At the Olympic games the prize was simply a chaplet made of wild olive. The crowns were laid on a tripod, and placed in the middle of the (3) Boxing- The Pankration consisted of wrestling and boxing.
(4) Foot Races. Racing may be traced back to the earliest periods of Grecian antiquity, and may be regarded as the first friendly contest in which men engaged. Accordingly the Olympic and Pythian, probably also the other games, opened with foot races. Foot racing, perfected by systematic practice, was divided into different kinds. If you ran merely to the end of the course (orabtov), it was called stadium,. if you went thither and back, you ran the double course (61auXos). The longest course was the 661.4xos, long course, which required extraordinary speed and power of endurance.
It may well be supposed that the competitors employed all their ability, and displayed the great est eagerness to gain the prize. The nearer, too, they approached to thc goal, the more did they in crease their efforts. Sometimes the victory de rant Nero carried off a crown, by destroying his too highly-gifted antagonist. The gymnastic con tests were the same as those of which we have already spoken. A fcw words, however, may here be introduced as to the horse racing, which has not been hitherto described. Generally the same kinds prevailed as at the Olympic and Pyth ian games. Chariot races seem to have been prac ticed in the earliest hcroic times, since chariots were as early as this used in battle, and the notices which have come down to us refer this kind of sport to the early period now indicated. It stood pended on a final spring; happy he that retained power enough to leap first to the goal. The spec tators, also, used every encouragement in their power, these favoring one competitor, those an other. All these remarks go to show how wisely Paul acted in selecting the figure, and how care fully he has preserved the imagery which belongs to it'. A word employed in the Common Version, z Cor. ix :27, 'Lest when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway'—namely, preached, mars the figure. The original is Knin5Eas, keruchsas 'acted the part of herald' whose business it was to call the competitors to the contest and proclaim their victory, functions which Paul spent his life in performing.
(5) The Isthmian. In writing to the Chris tians at Corinth there was a special propriety, on the part of the Apostle, in making allusions to the public games. Corinth was the place where one of the four Greek national games was celebrated, namely, the Isthmian. These games were so called from being held on the isthmus which joins north ern with southern Greece—a spot of land most celebrated in Grecian history, alike in martial and commercial matters.
At' the Isthmian games the prize was parsley during the mythic periods. In later ages the
victor was crowned with a chaplet of pine leaves. Parsley, however, appears to have been also em ployed. If the conqueror had come off victorious in the three great divisions—music, gymnastics, and racing—he was in the Pythian, as well as in the other sacred games, presented also with a palm-branch. The names of about seventy per sons are preserved who gained honors at the Isthmian games, among which occurs that of the emperor Nero, who is recorded to have gained the victory in the char acter of harper and that of herald.
(6) Chariot Races. The Corinthians appear to have been inordinately fond of these amusements. They were held every three years. They com prised threc leading divisions—musical, gyinnas tical, and equestrian contests. In the first the ty pre-eminently before other games. The skill and outlay which it required prevented any but per sons of distinction—the wealthy, governors. princes, and kings—from engaging in its enjoy ments. The number of chariots that might ap pear on the course at once cannot be accurately determined. Pindar (Pyth. v. 46) praises Ar kesilas of Cyrene for having calmly brought off his chariot uninjured, in a contest where no fewer than forty took part. The course had to be gone over twelve times. The urgency of the drivers, the speed and exhaustion of the horses, may easily be imagined. The greatest skill was needed in turning the pillar which marked tlie extremity of the course, especially when the contending char iots were numerous.
5. New Cestament Allusions. The New Testament, in several places, con tains references to the celebrated Grecian Games, though it may be allowed that some commentators have imagined illu sions where none were designed. As might, from his learning, be expected, it is Paul who chiefly supplies the passages in question. In Gal. il:2, 'Lest by any means 1 should run in vain;' v:7, 'Ye did run well, who did hinder you?' Phil. ii:16, 'That 1 may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain nor labored in Nain;' Heb. xii:t, 'Run with patience the race set before us;' xii:4, 'Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin' (avrayamrdizevat); Phil. I press toward the mark for the prize;' 2 TiM.
11:5, 'If a man strive he is not crowned exccpt he strive lawfully.' The most signal passage, how ever, is found in Cor. ix :24-25, 'Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown ; but we an incorruptible.' 6. Literature. On the subject here treated, see West's Odes of Pindar, 2d edit.; Potter's An tiquities of Greece; Harper's Diet. of Classical A ntiq.