© 1998 Bernard SUZANNE | Last updated January 17, 1999 |
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This page is part of the "tools" section of a site, Plato and his dialogues, dedicated to developing a new interpretation of Plato's dialogues. The "tools" section provides historical and geographical context (chronology, maps, entries on characters and locations) for Socrates, Plato and their time. By clicking on the minimap at the beginning of the entry, you can go to a full size map in which the city or location appears. For more information on the structure of entries and links available from them, read the notice at the beginning of the index of persons and locations.
City of Elis, in northwestern Peloponnese
(area 3).
The city of Pisa was said to owe its name either to the legendary hero Pisus,
a son of Perieres, king of Messenia, himself a son
of Æolus, son of Hellen, son of Deucalion,
or to Pisa, a daughter of Endymion, king
of Elis and son (or grandson) of Zeus.
But the most famous legendary king of Pisa was Oenomaus, whose story
is linked to that of Pelops. Oenomaus was the
son of Ares and Harpinna, a daughter of the river-god Asopus. He had a daughter
named Hippodamia, who was very beautifull and, as a result, courted by
many young men seeking to marry her. But Oenomaus was reluctant to let anybody
marry his daughter, either because he was himself in love with her or because
of an oracle who would have told him that he would be killed by his son-in-law.
So, he had devised a trial to which he subjected all suitors of his daughter :
they had to beat him in a chariot race to the altar of Poseidon in Corinth.
He would sacrifice a ram to Zeus before starting the race and let his opponent
go while so doing. But the fact is, his chariot was drawn by godly horses given
him by his father Ares so that they could not be beaten by earthly horses. Besides,
the suitor had to take Hippodamia with him on his chariot, which made it heavier
and could distract him. Anyway, Oenomaus would always catch up on his opponent
and kill him, behead him and nail his head on the door of his palace to deter
future suitors.
It is after twelve suitors had been so defeated and killed that Pelops
came to try his luck. When seeing him, Hippodamia fell in love with him and
manage to obtain from Myrtilus, her father's chariot driver who was also in
love with her, that he sabotage Oenomaus' chariot, which he did by replacing
the pins that were fastening the wheels of the chariot to the axle by fake ones
made of wax. As a result, the chariot broke during the race and Oenomaus, caught
in the reins, was dragged by his horses to his death (unless he was killed by
Pelops himself). Pelops married Hippodamia who became the mother of Atreus,
Thyestes and several other children, and, through Atreus, the grandmother
of Agamemnon and Menelaus,
and, through one of her daughters, Astydamia, the grandmother of Amphitryon,
the "earthly" father of Heracles.
Pisa was located near the site of Olympia where the Olympic games, insituted by Pelops, were held and, as a result, challenged Elis for the presidence of the games until it was destroyed by the later around 572 B. C.