12 HISTORY OF THE 



That the utility of pubhc horse-racing was 

 understood and appreciated by the Greeks, is 

 sufficiently evident by the introduction of horse- 

 racing among the Olympian games, which were 

 held at Elis every four years, about the time of 

 the 24th Olympiad ; and it is a curious fact, that 

 at the 71st Olympiad, such progress had been 

 made in these races, that besides prizes insti- 

 tuted for aged horses, we find a race formed 

 for mares only, called Calpe, much on the same 

 principle as the Oaks of the present day. 



The Olympian Hippodrome at Elis, where 

 these races were held, is thus described by 

 Pausanias : '' This course was divided into two 

 parts ; the stadium for foot races and athletic 

 exercises ; the hippodromus, as the name im- 

 plies, for equestrian trials. The barrier, or 

 starting post, was in the shape of the prow of a 

 ship, with the beak towards the course ; and 

 towards the other side, at which it became 

 broader, it was connected with the portico 

 Agnamptus, as it was called, from the name 

 of its architect. A bar appears to have 

 stretched across the course at the extremity 

 of the beak, and upon this was fixed a 

 brazen dolphin. The space on either side 

 the beak extended 400 feet in length, and in 

 it were various stands, both for horses and 



