In the mythic tradition surrounding Pelops and Hippodamia, Myrtilus serves as the charioteer of King Oenomaus of Pisa. Many sources present him as a son of Hermes (mothers vary by account), placing him in a liminal, near-divine genealogical position. Faced with Pelops' attempt to win Hippodamia, Myrtilus agreed to sabotage Oenomaus's chariot—classically by replacing the bronze linchpins with ones of beeswax in some tellings—leading to Oenomaus's death. Pelops then killed Myrtilus by casting him into the sea; as he died Myrtilus uttered a curse upon Pelops that ancient storytellers treat as the etiological origin of the violent misfortunes afflicting Pelops' descendants. Later local tradition reports the recovery of his body, its placement in a temple of Hermes where annual sacrifices were offered, and place- and sky-names (the Myrtoan Sea, a taraxippus at Olympia, and occasional identification with the constellation Auriga) as variable posthumous commemorations.
Classical summaries and the cited modern syntheses supply no consistent physical portrait of Myrtilus; the sources describe him functionally as the charioteer of Oenomaus but do not provide standardized details of height, complexion, or iconographic attributes. The traditions instead emphasize his social role (charioteer, son of Hermes in many accounts) and narrative actions rather than a fixed corporeal description.
Myrtilus is portrayed as an expert charioteer, skilled with horses and the technical parts of a chariot; in the most common variant he sabotages Oenomaus's chariot by replacing linchpins with beeswax, an action presented as cunning and technically effective within the tale. He is not described as possessing overt magical powers in the provided sources; rather, his dying utterance functions mythically as an effective curse whose narrative consequences become etiological for the house of Pelops. Posthumous honors and later identifications (hero-cult or possible identification with the constellation Auriga in some retellings) are commemorative and interpretive developments in the tradition rather than demonstrations of supernatural agency in the primary episodes.
Weaknesses
- conditionmortal vulnerability to violent retribution (killed by Pelops after the sabotage)
- otherdependence on narrative role — his power resides in the legacy of a dying curse and cultic remembrance rather than active supernatural dominance
Wards
- ritualannual sacrifices at a temple of Hermes (honoring Myrtilus)
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
Aba (disambiguation / name-form)
Aba is a polyvalent name-form attested across many unrelated contexts (place names, personal names, animal names, and brief mythological listings). The provided sources do not support a single, coherent supernatural entity called "Aba" and offer no descriptive or ritual material for such a being.
Abarbarea
Abarbarea is a name attested in classical Greek and Roman sources for freshwater nymphs (naiads). The name appears for at least two individual mythic figures — a naiad wife of Bucolion and a naiad counted among ancestors of the Tyrians — and Hesychius records plural forms that may indicate the name was also used as a class-name (Abarbareai / Abarbalaiai).
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Abomination of Desolation
An apocalyptic prophetic phrase originating in the Book of Daniel designating a profaning thing or act that renders the Jerusalem Temple cult desolate; later reused in the Synoptic Gospels as an eschatological sign prompting urgent flight. The term denotes ritual/cultic impurity (Hebrew shiqquts) and is variously interpreted as pagan offerings or altar, a foreign cult statue, or (in some New Testament readings) an acting agent.
Absyrtus
Absyrtus (Ancient Greek: Ἄψυρτος) is a Colchian prince in the Greek Argonautic cycle, son of King Aeëtes and brother or half-brother of Medea. He appears in variant traditions either as a companion taken by Medea during her flight with Jason and murdered/dismembered to delay pursuit, or as a pursuer sent by Aeëtes who is overtaken and slain by Jason; his death functions as a key narrative device in the escape from Colchis.
Acacallis
Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς; also Acalle) is a mythological princess of Crete in Greek tradition, daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae. She functions primarily as a dynastic and etiological figure: in varying accounts she is mother, by gods such as Hermes (Mercury) or Apollo, of eponymous or founder-figures like Cydon (founder of Cydonia), Miletus, or Lydon/ Lydus.
Acacus
Acacus (Ancient Greek: Ἄκακος) is, in Arcadian Greek tradition, a mortal eponymous founder-king of Acacesium and is remembered as the foster-father who reared the infant Hermes (Mercury) in that local tradition. He is presented in genealogies as a son of Lycaon and functions as a local ancestral/onomastic figure rather than a supernatural spirit.
Academus
Academus (Greek: Akádemos / Hekádemos) is an Attic hero-eponym tied to a sacred grove (Akademeia) on the Cephissus near Athens. In myth he revealed where Helen was hidden to the Dioskouroi, an act said to have saved the city, and the place bearing his name became a long-lived sacred precinct, later the site of Plato's Academy.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acantha
Acantha (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάνθα, 'thorn') is a late or secondary mythological figure known from modern retellings as a nymph transformed into the acanthus plant. The tale that she scratched Apollo and was changed into a spiny-leaved plant is not attested in surviving classical corpora and appears to be a modern compilation or invention rather than a firmly documented ancient myth.
Community Record
- [1]Myrtilus — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Myrtilus', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [2]Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [3]Myrtilus — in ancient sources @ attalus.org. Attalus: 'Myrtilus - in ancient sources'literary
- [4]Star Tales — Auriga. Ian Ridpath, 'Auriga', Star Tales (discussion of later identifications including Myrtilus)literary
- [5]House of Atreus (compilation). Classics compilation on the House of Atreus (summary material referencing Myrtilus and the curse)other