Pelops at Olympia: the archaeology of a myth

Abstract

This paper considers the question of when and under what circumstances the hero Pelops, eponym of the Peloponnese, first became associated with the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia. While scholars have often believed that the cult of Pelops at the site of the prehistoric tumulus in the Altis went back to the Mycenaean period, its appearance there is now more commonly dated c.600 BC or later, and cultic activity at the site may not have been associated with this particular hero until quite late in the Archaic period. Pindar placed the mythical chariot race in which Pelops won the hand of Hippodameia, the daughter of king Oinomaos, in the vicinity of Olympia, and this event was later depicted on the east pediment of the temple of Zeus Olympics.