OLYMPUS 



5842 



Ludi; consult also Greek Athletic 

 Sports and Festivals, E. N. 

 Gardiner, 1910.) 



The Olympic Games were re- 

 vived in 1900, the first meeting 

 being held at Athens in that year. 

 In 1904, 1908, 1912,' 1920^ 1924 

 there were meetings in Paris, 

 London, Stockholm, Antwerp, and 

 Paris respectively. But for the 

 Great War the 1916 meeting would 

 have been held at Berlin. 



In 1921 the International Olym- 

 pic Congress decided to abandon 

 the Marathon race, and favoured 

 the granting of a prize for the 

 most outstanding event in moun- 

 tain climbing. Olympic games for 

 Central Europe only were held at 

 Prague in June, 1921. 



Olympus. Name of several 

 mts., or mt. ranges, in ancient 

 Greece. The best known forms the 

 boundary between Macedonia and 

 Thessaly, the highest peak of 

 which reaches an alt. of 9,800 ft. 

 On its snow-capped summit the 

 ancient Greeks placed the home of 

 the gods, whence Olympus came 

 to be used as a synonym for 

 heaven, and later for the sky. Other 

 mts. of the same name were in 

 Lycia and Mysia in Asia Minor, 

 in Cyprus, and in Laconia. 



Olynthus. Ancient town of 

 Macedonia, in Chalcidice, at the 

 head of the Toronaic Gulf, a few 

 miles from the coast. Under Per- 

 diccas II it became a place of con- 

 siderable importance. After the 

 Peloponnesian War it was the head 

 of a confederacy of Greek cities, 

 and maintained its independence 

 until besieged and captured in 

 348 B.C. by Philip of Macedon, 

 who sold its inhabitants into 

 slavery. In its last extremity it 

 appealed to Athens, and Demos- 

 thenes, in a series of speeches 

 known as Olynthiacs, vainly urged 

 his countrymen to send help. 



O.M. Abbrev. for (Member of 

 the) Order of Merit. See Merit, 

 Order of. 



Om OB ON (Skt.). In Hindu 

 religious literature, a solemn affir- 

 mation. The teacher begins and 

 the pupil ends each lesson in the 

 Veda with this word, which is 

 equivalent to the Christian Amen 

 (q.v.). Mystically, Om is regarded 

 as symbolising the Hindu triad, 

 Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma. 



Omagh. Market town, urban 

 dist., and county town of Tyrone, 

 Ireland. It stands on the Strule, 

 129 m. from Dublin and 34 m. from 

 Londonderry, and is a station on 

 the G.N. of I. Rly. The chief 

 buildings are the Roman Catholic 

 cathedral and the Protestant 

 church. There are remains of a 

 castle. Linen is manufactured, 

 and milling is another industry. 



