OLYMPIAN GAMES, the chief of the four great national festivals of the Greeks, were celebrated at Olympia, n sacred spot on the banks of the Alpheus, near Elia, every fifth year. The exact Interval at which the Olympia, as the festival was (called, recurred was one of forty-uino and fifty lunar mouths alternately; so that it fell sometimes in the month of Apollonius (July), sometimes in the month of Parthenius (August). (Boeckh ad Pind. Olymp.; iii. 18, p. 138; Dorians,' vol. i., p. 2S1, trans.) The period between two celebrations was called an Olympiad. The celebration lasted five days.
The origin of this festival is concealed amidst the obscurity of the mythic period of Grecian history. Olympia was a sacred spot and had an oracle of Zeus long before the institution of the games. The Eleans had various traditions which attributed the original foundation of the festival to gods and heroes at a period long before the Trojan War; and among these to the Idwan Heracles, to Pelops, and to Heracles the son of Alcmena. The Elcans further stated, that after the ,Etolians had possessed themselves of Elia, their whole territory was consecrated to Zeus; that the games were revived by their king Iphitus, in conjunction with Lycurgus, as a remedy for the disorders of Greece; and that Iphitus obtained the sanction of the Delphic oracle to the institution, and appointed a periodical sacred truce, to enable persons to attend the games from every part of Greece and to return to their homes in safety. This event was recorded on a disc, which was preserved by the Eleans, on which the names of Iphitus and Lycurgus were inscribed. (Plutarch, Lyeurg.,' 1 ; Pausan., v. 20, 21.) Other accounts mention Cleosthenes of Pisa as an associate of 1phitus and Lycurgus in the revival of the festival. "All that can be safely inferred from this tradition, which has been embellished with a variety of legends, seems to be, that Sparta concurred with the two states most interested in the plan, and mainly contributed to procure the consent of the other Peloponnesians." History of Greece,' vol. 1., ch. 10.) The date of the revival of the festival by Iphitus is, according to Eratoethenes, 884 B.C. ; according to Callima. chus, 828 B.C. Mr. Clinton prefers the latter date. (` F'asti If ellenici,' vol. ii., p. 40S, note h.) The Olympiads began to be reckoned from the year 776 B.C., in which Coroebus was victor in the foot-race. We
have lists of the victors from that year, which always include the victors in the foot-race, and in later times those in the other games. (Pausan., v. 8. 3.) This, like all the other public festivals, might be attended by all who were of the Hellenic race, though at first probably the northern Greeks and perhaps the Achasans of Peloponnesus were not admitted. Spectators came to Olympia not only from Greece itself, but also from the Grecian colonies in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Among them were solemn deputations sent to represent their respective states. 1Vomen however were forbidden to appear at Olympia, or even to cross the Alpheus, during the festival, under paiu of death. But at a later period we find the chariots of women mentioned as taking part in the chariot-race, though it is at least doubtful whether the women drove their own chariots. An exception was made to this law of exclusiou in favour of the priestess of Demeter, who was permitted to be present at the games, and had a place assigned to her opposite the judges : according to Pausaniaa (vi. 20) a similar privilege was accorded to virgins, but no other writer refers to such an exemption, and the passage in Pausanias is by some recent authorities believed to be cor rupt. The management of the festival was in the hands of the Eleans. Originally indeed Pim, in which state Olympia lay, seems to have had an equal share in the administration ; but in the fiftieth Olympiad the Eleans destroyed Pisa. and from that time they had the whole arrange ment of the games. They proclaimed the sacred truce, first in their own territories, and then throughout the rest of Greece. This truce took effect from the time of its proclamation in Elie, and while it lasted the Elean territory was Inviolable, any armed invasion of it being esteemed an act of sacrilege. On this privilege the Eleans founded a claim to have their territory always considered sacred, though in fact they themselves did not abstain from war. As the presiding nation, they Faye laws for the regulation of the festival, imposed penalties on individuals and states, and had the power of excluding from the games those who resisted their decrees. They actually thus excluded the Laced:et:Ionians on one occasion and the Athenians on another.