In Greek mythology, Myrtilus was a divine hero, son of Hermes, and charioteer of King Oenomaus of Pisa. Bribed by Pelops (or Hippodamia) to sabotage his master's chariot — replacing bronze linchpins with beeswax — he won Hippodamia for Pelops, then was cast into the sea when he claimed his reward; dying, he cursed the Pelopid house. The Myrtoan Sea and an Olympian taraxippus remember him.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Myrtilus" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Myrtilus is son of Hermes; mothers named include the Amazon Myrto, Phaethusa daughter of Danaus, or a nymph or mortal Clytie, Clymene, Cleobule, or Theobule. He served Oenomaus of Pisa in Elis as charioteer in the deadly suitor-races for Hippodamia.
He loved Hippodamia himself but dared not ask her father for her hand.
II.The race and the curse
Pelops — or in some accounts Hippodamia — bribed Myrtilus with the privilege of the first night with the bride. He replaced the bronze linchpins with beeswax; Oenomaus' chariot wrecked and the king died cursing him. When Myrtilus claimed the bargain, Pelops hurled him into the sea off the east Peloponnesus. Dying, Myrtilus cursed Pelops; the curse haunted Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Menelaus, Orestes, and Chrysippus.
His body was recovered and honored with annual sacrifices in Hermes' temple; some say he became the constellation Auriga. At Olympia his burial place was reckoned a taraxippus — a spirit that startled racehorses.
III.In the Pelopid saga
The Myrtilus episode is the moral hinge between Pelops' victory and the Atreid disasters; Pindar, tragedy, Apollodorus' Epitome, Pausanias, and Hyginus all transmit versions of the bribe, the wax pins, and the sea-curse.
This entry is Oenomaus' charioteer only.