Myrtilus
Charioteer of King Oenomaus bribed by Pelops to sabotage his master's chariot, then murdered by Pelops and the origin of the Pelopid curse.
The Legend of Myrtilus
He sabotaged his own king's chariot axle for a bribe — and the man who bribed him threw him off a cliff. Myrtilus, son of Hermes, was promised half of Oenomaus's kingdom (or a night with Hippodamia) if he replaced the bronze linchpins in the king's chariot with wax ones. The wheels collapsed mid-race, killing Oenomaus. When Pelops refused to pay, Myrtilus tried to assault Hippodamia, and Pelops threw him into the sea. As he drowned, Myrtilus cursed Pelops and all his descendants. Hermes placed his son among the stars as the constellation Auriga (the Charioteer). The curse echoed through Atreus, Agamemnon, Orestes — three generations of murder.
Parents
Hermes
Symbols
Fun Fact
Myrtilus became the constellation Auriga — the charioteer rides forever in the sky as a reminder of the curse.
Explore Further
Thyestes
🗡 herocurse
Brother of Atreus who seduced his sister-in-law and was tricked into eating his own children at the feast of Atreus.
Pelops
🗡 herokingship
Son of Tantalus, restored to life by the gods with an ivory shoulder, who won his bride by cheating in a chariot race and cursed his line.
Oedipus
🗡 heroKing who fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother
The tragic king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy he had spent his life trying to avoid.
Chrysippus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A son of Pelops whose abduction by Laius of Thebes brought a curse upon the house of Laius and introduced the theme of transgression that haunted the Oedipus cycle
Pelops
🗡 heroFounder of the Peloponnese dynasty
Pelops was the prince served as food to the gods by his father Tantalus, restored to life with an ivory shoulder, and founder of the cursed dynasty that ruled Mycenae.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Eurystheus
🗡 herofate
King of Mycenae who assigned Heracles his twelve labours, born prematurely through Hera's manipulation to gain power over the demigod.
Jason
🗡 heroLeader of the Argonauts
The hero who assembled the Argonauts and sailed to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, aided by Medea's sorcery.
Laomedon
🗡 herotreachery
King of Troy who cheated both Apollo and Poseidon of their wages and set the pattern of Trojan oath-breaking.
Atreus
🗡 herovengeance
King of Mycenae who murdered his nephews and fed them to his brother Thyestes, establishing the bloodiest family curse in myth.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Laius
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes whose attempt to cheat fate led directly to the Oedipus tragedy