The gruesome origin of the Olympic Games lies in a broken chariot race

History · Published 2 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Before the glory of the Olympic Games, there was a blood-soaked ritual of vengeance. The legend of Pelops tells of a king who won a crown through betrayal, a broken axle, and a divine curse that would haunt his descendants for generations.

The myth of Pelops, the namesake of the Peloponnese, is a complex tapestry of resurrection and revenge. According to one tradition, Pelops was the son of Tantalus, a king who attempted to impress the gods by serving his own son in a meat stew. While most gods refused to eat, Demeter accidentally consumed a piece of the boy's shoulder. Pelops was eventually resurrected, his missing shoulder replaced with an artificial one crafted from ivory by the god Hephaest andss.

Pelops's rise to power in Pisa was marked by a high-stakes chariot race against King Oenomaus. To secure the crown and the hand of the king's daughter, Hippodamia, Pelops utilized deception. In one version, the king's own charioteer, Myrtilus, was bribed with half the kingdom and the promise of Hippodamia to sabotage the royal chariot. Myrtilus replaced the bronze linchpins with beeswax, causing the wheels to fly off during the race. The resulting crash killed Oenomaus, though Pelops later killed Myrtilus after a dispute involving the princess.

This victory established the foundation for the ancient Olympic Games, which began as funeral games to purify Pelops of the death of Oenomaus. However, the victory carried a heavy price. Myrtilus's dying curse sparked the 'curse of the Atreides,' a cycle of atrocious crimes involving Pelops's descendants, including Atreus, Thyestes, and Agamemnon. The lineage was marked by fratricide and betrayal, only finding formal absolution in a court convened by the gods Athena and Apollo.

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