Hippodamia (also Hippodamea, Hippodameia) was a Greek mythological figure, daughter of King Oenomaus of Pisa and wife of Pelops. Won through the fatal chariot race that kills her father — with the charioteer Myrtilus' betrayal and curse — she becomes queen of Pisa and mother of Atreus, Thyestes, and the wider Pelopid line. She is distinct from the Lapith bride Hippodameia and from several Danaid namesakes.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Hippodamia was daughter of Oenomaus of Pisa by Sterope, Evarete, or Eurythoe, according to competing notices. She married Pelops, son of Tantalus, and bore a large brood that includes Atreus, Thyestes, Pittheus, Troezen, Lysidice, Nicippe, and others — the stem of the Atreid house.
Homonyms abound: the Lapith bride of Pirithous (hippodameia-lapith in this atlas), Trojan and Danaid figures of the same name. This entry is the Pisaean queen only.
II.The chariot contest
Fearing a prophecy that a son-in-law would kill him, Oenomaus challenged each suitor to a chariot race: victory meant marriage, defeat meant death. Eighteen suitors died; Pausanias still saw a column said to bear their heads and lists Pelops' memorial of their names.
Pelops obtained a winged chariot from Poseidon, yet also bribed Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus (son of Hermes) to replace the bronze linchpins with beeswax. The chariot wrecked; Oenomaus was dragged to death. When Myrtilus claimed his promised reward — half the kingdom and a night with Hippodamia — Pelops hurled him into the sea. Dying, Myrtilus cursed the house; the curse later engulfed Atreus, Thyestes, and their descendants.
III.Olympia
A cult site of Hippodamia and Pelops, the Hippodameion, stood at Olympia (exact location disputed). The race myth appears in the Hesiodic Megalai Ehoiai, on the chest of Cypselus, and in the east pediment of Zeus's temple; chariot racing entered the Olympic games in 680 BCE, after which the story's local importance grew.
Together with Pelops she anchors the foundation lore of Olympia's heroic cult.