New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-06-27
SELECTIONS FROM THE MAIL.
WOMEN IN THE OLYMPIAN GAMES'


ou,re in a political condition which confers purey
artificial superiority upon their sex Is strkingy en-
hibted in Professor Paul Shoreys article IN .'e
May Forum" on the Olympian games Inc Eu-
itor OF THE Forum describes Professor Shorey as
zone of the foremost OF American classical scno.
ars" I think any unparalleled person VINO WAL
compare some Of Professor Shoreys statements
with those of the Greek writer's concerning olympia
will exclam. Alas. America
He asserts % that 1.-The absence OF women Il
Olympia permitted display of the naked huf"a"
form which 10 a Greek. the chief aestheuc
delight OF the festival and mark OF his DISTINCTION
from the prudish white-skinnei barbarian. he
declares: ~ The name Of olympia testihed 10
prehistoric local cult OF Jupiter olympus ana, oe
scrb.ng the great altar OF Zeus. says: 90 Such
was It's sanctify that woman was aiowed 'o set
foot upon its hallowed ashes" Altogether. PROBES
sor Shorey is evidently either Himself possessed oi
the notion wishes to convey the ilpresso" ''"'
in the nourishing days of the o'ynpah ed'"c'
Greece gave pre-cmnent worship to chiei mae
god. and that women were as greatly In the back-
ground as We find them in the latter days OF Greek
chsd-marriages and -subjccton-days OF ma
tional stagration. decline and fall.
The professors first error seems 10 ne que 10 HIS
inab.i,y 70 free himself from modern views Of pro-
prety in Judging the customs OF primitive olympia
customs in vogue nearly 5000 years ago. HIS I'M
warranted conclusion that women did not attend
the Oiympian games apparently arises throush an
attempt to Judge the primitive peop.c OF "re3oe
from the standpoint OF modern sci-cohsoous"ess'
As a matter OF fact. al evidence goes TO show mat
in the childhood % Greece there was no more con-
sciousncss that the naked human form Is cause Tor
pru lishness than Is manifested to-day by the I'M
drane1 Ky Of the field as 1t gazes upon the hu'''
wild rose. According to the devout Pausanias tan
authority to whom Professor Shorey hlinseI ap-
pcals) the noblest born and most modest and pous
women Of Greece-the princesses and prestesses-
habltuallv ATTENDED the Oympan games In the GO
rious. cary days having a regular seat OF honor.
IAN altar Of white stone" appointed for their use
"opposi,e the umprcs for they do not pre-
vent maidens from seeing the games Pausanas'
book g. chapter 2m
Although Euripidean misogyny. acting on pun
lie opinion. had RELOCATED married women. In some
parts OF Greece. to "A state OF sem-mprisonment
several centuries before pausanias. yet that sim
pleninded traveller gives the liveliest possible
proof that II rot "of old-time lie tcNs
Of many aristocratic DANES who not merely Wit
messed the games but actually contested In the
races horseback and chariot driving. and won
prizes In fair rivalry With men. The most cele-
braied OF those grizo-winrors. he states was
Cynisca. wife 81 Iacedaemonian king 'coniem-
porary with Alexander tho GreaD. and he men
lions her portrait by Apccs "a famous artist OF
Alexandcrs tlmc) SIN hanging among the pc
lures or The Conquerors a, olympia" when he
visited the temples. about 30 \. u.
Every nth year young girls ran In contest ~
maidcns using "thc regular racccourse at o'ym-
pia but making II a SIKH part of a staae shorter
These minor Oympian games were presided over
by sixteen mairons. selected In commeinora-
ton q, a great political event OF antique Greece
on which occasion sixteen Greek cities hal each
chosen a noble matron "a mother Of her country
| 10 act arbitrator In adjustment Of those cit
les conflicting governmental claims. tPaurhnias
book =. chap. 49,
Professor Shorey might have been saved his sec
ond .rror II he had recognized that Olympia -
a feminine name. that the mother Of the gods
| is the parent % Olympus which bears - hrst
queens name (as rhochus. Apollo. was named
from Phoebe). and that Genus was ~ no means
supreme god even ln the dawn - historic times
| depleted in Homer In the days 81 PlnGar 80 hnd
that woman-taughi poet opening his eighth oiym-
plan ode thus: 20 mother OF god-crowne1 con-
tests. Olympia queen o, truth" Plndar. u viii
be remembered. instructed IN the art OF
poesy by the prize-winns Comma: and In those
displays Of intellectual prowess." 90 which Pro-
fcssor Shorcy refers. Pindar Ave times pub
lcly defeated BY the poc,css Myrils. fact which
our classical scholar 'orgc,s mention he
glories in Pindar's ideal strains).
The mother OK the gods uhc "awr-inspring
mother to whom Pindar prayed SIN hal her
temple In Olympia. 'prcserying rs ancient name.
down 10 the third century OF our Even at that
i ate dI'e e,try pla,e o. WORSHIP IN the Ai,is
foremoih'rs OF Greece. In Its multiplicity 90 por-
z n'i stanI hiS h bd Gbc" ,nr ,ht@ne am
as YOU nier ihN brazdn doors IA" on I'M
ing crowned by bis vile E"cchlria az tbc ns,rin
the picture ot six women, supposed 10 have become
palace Of olympus We md their living an,iiypes
today In the ebony "Graces' ana "seasons." who
tive African monarchJ In the temple Of zeas also
Was s9 sy Si d Ehe'Sn Arem R is
the greatest Of the gods" says Pausanas book
II Professor shorcy takes the fact that men
alone may ascend he high altar Of Zeus "a height
womens inierory In Greek estimation. how does
he Interpret the following facts: In the sacred
named the Olympian. one Of the ancient god
dcsses, for whose temple the people OF the country
cRare9 and State were in,epatableS The so "a
eater: much less 10 share in the honor paid 10 this
was rs sanctity that no man was allowed 20 got
foot within IT. halowci precincts? How. a,so
shall explain Pausaniass statement that, In
T.acOnia there was a statue In the temple that no
man. "only women may look upon. and women only
ncc''Y or how ain tho TACT hat another creek
state. in Pausanias's lime had another temple into
which none may enter nut maiden sacristan tWho
must never marry, and another maiden who onici-
two gods were worshpped. IN the thiri g?'iess
and yet We IND men excluded from the ministry;
the gods, Even In regard 10 the great altar % Ieus
In the Ats. Professor Shorey has not stated the
there we're stone step up TO the pro-altar. where
the victims were burned and women cusiomariy
went up hcse solid steps the easter distance But.
NJ the highest altar (22 feeD there were mercy
steps OF rubbish. or fragmenis-a sort of ladder
and these steps men alone assembled.
l. not the Inference. In view OF all the facts.
ra Their that women dd not care to climb 40 great
a height on a shaky structure. than that "sanctity
had anything 10 do with their stopping at IN" pro-
nl'ar, where the stone steps termniteI? Assureily
Professor ShOrey's reasons for hs different concu-
sions would be intcresting and await them with
great expectation - -
ELLEN BATTEt.LE DIETRICH.
Cambridge, Mass, June 10. 1880
DID THEY FORGET 1T WAS OLD STYLE?
To the Editor or The Tribune.