OLYMPICS. 
4C56 
Oxylus, upon the return of the Heraclidse into Pelopon- 
nefus. Thefe opinions may be very well fupported by 
the teftimonies of ancient authors. That they were cele¬ 
brated on occafion of funerals, is an opinion which is fanc- 
tioned by a cuftom, which, as we learn from Homer, Pin¬ 
dar, and all the Greek writers, prevailed very much in 
thofe heroic ages. The expenfe of thefe games was fome- 
times defrayed by the relatives andfriendsof the deceafed, 
and fometimes by the public, who enaCted an anniverfary 
folemnization of games in honour of the deceafed. To 
one or other of thefe cuftoms was probably owing the 
origin of the Olympic games, as w'ell as of thofe cele¬ 
brated at the Ifthmus of Corinth, at Delphi, Nemaea, and 
indeed in every conliderable town throughout all Greece. 
It is not eafy to account for the preference given to thofe 
celebrated at Olympia ; but 'in this preference all the 
people of Greece acquiefced, and they agreed to bellow 
the firft honours on the Olympic conquerors. It cannot, 
however, be pretended, that thefe games were in any very 
high eftimation before the time of their revival by Iphitus; 
who reigned as king of Elis 884 years B. C. and 108 years 
before what is vulgarly called the JirJi olympiad. Iphitus 
may therefore very jullly be regarded as the founder of 
the Olympic games. 
The occafion of their re-eftablifhment is Hated as fol¬ 
lows. Greece at that time being torn in pieces by civil 
wars, and wafted by a peftilence, Iphitus, one of the 
defcendants of Hercules, grandfon of Oxylus, and king 
of Elis, had recourfe to the oracle at Delphi for a remedy 
to the evils which affliCled the country ; and was told by 
the pythonefs, that the fafety of Greece depended upon 
the re-eftablifhment of the Olympic games; the non- 
obfervance of which folemnity had, as fhe told them, 
drawn down the indignation of the god to whom it was 
dedicated, and of Hercules, the hero by whom it was 
inftituted. Sheordered him, in conjunClion with the people 
of Elis, to reftore the celebration of that feftival, and to 
proclaim a truce or ceft’ation of arms to all thofe cities 
which were defirous of partaking in the games. The 
other people of the Peloponnefus were ordered by the 
fame Delphic deity to join with the Eleans, and to allow 
them to hold their feftival, and for that purpofe to pro-- 
claim a ceflation of arms. The fecurity and peace which 
theEleansthusenjoyed, contributed to render theircoun- 
try rich and ftourifning; while the other cities of Greece 
were deftroying one another with mutual and intef- 
tine wars; and in this ftate of tranquillity they were 
'diftinguilhed by great fimplicity and innocence of man¬ 
ners. 
The office of Hellanodic, or prefident, at thefe games, 
was at firft exercifed by Iphitus alone ; and for 200 years 
continued to be exercifed by a fingle perfon, wdio was 
always of the family of Oxylus ; but in the 50th olym¬ 
piad, the fuperintendency of the games was committed 
to two, chofen by lot out of the whole body of the Eleans ; 
and in the 75th the number was increafed to nine. Two 
olympiads afterwards, a tenth w'as added; and, in the 
103d olympiad, the college of Hellanodics confided of 
twelve, ccrrefponding to the tribes of the Eleans. Soon 
afterwards, the number of tribes and of the Hellanodics 
was reduced to eight; but in the 108th they were reftored 
to ten, and this number was permanent. The Hellanodics, 
from the powers that were veiled in them, acquired great 
dignity and authority among'the feyeral people of Greece ; 
and, in the public execution of their office, they were 
clothed in purple robes, and carried in their hands, as 
the ufual enfign of magiftracy, a wand or fceptre. They 
took their ftations at different parts of the ftadium, and 
the fenior had the precedency of the reft. The place in 
which the Olympic games were exhibited was called the 
Stadium. The gymnaftic exercifes of which thefe games 
confided were five; viz. running, leaping, wreftling, 
boxing, and the throwing of the quoit ; which was 
called all together ntnuShov, or quinquertium. Bolides 
thefe, there were horfe and chariot races; and alfo con¬ 
tentions in poetry, eloquence, and the fine arts. 
The only reward that the conqueror obtained was a 
crown of olive. This, as fome fuppofe, was in memory 
of the labours of Hercules, which were accomplifhed for 
the univerfal good of mankind, and for which the he ro 
claimed no other reward but the confcioul'nefs of havin°- 
been the friend of mankind. So finall and trifling a re¬ 
ward ftimulated courage and virtue, and was the fource 
of greater honours than the moll unbounded treafures. 
But the ftatues of the conquerors, called olympionicce , 
were ereCled at Olympia in the facred wood of Jupiter. 
Their return home was that of warlike conquerors ; they 
were drawn in a chariot by four horfes, and every-where 
received with the greateft acclamations. Their entrance 
into their native city was not through the gates ; to make 
it more grand and more folemn, a breach was made in the 
walls. Painters and poets were employed in celebrating 
their names ; and indeed the viClories feverally obtained 
at Olympia are the fubjeCts of the moll beautiful odes of 
Pindar. The combatants were naked. A fcarf was ori¬ 
ginally tied round their waill; but, when it had entan¬ 
gled one of the adverfaries, and been the caufe that he 
loft the vi&ory, it was laid aftde. 
Women were not alhamed to be reckoned in the num¬ 
ber of candidates. Fora long time, indeed, they were 
not fo much as allowed to be fpe&ators of thefe contefts ; 
and they were liable to the punifliment of being caft head- 
longdown the precipices of Mount Typasus, if theyaflifted 
at the folemnity, or even palled the river Alpheus du¬ 
ring the exhibition. The more effeclually to reftrain 
them, it was ordered that all the mailers of the gymna- 
fium, who aflifted at thele games, Ihould appear naked, as 
well as all the athletse ; which was without doubt the true 
reafon of this law’s being firft made, as well as one of the 
principal caufes of its having been ever religiouily ob- 
lerved. It was, neverthelefs, the peculiar privilege of 
the priefteffes of Ceres to be prefent. As a recompence 
to the women for their exclufion from the Olympic games 
they had a feftival of their own, inftituted, as it is faid, 
in honour of Olympian Juno, by Hippodamia, the wife of 
Pelops. The virgins in this feftival contended, properly 
and gracefully clad, in the foot-races ; the courfe being- 
Ihortened about one-fixth part; and the conquerefs re¬ 
ceived for her reward an olive crown, and a certain por¬ 
tion of the heifer that was on this occafion facrificed to 
Juno. But the moll agreeable part of the recompence 
w ; as the liberty granted to the victorious virgin to have 
her picture drawn, and hung up in the temple, as a me¬ 
morial, at the fame time, of both her beauty and her 
glory. The direction of this feftival, and the office of 
prefiding at thefe games, was lodged in lixteen matrons, 
eleCled for that purpofe, two out of each of the eight 
tribes of the Eleans. 
Such is the account of Grecian writers, who have, 
doubtlefs, often alcribed to poiitive inftitution many in¬ 
ventions and ufages naturally refulting from the progref- 
five manners of fociety. When we come to examine the 
Elean games in their more improved ftate, together with 
the innumerable imitations of them in other provinces 
of Greece, there will occur realons for believing, that 
many regulations, referred by an eafy folution to the le- 
giflative wifdom of Iphitus or Lycurgus, were introduced 
ty time or accident, continued through cuftom, im¬ 
proved by repeated trials, and confirmed by a lenfe of 
their utilit}'. Yet luch an inftitution as the olympiad, 
even in its lead perfeCt form, mud have been attended 
with manifeft advantages, to fociety. It is fufficient 
barely to mention the fufpenlion of hoftilities which took 
place, not only during the celebration of the feftival, but 
a confiderable time both before and after it. Confidered 
as a religious ceremony, at which the whole Grecian 
name was invited, and even enjoined, to affilt, it was well 
adapted to facilitate intercourfe, to promote knowledge, 
to 
