TOPIC FOR PAPER #1

This paper must be typed; it should be 3-5 pages in length, double-spaced, with a reasonably sized font. It is due by 4:30 PM, Friday, May 30. You may turn it in in class, or to Kimpel Hall 424, the Foreign Languages Office.

Using the psychoanalytic concepts you have learned in class and in The Origin of the Gods, make a sensible and plausible interpretation of the following myth. Make sure to reinforce your interpretation with comparisons to the myths we have discussed in class. Your grade will be determined according to the following criteria: 10 pts for use of psychoanalytic concepts, 10 pts for comparisons to other myths, and 5 pts for style.

OENOMAUS and his UNLUCKY DAUGHTER

Oenomaus, the King of Pisa, had a daughter named Hippodameia. Either he lover her himself, as some allege, or had received an oracle telling him that if he allowed her to marry, he would be killed by her husband. At any rate, no one received her in marriage, for Oenomaus could not persuade his daugher to have sex with him, and her suitors were destroyed by him in following fashion. He proposed a race between himself and the suitors; the suitor had to take Hippodameia on his chariot and flee has far as the Isthmus of Corinth. Oenomaus at once gave chase, fully armed. The horses of Oenomaus, however, could not be matched by those of other men, because they had been given to Oenomaus by the god Ares, and were as swift as the wind. If Oenomaus caught the suitor, he would kill him, but in the unlikely event that the suitor was not overtaken, he was free to marry Hippodameia. Eventually, the heads of numerous suitors were tacked up on the outer wall of Oenomaus' house.

Pelops, the son of Tantalus, came to the wedding contest, and when Hippodameia caught a glimpse of the handsome stranger, she lost her heart to him immediately. She persuaded Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus to help Pelops. Myrtilus consequently removed the linchpins from the wheels of Oenomaus' chariot. This caused the wheels to fall off at a crucial moment in the race; Oenomaus was tangled in the reins and dragged to his death (although, according to some accounts, he was finished off by Pelops). As he died, aware of Myrtilus' trick, he hurled a curse at him, with the hope that Pelops would destroy him.

So Pelops won Hippodameia, and as he traveled along, accompanied by Myrtilus, he stopped briefly at a spring to get water for his thirsty bride. While he was gone, Myrtilus attempted to rape her. When Pelops learned of this from her, he threw Myrtilus from a cliff. As he fell down toward the sea, Myrtilus cursed the family of Pelops. Pelops went to the Ocean, where he was purified by Hephaistos, and then returned to take over the kingship of Pisa and settle down with his wife, Hippodameia.