Page "Pelops" Paragraph 9

As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops for his ultimate betrayal.

This was one of the sources of the curse that destroyed his family: two of his sons, Atreus and Thyestes, killed a third, Chrysippus, who was his favorite son and was meant to inherit the kingdom ; Atreus and Thyestes were banished by him together with Hippodamia, their mother, who then hanged herself ; each successive generation of descendants suffered greatly by atrocious crimes and compounded the curse by committing more crimes, as the curse weighed upon Pelops ' children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren including Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Menelaus, and finally Orestes, who was acquitted by a court of law convened by the gods Athena and Apollo.

Although commonly referred to as " the curse of the Atreides ", the circle of atrocious events began two generations before Atreus and continued for two generations after him, before being formally absolved by the Furies in court.