> the long abandoned and ruined Stadion, or foot-race course, of that city

was restored, and races and other athletic events were conducted on the

ground made classic by the Athenian athletes, and within a marble-seated

amphitheatre in which the plaudits of Athens in its days of glory might

in fancy still be heard.



These modern games, however, differ in character from those of the past,

and are attended with none of the deeply religious sentiment which

attached to the latter. The games of ancient Greece were national in

character, were looked upon as occasions of the highest importance, and

were invested with a solemnity largely due to their ancient institution

and long-continued observance. Their purpose was not alone friendly

rivalry, as in modern times, but was largely that of preparation for

war, bodily activity and endurance being highly essential in the hand

to hand conflicts of the ancient world. They were designed to cultivate

courage and create a martial spirit, to promote contempt for pain and

fearlessness in danger, to develop patriotism and public spirit, and in

every way to prepare the contestants for the wars which were, unhappily,

far too common in ancient Greece.






Each city had its costly edifices devoted to this purpose. The Stadion

at Athens, within whose restored walls the modern games took place, was

about six hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred and twenty-five

wide, the race-course itself being six hundred Greek feet--a trifle

shorter than English feet--in length. Other cities were similarly

provided, and gymnastic exercises were absolute requirements of the

youth of Greece,--particularly so in the case of Sparta, in which city

athletic exercises formed almost the sole occupation of the male

population.



But the Olympic Games meant more than this. They were not national, but

international festivals, at whose celebration gathered multitudes from

all the countries of Greece, those who desired being free to come to and

depart from Olympia, however fiercely war might be raging between the

leading nations of the land. When the Olympic Games began is not known.

Their origin lay far back in the shadows of time. Several peoples of

Greece claimed to have instituted such games, but those which in later

times became famous were held at Olympia, a town of the small country of

Elis, in the Peloponnesian peninsula. Here, in the fertile valley of

the Alpheus, shut in by the Messenian hills and by Mount Cronion, was

erected the ancient Stadion, and in its vicinity stood a great

gymnasium, a palaestra (for wrestling and boxing exercises), a hippodrome

(for the later chariot races), a council hall, and several temples,

notably that of the Olympian Zeus, where the victors received the olive

wreaths which were the highly valued prizes for the contests.



This temple held the famous colossal statue of Zeus, the noblest

production of Greek art, and looked upon as one of the wonders of the

world. It was the work of Phidias, the greatest of Grecian sculptors,

and was a seated statue of gold and ivory, over forty feet in height.

The throne of the king of the gods was mostly of ebony and ivory, inlaid

with precious stones, and richly sculptured in relief. In the figure,

the flesh was of ivory, the drapery of gold richly adorned with flowers

and figures in enamel. The right hand of the god held aloft a figure of

victory, the left hand rested on a sceptre, on which an eagle was

perched, while an olive wreath crowned the head. On the countenance

dwelt a calm and serious majesty which it needed the genius of a Phidias

to produce, and which the visitors to the temple beheld with awe.



The Olympic festival, whose date of origin, as has been said, is

unknown, was revived in the year 884 B.C., and continued until the year

394 A.D., when it was finally abolished, only to be revived at the city

of Athens fifteen hundred years later. The games were celebrated after

the completion of every fourth year, this four year period being called

an "Olympiad," and used as the basis of the chronology of Greece, the

first Olympiad dating from the revival of the games in 884 B.C.



These games at first lasted but a single day, but were extended until

they occupied five days. Of these the first day was devoted to

sacrifices, the three following days to the contests, and the last day

to sacrifices, processions, and banquets. For a long period single

foot-races satisfied the desires of the Eleans and their visitors. Then

the double foot-race was added. Wrestling and other athletic exercises

were introduced in the eighth century before Christ. Then followed

boxing. This was a brutal and dangerous exercise, the combatants' hands

being bound with heavy leather thongs which were made more rigid by

pieces of metal. The four-horse chariot-race came later; afterwards the

pancratium (wrestling and boxing, without the leaded thongs); boys'

races and wrestling and boxing matches; foot-races in a full suit of

armor; and in the fifth century, two-horse chariot-races. Nero, in the

year 68 A.D., introduced musical contests, and the games were finally

abolished by Theodosius, the Christian emperor, in the year 394 A.D.



Olympia was not a city or town. It was simply a plain in the district of

Pisatis. But it was so surrounded with magnificent temples and other

structures, so adorned with statues, and so abundantly provided with the

edifices necessary to the games, that it in time grew into a locality of

remarkable architectural beauty and grandeur. Here was the sacred grove

of Altis, where grew the wild olive which furnished the wreaths for the

victors, a simple olive wreath forming the ordinary prize of victory; in

the four great games the victor was presented with a palm branch, which

he carried in his right hand. Near this grove was the Hippodrome, where

the chariot-races took place. The great Stadion stood outside the temple

enclosure, where lay the most advantageous stretch of ground.



The training required for participants in these sacred games was severe.

No one was allowed to take part unless he had trained in the gymnasium

for ten months in advance. No criminal, nor person with any blood

impurity, could compete, a mere pimple on the body being sufficient to

rule a man out. In short, only perfect and completely trained specimens

of manhood were admitted to the lists, while the fathers and relatives

of a contestant were required to swear that they would use no artifice

or unfair means to aid their relative to a victory. The greatest care

was also taken to select judges whose character was above even the

possibility of bribery.



Women were not permitted to appear at the games, and whoever disobeyed

this law was to be thrown from a rock. On certain occasions, however,

their presence was permitted, and there were a series of games and races

in which young girls took part. In time it became the custom to

diversify the games with dramas, and to exhibit the works of artists,

while poets recited their latest odes, and other writers read their

works. Here Herodotus read his famous history to the vast assemblage.



Victory in these contests was esteemed the highest of honors. When the

victor was crowned, the heralds loudly proclaimed his name, with those

of his father and his city or native land. He was also privileged to

erect a statue in honor of his triumph at a particular place in the

sacred Altis. This was done by many of the richer victors, while the

winners in the chariot-races often had not only their own figures, but

those of their chariots and horses, reproduced in bronze.



In addition to the Olympic, Greece possessed other games, which, like

the former, were of great popularity, and attracted crowds from all

parts of the country. The principal among these were the Pythian,

Nemean, and Isthmian games, though there were various others of less

importance. Of them all, however, the Olympic games were much the oldest

and most venerated, and in the laws of Solon every Athenian who won an

Olympic prize was given the large reward of five hundred drachmas, while

an Isthmian prize brought but one hundred drachmas.



On several occasions the Olympic games became occasions of great

historical interest. One of these was the ninetieth Olympiad, of 420

B.C., which took place during the peace between Athens and Sparta,--in

the Peloponnesian war Athens having been excluded from the two preceding

ones. It was supposed that the impoverishment of Athens would prevent

her from appearing with any splendor at this festival, but that city

astonished Greece by her ample show of golden ewers, censers, etc., in

the sacrifice and procession, while in the chariot-races Alcibiades far

distanced all competitors. One well-equipped chariot and four usually

satisfied the thirst for display of a rich Greek, but he appeared with

no less than seven, while his horses were of so superior power that one

of his chariots won a first, another a second, and another a fourth

prize, and he had the honor of being twice crowned with olive. In the

banquet with which he celebrated his triumph he surpassed the richest of

his competitors by the richness and splendor of the display.



On the occasion of the one hundred and fourth Olympiad, war existing

between Arcadia and Elis, a combat took place in the sacred ground

itself, an unholy struggle which dishonored the sanctuary of Panhellenic

brotherhood, and caused the great temple of Zeus to be turned into a

fortress against the assailants. During this war the Arcadians plundered

the treasures of these holy temples, as those of the temple at Delphi

were plundered at a later date.



Another occasion of interest in the Olympic games occurred in the

ninety-ninth Olympiad, when Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, sent his

legation to the sacrifice, dressed in the richest garments, abundantly

furnished with gold and silver plate, and lodged in splendid tents.

Several chariots contended for him in the races, while a number of

trained reciters and chorists were sent to exhibit his poetical

compositions before those who would listen to them. His chariots were

magnificent, his horses of the rarest excellence, the delivery of his

poems eloquently performed; but among those present were many of the

sufferers by his tyranny, and the display ended in the plundering of

his gold and purple tent, and the disgraceful lack of success of his

chariots, some of which were overturned and broken to pieces. As for the

poems, they were received with a ridicule which caused the deepest

humiliation and shame to their proud composer.






The people of Greece, and particularly those of Athens, did not,

however, restrict their public enjoyments to athletic exercises.

Abundant provision for intellectual enjoyment was afforded. They were

not readers. Books were beyond the reach of the multitude. But the loss

was largely made up to them by the public recitals of poetry and

history, the speeches of the great orators, and in particular the

dramatic performances, which were annually exhibited before all the

citizens of Athens who chose to attend.



The stage on which these dramas were performed, at first a mere

platform, then a wooden edifice, became finally a splendid theatre,

wrought in the sloping side of the Acropolis, and presenting a vast

semicircle of seats, cut into the solid rock, rising tier above tier,

and capable of accommodating thirty thousand spectators. At first no

charge was made for admission, and when, later, the crowd became so

great that a charge had to be made, every citizen of Athens who desired

to attend, and could not afford to pay, was presented from the public

treasury with the price of one of the less desirable seats.



Annually, at the festivals of Dionysus, or Bacchus, and particularly at

the great Dionysia, held at the of March and beginning of April, great

tragic contests were held, lasting for two days, during which the

immense theatre was filled with crowds of eager spectators. A play

seldom lasted more than an hour and a half, but three on the same

general subject, called a trilogy, were often presented in succession,

and were frequently followed by a comic piece from the same poet. That

the actors might be heard by the vast open-air audiences, some means of

increasing the power of the voice was employed, while masks were worn to

increase the apparent size of the head, and thick-soled shoes to add to

the height.



The chorus was a distinctive feature of these dramas,--tragedies and

comedies alike. As there were never more than three actors upon the

stage, the chorus--twelve to fifteen in number--represented other

characters, and often took part in the action of the play, though their

duty was usually to diversify the movement of the play by hymns and

dirges, appropriate dances, and the music of flutes. For centuries these

dramatic representations continued at Athens, and formed the basis of

those which proved so attractive to Roman audiences, and which in turn

became the foundation-stones of the modern drama.