PEL 
ruined, was obliged to fly with his fon Pelops, and to 
feek a Ihelter in Greece. This tradition is confuted by 
fome who fupport, that Tantalus did not fly into Greece, 
as he had been fome time before confined by Jupiter in 
the infernal regions for his impiety, and therefore Pelops 
was the only one whom the enmity of Tros perfecuted. 
Pelops came to Pifa, where he became one of the fui- 
tors of Hippodamia, the daughter of king CEnomaus, 
and he entered the lifts againft the father, who promifed 
his daughter only to him who could outrun him in a 
chariot-race. Pelops was not terrified at the fate of the 
thirteen lovers, who before him had entered the courfe 
againft CEnomaus, and had, according to the conditions 
„ propofed, been put to death when conquered. He pre- 
vioufly bribed Myrtilus, the charioteer of CEnomaus, and 
therefore he eafily obtained the vi&ory. According to 
fome authors, the horfes which drew Pelops’s chariot had 
wings, and they had been given to him by Neptune ; the 
meaning of which is, if u’e believe Pindar and Palasphatus, 
that Pelops made ufe of a lhip with fails to carry off Hip¬ 
podamia. 
When Pelops had eftablifhed himfelf on the throne of 
Pifa, Hippodamia’s pofleflion, he extended his conquefts 
over the neighbouring countries, and from him the pe- 
ninfula, of which he was one of the monarchs, received 
the name of Peloponnefus. Pelops, after death, received 
divine honours; and he was as much revered among all 
the other heroes of Greece, as Jupiter was above the reft 
of the gods. He had a temple at Olympia, near that of 
Jupiter, where Hercules confecrated to him a fmall por¬ 
tion of land, and offered to him a (acrifice. The place 
where this, facrifice had been offered was religioufiy ob- 
ferved, and the magiftrates of the country yearly, on 
coming into office, made there an offering of a black ram. 
During the facrifice, the foothfayer was not allowed, as 
at other times, to have a fhare of the vi&im, but he alone 
who furnifhed the wood was permitted to take the neck. 
The. wood for facrifices, as may be obferved, was always 
furnifhed by fome of the priefts, to all fuch as offered vic¬ 
tims, and they received a price equivalent to what they 
gave. The white poplar was generally ufed in the facri¬ 
fices made to Jupiter and to Pelops. 
The children of Pelops by Hippodamia were Pitheus, 
Troezen, Atreus, Thyeftes, &c. befides fome by concu¬ 
bines. The time of his death is unknown, though it is 
univerfally agreed, that he furvived for fome time Hippo¬ 
damia. See Hippodamia, vol. x. 
The era of Pelops’s arrival in Greece muft have been 
about the noth or 120th year before the Trojan war. 
Among other fatalities of Troy, it is faid that it could 
not be taken by the Greeks, unlefs they had the bones of 
Pelops ; and they therefore fent for them to Pifa where 
he had been interred. The vefl'el was fhipwrecked in its 
return ; and fome time after a peafant found upon the 
fhore the fhoulder of that prince, and hid it under the 
fand. The Elaeans having gone to the temple of Del- 
phos toconfult the oracle, in order to be delivered from 
the plague, the prieftefs ordered them to go and dig up 
the bones of Pelops; and, perhaps in memory of this 
event, they made an ivory fhoulder, which they confe¬ 
crated to Ceres, and the Pelopidae bore it afterwards upon 
their enfigns. 
PELO'RIA, in antiquity, feafts inftituted and cele¬ 
brated by the Theffalians. They had a confiderable affi¬ 
nity with the Saturnalia; for in thefe the matters ferved 
while their fervants fat at table, as in the Chronia cele¬ 
brated at Athens in honour of Chronos, or Saturn. At 
the feftival of the Peloria, public entertainments were 
made for ftrangers, and even for flaves, who were ferved 
by their mailers : and it is faid, that the practice, as well 
as the feaft, originated from this circumftance, that one 
Pelorus was the perfon who firft gave intimation to Pe- 
lafgus, that by means of an opening in the valley of 
Tempe the waters of Deucalion’s deluge were removed ; 
which intelligence gave that prince fo much joy, that he 
PEL 321 
regaled Pelorus in a magnificent manner, and infilled 
upon ferving him at table. 
PELO'RUS, in ancient geography, now Cape Faro, 
one of the three great promontories of Sicily. It lies 
near the coaft of Italy; and received its name from Pelo¬ 
rus, the pilot of the lhip which carried Hannibal away 
from Ttaly. This celebrated general, as it is reported, 
was carried by the tides into the (freights of Charybdis; 
and, as he was ignorant of the coaft, he afked the pilot of 
his (hip the name of a promontory which appeared at a 
diftance. The pilot told him, it was one of the capes 
of Sicily; but Hannibal gave no credit to his information, 
and murdered him on thefpot on the apprehenfion that 
he would betray him into the hands of the Romans. He 
was, however, foon convinced of his error; and therefore, 
to pay honour to his memory, he gave him a magnificent 
funeral, and ordered that the promontory (hould bear 
his name, and from that time it was called Pelorum. 
Some contend that this account is falfe, and obferve that 
it bore that name before the age of Hannibal. 
PELO'SO, a town of Italy, in the Cadorin: feven 
miles north-eaft ofCadora. 
PELOUAI'LLE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Mayne and Loire : five miles north-eaft of Angers, 
and fourteen weft ofBauge. 
PELO'W, a town of Ava, on the left bank of the ri¬ 
ver Ava : fifteen miles from Prone. 
PELT, f. [ pellis , Lat.] Skin; hide.—The church is 
fleeced, and hath nothing but a bare pelt left upon her 
back. Bp. Hall’s Contempt.— They ufed raw pelts clapped 
about them for their clothes. Fuller's Holy War. —The 
camel’s hair is taken for the Ikin or pelt with the hair upon 
it. Broivn's Vulg. Err. 
A fcabby tetter on their pelts will ftick, 
When the raw rain has pierc’d them to the quick. Dryd. 
The quarry of a hawk all torn. Ainfworth. —A blow from 
fomething thrown ; a ftroke.—George hit the dragon 
fuch a pelt ! Ballad of St. George for England.. 
To PELT, v. a. [poltern , Germ. Skinner. Contracted 
from pellet; Mr. Lye. Or from pellere, Lat. to drive or 
pufli away.] To ftrike. It is generally ufed of fomething 
thrown, rather with teazing frequency than deftruClive 
violence.—Obfcure perfons have infulted men of great 
worth, and pelted them from coverts with little objections. 
Atterbury. 
Do but Hand upon the foaming fiiore. 
The chiding billows feem to pelt the clouds. Shakefp. 
To throw; to call: 
My Philljs me with pelted apples plies, 
Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies. Dryden. 
PELT'-MONGER, f [ pellio , Lat.] A dealer in raw 
hides. 
PEL'TA, f. [Greek.] A kind of buckler, ufed among 
the ancients. The pelta was fmall, light, and more ma¬ 
nageable than the parma. It appears from Virgil, and 
other authors, that the pelta was the buckler ufed by 
the Amazons; and Xenophon obferves, that the pelta of 
the Amazons was fliaped like a leaf of ivy. Pliny, fpeak- 
ing of the Indian fig-tree, fays its leaves are of the width 
of the Amazonian pelta. Servius on the Asneid fays, 
the pelta refembled the moon in her firft quarter. This 
fmall (hield, or buckler was ufed by the Macedonians, 
Cretans, Africans, and ancient Spaniards. Thofe who 
carried Ihields of this defcription were called peltados. 
PEL'T^E, in ancient geography, a town of Alia, in 
Phrygia. This town was well peopled, and fituated at 
the diftance of ten parafangs from Celenes. Cyrus fo- 
journed here three days, and was a fpeClator of the Lu- 
percalia which Xenias of Arcadia celebrated by facrifices 
and games at which the prizes were currycombs of gold. 
This town is not mentioned by Xenophon, Strabo, Pto¬ 
lemy, or Stephanus of Byzantium. 
PELTAN' (Theodore Anthony), a learned Jefuit in 
the 
