The ancient Grecians were passionately fond
of festivals and games. In every particular
State such institutions were occasionally
celebrated for the amusement of the people;
but these were far less interesting than the
four public games frequented by multitudes
from all the districts of Greece. The Pythian
Games were celebrated at Delphi; the Isthmian
at Corinth; the Nemæan at Nemæa in Argolis;
and the Olympic at Olympia, near Elis. We
propose to give a brief account of the Olympic
games only, as being by far the most splendid,
and in which victory was reputed to be the
most honourable. The celebrity of these games
was extended for many centuries after the
extinction of Greek freedom, and their final
abolition did not occur until after they had
flourished for more than eleven hundred years.
The games were held in summer when the heat
was excessive; and to add to the difficulty
and fatigue experienced, the more violent
exercises were performed in the afternoon,
when even the spectators were scarcely able
to remain exposed to the sun. To prevent the
competition of such as were unskilful, the
candidates were required to swear that for
ten months before the commencement of the
games they had made it their constant study
to prepare for the contest; and during the
last thirty days they were obliged to reside
at Elis, and had to practise daily under the
inspection of the judges. Hence, the permission
to contend at Olympia was regarded as no inconsiderable
honour, and served in some degree as a consolation
to the vanquished.
Immediately before the commencement of the
different exercises, a herald led every candidate
separately through the assembly, and demanded
if any one knew him to be a man of profligate
character, or to have been guilty of any notorious
crime. As numbers were present from every
state in Greece—to some of whom each of
the combatants was known—it rarely happened
that any suspicious character chose to expose
himself to such a scrutiny. The candidates
were required to make a solemn declaration
that they would not endeavour to gain the
victory by bribing their adversaries, or by
a violation of the laws regulating the different
contests; and any person guilty of a breach
of this promise was not merely deprived of
the olive crown, but was fined by the judges,
and could never after contend at the games.
These regulations seem to have accomplished
the purpose for which they were intended,
since, during several hundred years, only
five instances occurred in which any improper
artifice was known to be employed by the competitors
in the games.
Daiklès, the Messenian, was the first who
had the honour of being crowned with the simple
wreath woven from the sacred olive-tree near
Olympia, for his victory in the Stadium.
The Greeks held the exercise of Wrestling
in high estimation, which, in point of antiquity,
stood next to the foot race. The object of
the wrestler was to throw his adversary to
the ground: but it was not till this had been
thrice repeated, that he obtained the victory.
Like all who contended in the games, the Wrestlers
were accustomed to rub their bodies with oil,
partly to check the excessive perspiration
occasioned by the heat and the violence of
the exercises, and partly from an opinion
that the oil gave the limbs a greater degree
of pliancy and agility. As the smoothness
occasioned by the oil would have prevented
the combatants from grasping each other with
firmness, it was customary for them, after
being anointed, to roll themselves in the
dust of the Stadium, or to be sprinkled with
a fine sand kept for that purpose at Olympia.
If in falling, one of the Wrestlers dragged
his adversary along with him, the combat was
continued on the ground, till one of the parties
had forced the other to yield the victory.
The inhabitants of Hindostan, and of the countries
constituting the ancient kingdom of Assyria,[Pg
xii] have undergone a variety of revolutions;
but inactivity has always formed the leading
feature in their character. In every age they
have fallen an easy prey to invaders; nor
have the repeated instances of oppression
to which they have been exposed, ever roused
them to limit the exorbitant power of their
sovereigns. The Greeks, living in a climate
nearly as sultry as that of Asia, would probably
have fallen victims to the same indolence,
had not their early legislators perceived
this danger, and employed the most judicious
efforts to avert it. Among the means devised
to accomplish this end, none seem to have
been so effectual as the public games. It
was not by any occasional effort that a victory
could be gained at Olympia. Success could
be obtained only by those who were inured
to hardship; who had been accustomed to practise
the athletic exercises while exposed to the
scorching heat of the sun, and who had abstained
from every pleasure which had a tendency to
debilitate the constitution and lessen the
power of exertion.
