OLYMPICS. 
The office of “* Hellanodick,”’ or prefident at thefe games, 
was at firft exercifed by Iphitus alone, and for 200 years 
continued to be exercifed by a fingle perfon, who was always 
of the family of Oxylus; but in the soth Olympiad, the 
f{uperintendency of the games was committed to two, chofen 
b 
75th, the number was increafed to nine. 
afterwards, a tenth was added s and in the 1 
v oot-race or ffadium, m 
ftling or palé, the pentathlon, the caftus, a 
cratium ; which fee refpectively. 
petitors in thefe exercifes were denominat 
fee. Thofe i h 
ae the ae of the feveral exercifes, of which the 
Olympic art confifted, it is natural to conclude, that 
every one, who fancied himfelf qualified for obtaining an 
Olympic Seay, was admitted to contend for it. But if it 
be confidered that the Olympic games were part of a re- 
ligious bah inftituted in honour of the king and father 
of all t he Pagan deities, and folemnized with the utmoft 
{plendour = magnificence, by pompous deputations from 
every ftate of Greece, that they were attended, either from 
devotion or curiofity, by a vaft multitude of people, and 
d in exercifing the candidates. 
previous ao alg was ver ery evere, and the exercifes re- 
ired were more labor 
I 
occafion. 
ec 
t they had e zaelly perience! ion 
thing required ad faa by way of exercife, for ten months, 
incluc ing the 
claimed filence, laid his hand upon the head of the candi- 
date, and leading him in that manner along the ftadium, 
demanded with a loud voice of all the a mbly, “ Is there 
with honour 
et a public — into his life and charaéter, he 
was led to the altar of Ju 
limbs of a boar, “thin and cut up for that purpote, Fe they 
ympiad. 
eecane too young, and above 17 they were ranked in the 
clafs of men. 
es were not afhamed to be reckoned in the number of 
eendidaies For a long time, indeed, they were not fo 
much as allowed to be {pectators of thefe contefts for glory ; 
rft ma sh e 
caufes of its having been ever religioufly obferve 
aelaearet the spdgua prvlege of de priftefes of Core 
to be Asa e to the women for 
clufion fon the Olympic g games, they had a feftival of ee 
own, inftituted, as it is faid, in honour of ian J 
y Hip odamia, the wife of Peleps. 
feftival contended, properly and gracefully clad, in the 
foot-races ; the courle bein g fhortened about one-fixth part ; 
and the conquerefs received for her reward an olive crown, 
and a certain sake of the heifer that was on this occafion 
facrificed to Juno. But the moft agreeable part of the re- 
compence was the liberty, cake to the victorious virgin to 
have her pifture drawn, and hung up in the temple, as a 
se at the fame time, of both her beauty and her 
glory The areca! of this feftival, and the — of pre- 
ding at thefe games, was lodged in 16 matrons, electe 
for that purpofe, two out of each of the eight tribes of the 
eans. 
The firft reward beftowed a the conquerors in the 
Olympic games, and the ple many confequent 
foie. privileges, and ianntio, was a chaplet or 
crown, compofed of the branches of a wild olive. (See 
Crown.) The laft duty performed aly ae conquerors at 
fwand 
heir OW? 2AFICNOSs 
