The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-03
Restored Olympic Games.

Restored Olympic Games.
The management of the ST. Louis
exposition have been trying their
ability this week in the work of re-
storing or reviving the old Olympic
games. There have been, in recent
years, several such revivals, as at
Athens and at Paris. Modern ath-
letics yearned for the best of ancient
models Of athletic exploitation and
found what was wanted in the games
at Olympia in Ellis, Greece. They
were established by Iphitus King of
Ellis, under the direction of the Delphic
oracle, for the purpose Of abating a
war and pestilence which had ravaged
Greece for some time as a punishment
for neglect of the games.
This was in 776 B. G. Iphitus, in
deed, was the restorer, of the activities
of the Olympic stadium rather than the
originator of the great semireligious
festival. The games at Olympia were
held long before Iphitus was born, but
public interest had decreased and there
were longer intervals between them.
One cannot go far astray from the facts
games SO long as he has the pages of
Pausanias before him, for that faith
full chronicler describes all the won
ders he saw at Olympia, as the
stadium, the great temple of the
Olympian Jupiter, whose gold and ivory
statue by Phidias was the greatest
feature of interest, and other temples
of the gods Of lesser degree.
During the festival a considerable
portion Of the time was devoted to
sacrifcial worship Of Jupiter and the
other gods, so that the temples profted
blythe votive offerings Of the contest
ants in the games, many of whom
were among the distinguished and noble
personages of Greece.
"a Among the spectators Of the games
were the priestess of Ceres and her
virgins, who had special point of
view accorded them, while the hellan-
odics or superintendent of the games
were clothed in purple robes and were
regarded with awe, for they watched
the contestants with close scrutiny and
ruled out and punished every one who
cheated or swerved in the slightest de-
gree: from the rules sof the stadium.
Pindar's Olympic &Odes sing ~ the
praises of special winners and their
fulsomeness suggests that the poet had
been given many doueeurs.
The modern revival of the Olympic
games is the revival of the games with
the Olympic left out, with all that such
omission suggests. Your modern re-
vival is disentangled from religion and
the smoke of multiplied sacrifices
ascends not to the Olympic Jove and
the minor gods and goddesses. The
athletic features are much the same, as
1eaping, running, quoting, wrestling
but the Olympic quoiters threw heavier
discus than do the modern discoboli
and some Of the contestants in leapine
made records of fifty five feet with the
aid of oval pieces of lead, by which
they poised their bodies and swung
themselves forward in the leap. AL
these exercises were accompanied by
flutes played to Pythian airs.
Our modern Olympic contests are in
nocent of that bloody feature, the tes
Of the cestus, the instrument of tor
ture used by the boxers, and with which
champions gouged out the eyes ant
teeth and mutilated the noses and ear
of their opponents. Modern discrimina
tion has remanded such athletic work t,
the prize ring. \ ! " &
1.-THE pancratium Of the Olympic
stadium was combination of boxin.
and wrestling, and, altho the cestu
was not permitted on the hands, tn
contestants were permitted to mangl
each other to very injurious extent
Sour modern Olympic contests brin,
wrestling to the front conspicuously
but the rules restrict very hard usage
Even at Olympia the rules forbade a,
athlete to kill his adversary designedly
The big features of the Olympic game
were the horse and chariot races. Fo
chariot races we. substitute automobil
races, and the horse races we remain
Il to the regular racetracks. The auto
mobile is, in some respects, NANTES
improvement on the Greek chario
drawn by horses, but, on the whole, til
modern car is trife more dangerou
than the ancient vehicle, as shown i
the Barney Oldfeld case on the S.
Louis track this week, The oil
chariot driver had better control @
his more picturesque machine.