Olympia: the temple of Zeus, its sculptures and the AltisPausanias describes the Altis and the temple of Zeus, built after the Elean conquest of Pisa, with its Doric style, dimensions, the architect Libon and the marble tiles said to have been devised by Byzes of Naxos. He lists the golden shield and gilt Victory on the roof, and describes the gable sculptures by Paeonius and Alcamenes and the reliefs of the labours of Hercules over the doors.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.14.1–12Pheneus: Hercules' channel, Ulysses' mares and the tomb of MyrtilusPausanias describes the plain of Pheneus, which once flooded, and the chasms and canal said to have been made by Hercules. In the acropolis of Pheneus are ruins of a temple of Athena Tritonia and a bronze Poseidon said to be dedicated by Ulysses after finding his mares, which Pausanias doubts because bronze casting was not yet known. He mentions the tomb of Iphicles, the games and temple of Hermes, and the grave of Myrtilus, with the story that Pelops threw him overboard. Pausanias rejects the derivation of the Myrtoan Sea from Myrtilus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.1.1–11Elis: the early kings, Endymion, Pelops, Aetolus and AugeasPausanias opens the book on Elis with the five-fold division of Peloponnese and the peoples that settled it. He gives the line of the early Elean kings from Aethlius and Endymion to Epeus, Aetolus, Eleus and Augeas, with Endymion’s footrace for the throne and Pelops’ seizure of Pisa and Olympia. He tells how Hercules cleansed Augeas’ land of dung, was refused his reward, and so brought war on Elis.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.20.1–19Olympia: Sosipolis, the stadium and the TaraxippusPausanias describes the sanctuary of Ilithyia and Sosipolis on the slope of Mount Cronius, with the story of the child who turned into a serpent and routed the Arcadians. He also describes the Hippodamium, the stadium and the altar of Demeter Chamyne, and the starting-gate of the hippodrome with its bronze eagle and dolphin, invented by Cleoetas. He then gives the rival explanations of the Taraxippus, the 'terror of the horses', which he himself takes to be a surname of Poseidon Hippius.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.21.1–11Olympia and Pisa: Demeter Chamyne, Phrixa and the suitors of HippodamiaPausanias describes the sanctuary of Demeter Chamyne opposite the hippodrome, the gymnasium and the grave of Oenomaus across the Cladeus. He then follows the boundary between Arcadia and the land of Pisa, noting the tomb of Saurus, a ruined temple of Aesculapius, and the ruined city of Phrixa with its temple of Cydonian Athena. He also mentions the grave of the horses of Marmax and the ruins of Harpina, and ends with the mound of the suitors of Hippodamia killed by Oenomaus, with the list of their names given in the Great Eoeae.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.22.1–11Pisa, Pylus and Letrini: the bones of Pelops and Alpheaean ArtemisPausanias describes the traces of Pisa: the sanctuary of Artemis Cordax and the coffer holding the bones of Pelops. He summarises the quarrels of Pisa with Elis, the Non-Olympiads and the destruction of Pisa and its allies by the Eleans. He also covers the ruins of Pylus in Elis, the nymphs called Ionides at a healing spring near Heraclea, and Letrini, where a story explains the name of Alpheaean Artemis, after the river Alpheus who loved her and was baffled when she and her nymphs smeared their faces with mud.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.8.1–11Olympia: the early celebrations and the order in which the contests were addedPausanias lists those said to have held the games, from Clymenus, Endymion and Pelops to Augeas and Hercules, and the champions Hercules crowned. After the lapse before Iphitus, the contests were revived piecemeal, and he lists them with their first Olympiad and winner, from the foot-race of Coroebus to the later boys’ contests, races of armed men, chariots and foals.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.17.1–11Olympia: the Heraeum’s images and the Chest of Cypselus, first fieldPausanias lists the images in the temple of Hera, among them Zeus and Hera, the Seasons, Themis, the Hesperides and works by Praxiteles, and then describes the cedar Chest of Cypselus, in which the infant Cypselus was hidden. He explains the inscriptions in boustrophedon and describes the first field of its reliefs, the chariot race of Pelops and Oenomaus, the house of Amphiaraus and the funeral games of Pelias.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.41.1–9Megara: tomb of Alcmena, the lion of Cithaeron and the tomb of TereusPausanias describes the tomb of Alcmena, the altar of Achelous, the tomb of Hyllus, and the temple of Apollo and Artemis built by Alcathous after he killed the lion of Cithaeron. He criticises the Megarian version of the story, arguing that Alcathous came after the fall of Megara in Nisus’ reign. He then lists the shrine of Pandion, the tomb of the Amazon Hippolyte and the barrow of Tereus, whom he places at Daulis rather than Megara.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.14.1–4Phlius: the mysteries of Demeter at Celeae and the tomb of DysaulesPausanias describes the Phliasian mysteries of Demeter at Celeae, held every third year and modelled on Eleusis. He disputes the Phliasian account that Dysaules brought them after being expelled from Eleusis by Ion, citing the Homeric hymn to Demeter, and discusses the tomb of Dysaules, the earlier tomb of Aras and the chariot of Pelops on the roof of the Anactorum.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.18.1–9Argos: the road from Mycenae, the tomb of Thyestes and the kings of ArgosOn the road to Argos are a shrine of Perseus, the tomb of Thyestes with its ram, the sanctuary of Mysian Demeter, the river Inachus and an altar of the Sun. Pausanias explains the division of the Argive kingdom among the lines of Anaxagoras, Bias and Melampus, then the rule of Orestes and Tisamenus and the return of the Heraclids, who drove out Tisamenus and the descendants of Nestor.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.34.1–12Methana and Hermionis: the coast and the old and new cities of HermionPausanias describes Methana, with its hot springs, the rite against the south-west wind and the Isles of Pelops, then the origins of Hermion and the Dorian settlement. He follows the road from Troezen to Hermion, past Cape Scyllaeum with its story of Scylla and Minos, the islands and capes of the coast, Mount Buporthmus and the promontory where old Hermion stood. He ends with the sights of the present city, including the temples of Aphrodite of the Deep Sea and of Demeter Warmth.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.19.1–15Olympia: the treasuries on the terrace of Mount CroniusPausanias describes the terrace north of the Heraeum, where the treasuries stand. He names the treasuries of the Sicyonians, with its two bronze chambers and the offerings kept in it, the Carthaginians, the Epidamnians, the Byzantines, the Sybarites, the Cyrenians, the Selinuntians, the Metapontines, the Megarians and, beside the stadium, the Gelans. He lists their contents: the sword of Pelops, the horn of Amalthea, a boxwood image of Apollo, cedar figures of Atlas and the Hesperides, and the Megarian relief of Hercules fighting Achelous.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.40.1–12Lebadea and Chaeronea: the discovery of the oracle, the works of Daedalus and the sceptre of AgamemnonPausanias tells how the Boeotians found the oracle of Trophonius by following bees, and lists the surviving works of Daedalus. He moves to Chaeronea, once called Arne, and discusses the Roman trophies and why Macedonians set up none, the tomb of the Thebans who fell fighting Philip with its lion, and the sceptre of Agamemnon, which the Chaeroneans worship as a spear and which the priest keeps in his house for a year.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 37.236–421Book 37: The chariot race: Erechtheus passes Scelmis; Actaion upsets PhaunosThe race begins, and Scelmis in his sea-horse chariot leads at first. Erechtheus, praying to Athena, overtakes him on the last lap. Actaion upsets Phaunos' chariot by a trick, and Achates taunts Phaunos as he catches up.

Bacchylides (1)

Bacchylides, Epinicians (Odes of Victory) 6.1–8.32Odes 6–7: Lachon of Ceos, boys' foot-race at OlympiaOde 6 survives only as its end, honouring Lachon, son of Aristomenes, whose swift feet won the boys' foot-race and brought renown to Ceos. Ode 7 greets the sixteenth day of the month at Olympia, which gives judgment on speed and strength. A further passage tells of Lachon's wins at Pytho, Nemea and the Isthmus and thanks Zeus for the wreath of Aetolian olive he won beside the Alpheus.