Pelops (redirected from Pélops)

Pelops (pē`lŏps), in Greek mythology, son of Tantalus. He was murdered by his father, who served his flesh at a banquet for the gods. The gods recognized this abominable trick, punished Tantalus and restored Pelops, giving him an ivory shoulder to replace the one Demeter had unwittingly eaten. He won his wife, Hippodamia, by defeating her father, King Oenomaus of Pisa, in a chariot race. To ensure victory Pelops not only used a winged chariot given to him by Poseidon, but he bribed Myrtilus, Oenomaus' charioteer, to betray his master. After winning the race Pelops would not pay Myrtilus his reward. Instead, he threw him into the sea. Before drowning, the charioteer cursed the house of Pelops, and misfortunes fell on the sons of Pelops, Atreus and Thyestes. The Peloponnesus peninsula was named for Pelops.

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Pelops

In Greek mythology, founder of the Pelopid dynasty at Mycenae. Pelops was a grandson of Zeus. His father, Tantalus, cooked and served Pelops to the gods at a banquet, and only Demeter, mourning the loss of her daughter, Persephone, was distracted enough to eat from the dish. The gods ordered the body restored, but the shoulder, Demeter's portion, was missing, and the boy was given a replacement of ivory. In another story, Poseidon, helped Pelops gain the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of King Oenomaus of Pisa.

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Pelops

cut up and served as meal to gods. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 817]

See : Cannibalism

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Pelops

in Greek mythology, a hero and the eponym of the Peloponnesus.

Pelops was the son of Tantalus, ruler of Asia Minor. Tantalus invited the gods to a banquet and served them the flesh of Pelops, whom he had killed. The angered gods, refusing the meal, ordered Hermes to restore Pelops to life by plunging the dismembered parts of his body into a cauldron of boiling water. The youth emerged endowed with extraordinary beauty.

Pelops won the hand of Hippodamia, the daughter of the king of Pisa in Elis, in a chariot race. He inherited authority over Elis and extended it to all of southern Greece, which was given the name of Peloponnesus, or the island of Pelops. Ancient tradition links the introduction of the Olympic Games with the name of Pelops: the sanctuaries of Pelops and Hippodamia were located in Olympia.