GAME, any contrivance, arrangement, or institution designed to afford recrea tion, sport or amusement; as, the game of baseball, or of football; in the plural contests in different sports, as wrestling, running, etc.
Public Games of Antiquity.—The pub lic games of the Greeks were very numerous, and the origin of many of them is lost, on account of the religious mystery in which they were founded. Among the Grecian games, the most cele brated were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian. The con querors in the Olympic games were held in high respect, and were looked on as the noblest and happiest of men. These games were held every five years at Olympia, in Elis, on the W. side of the Peloponnesus. Among the exercises, some were designed to give strength, and others agility. The lighter exercises com prised running, leaping, throwing the quoit, and hurling the javelin. The more severe course of discipline included wrestling and boxing. Racing also con stituted a particular feature in all the ancient games. The Isthmian games were held at Corinth, and, together with athletic exercises, horse and chariot races, constituted a large portion of the spectacle. Originally these games were connected with the worship of Neptune. The Persian war gave an impulse to the Isthmian games, while the Peloponnesian war dimmed their glory. Under the
Romans, these games did not lose their importance, but were exhibited with in creased celebrity. They were then held every three years, and comprised three leading divisions—musical, gymnastic, and equestrian contests. The prize at the Olympic games was merely a chaplet of wild olive. At the Isthmian games, the prize was parsley during the mythic periods; in later times, however, the victor was generally crowned with a wreath of pine leaves.
The amusements in the Roman circus did not differ materially from those which were celebrated in the games of ancient Greece. The theriomachia, or beast fight, was a favorite species of en tertainment among them; and the men employed to fight with wild beasts, were called bestiarii. The combatants were divided into two classes—those who fought voluntarily for amusement or pay, and who were provided with weapons—and condemned persons, who were generally exposed to the fury of the animals naked, without arms, and sometimes bound. Under Pompey, no less than 600 lions were thus destroyed; and under Titus, 5,000 wild and 4,000 tame animals perished in a similar manner.