#myrtilos

Oh hey look Hippodamia! Omg Oenomaus and Myrtilos look so nasty 🤢

Myrtilos is going to be gorgeous and for what? Hippodamia despises him with all she has.

At the time of Perseus these things happened. Tantalos, son of Tmolos after whom is named Mt. Tmolos in Lydia, waged war against Trojan Ilos, king of Phrygia, was defeated in battle and left the country. He was going to emigrate to the Peloponnese but was old, so he himself remained in Lydia, sending instead to that land his son Pelops along with an army. Moving at last from Sipylos, Pelops left with his sister Niobe, bringing a lot of money. He gave his sister in marriage to the Theban Amphion and he himself went to Pisa in the Peloponnese, over which was reigning Oinomaos, the father of Hippodameia. She had many suitors, and especially Myrtilos, son of Hyperochides, who was a relative of Oinomaos. Her father, who had fallen in love with her, did not wish to give her in marriage to anyone, but she rejected his love and fled away from him. When Pelops arrived at Pisa with the big army, Oinomaos sent Myrtilos in order to investigate the reasons of his arrival, expecting he was a suitor of his daughter. Pelops replied to Myrtilos that he was there in order to settle in the country. Myrtilos replied that he could not do it easily without Oinomaos’ agreement but he himself could arrange it in his place if he promised to give him in marriage Oinomaos’ daughter after defeating him. Pelops promised and swore to do it. After that, Myrtilos went to Oinomaos and told him about Pelops’ intentions. Oinomaos gathered the army and he himself took his weapons and went out in battle in order to drive Pelops out of the country. But Pelops attacked him with his army and, at the beginning of the battle, Myrtilos, who stood beside the charioteer, struck Oinomaos with his sword and threw him from the chariot. After doing that, he joined Pelops. Once Oinomaos had fallen, his army was dispersed and all the people ran away in all directions. Pelops calmly drove his chariot to Pisa and conquered it along with the whole kingdom of Oinomaos. Later he wanted to marry Hippodameia: to do so and also to please her who asked for revenge on her father’s murderer, he led Myrtilos to the sea and drowned him. After that he married Hippodameia.

Metropolitan Museum of Art x x

Myrtilos has to be one of the dumbest yet dangerous villains in mythology, bc his stupidity still affected Pelops and Hippodamia as well as their children, so if you ever feel mad about the tragedy of the house of Atreus, it’s partially this mfs fault.

I think about this a lot, it’s a tale as old as time that victims aren’t believed, especially victims of incest. The fact that Pelops didn’t see the assault happening and it was Hippodamia who told him what happened and he believed her and protected her just goes to show how much he loves her. They might not be the best thing for each other but in the beginning, Pelops was exactly what Hippodamia needed in her life.