OLY 
a by retiring from the court to his mother. The 
of Philip, which fome have attributed to the in- 
the din woe not {cruple A declare publicly that Alexander was 
i the fon of Philip, but that he was the offspring of an 
rmous ferpent, who had fupernaturally introduced him- 
{elf into her bed. When Alexander was dead, Olympias 
feized the government of Macedonia ; and, to eftablith her 
ufurpation, fhe cruelly put to death erie - his wife 
urydice, as alfo Nicanor, the brot Caffand ler, witha 
after an obftinate fiege. 
tried, and to be put to death. A body 
ordered to put the bloody conanaads ie, execution ; but 
the nang and majefty of the queen difarmed their 
courage, and fhe was at late maflacred by thofe who had 
been ed in themfelves, and in their families, by her 
tyranny. This happened about three ie and fixteen 
years before the Chriftian a niver, 
OLY » or OLYM spiel were folemn games, 
which lafted five days, aaa among the ancient Greeks ; 
ercules, in hono ur of 
ne dey is, every soth month, 
ee a city of Elis; 
of combats. 
ames have been held in fuch reputation, and they 
are fo nearly connected with the hiftory of the-Greeks, that 
their vanity has induced them to afcribe their origin or 
revival to the moft venerable perfonages of antiquity, fuch 
as the Idean Hercules, Clymenus, Endymi on, Pelops, and 
Hercules, the fon of Alcmena ; aie in order to fupport 
Paufanias fays, be thefe games were order 
brated every five years, becaufe the brothers, called the 
Idei Da&yli, of whom, the Tdean_ Hercules was the elder, 
Pelops _ this hero was held in 
pellati f c 
or the Lit denominated Athlon, at thefe games. As for , 
hi 
fer 
indar in ae us, they were indebted for their 
ans, not contented with a founder, 
who was mortal by his nee s fide, ba fought a ftill move 
noble and ancient origin, e named for the authors 
of thefe games Jupiter and Saturn 5 oie. as they pretend, 
OLY 
in the very place where thefe games were afterwards cele- 
brated, wreftled with each other for the empire of the world. 
Others affirm, that they were inftituted 
commemoration of his 
over Mars in the combat of the Ceftus. 
other heroes might be mentioned, who are faid to have 
ae Sagas — games; the laft of nia was Oxylus, 
h the Heraclide. 
y Endymion, upon his conquering Clymenus 5 
and scrwaids by Pelops, upon his conquering Ztolus : 
and by Hercules, upon his killing Augeas ; and by Atreus, 
upon his repelling the Heraclide; and by Oxylus, upon 
the return of the Heraclide into Peloponnefus. T'hefe opi- 
nions may be <2 well fupported by the teftimonies of ancient 
authors. That they were celebrated on occafion of funerals, 
is an opinion which is fanGtioned by a cultom, which, as we 
ng the original of 
of hofe celebrated at the 
Nemea, and indeed in eve-y aon town throug hout 
all Greece. It is not eafy to account for the ie ni 
given to thofe celebrated at ‘oly mpia; but in this preference 
all the people of Greece acquiefced, and they agreed to 
beftow the firft honours on the O Ie 
$ 
nth, at Delphi, 
by Iphitus ; 
and 108 years before what is vulgarly called the fr/? Olym- 
piad. Iphitus may, therefore, very ey be regarded as 
the founder of the Olympic games. The ee i of their 
re-eftablifhment is ftated as follows; Greece at that time 
being torn in pieces by civil wars, and wafted by a pefti- 
lence, Iphitus, one of the defcendants of Hercules, i ei 
hem, drawn down the indignati the god to whom it 
was dedicated, and of Hercules, the hero by whom it was 
inftituted. She ordered him, in corjunétion with the people 
nctio 
of Elis, to reflore - areca of that feftival, and to 
rocl.im a truce or ce arm show thofe cities 
The other 
peuple o 
eilatio 
Eleans en 
rich and flourifhi ing while 
deftroying one another with mutual and inteltine wars ; and 
in this ftate of caqalley 7 were oot eeuice by great 
fimplicity and innocence of man 
2 The 
