The Tupelo journal., 1907-09-06

from Athens to Patras, but not I'M
comfortable. Then comes a night in @
hotel that makes you shiver every
time you think of it afterward. Next
morning there is an early start on
such a railroad! The one daily train
stops at every vineyard and wine shop
apparently and trails along so slowly
that it takes n twice the time for the
journey that is necessary. There
never has been a town at Olympia. 1t
was a district sacred to temples, al
tars, treasure houses, the palaces of
kings and to the celebration of the
games.
At the ruins at Delphi we had
seen the only laurel tree left,
where so many yeaSs before ~chaplets
were woven to place On the brows of
the winners of the games; so we knew
that the laurel which is so rare now in
Greece grew then under the patient
care of those who had dedicated its
leaves to the c%onqueror.
The ruins of Olympia are far more
accessible than those at Delphi, My
cenae or Epidaurus, for we escaped
the steep climbs. The sacred pre-
cincts were in the valley of the River
Alpheios, and though it is far from
our ideas of what a river should be
it still is a grateful sight to have a
stream in the vicinity of amy of the
great ruins of Greece.
OF course, before going to trace our
way through the labyrinth of marble
and rock we stopped at the museum
to see the Hermes. The world will
have to make pilgrimages to this mar
velous statue, for in all the excaga-
tons carried on by the different
schools and archaeological societies
from every country the Greeks now
insist that the great finds" must be
left in the museums on the grounds,
and so the large sums offered for the
Hermes have no effect. 1t is to re-
main in the small isolated and unget-
at-able corner of the world. The mu-
scum has accorded the statue a large
space quite by itself, and the hush IF
the tourist, the silence in this alcove,
is like that about the Sistine Madonna
in the Dresden gallery. With the
Madonna it is not alone reverence for
art which seems to have bees inspired,
but for the oma and the mother;
but before the Hermes one is silent
from W of what art has accom-
plished.
Of course we sought out the temple
where the Hermes once stood. The
base of the Hereaon, the oldest temple
in Greece, had a row of pedestals on
either side still left, where statues
once stood. Pausanius described the
very place of the Hermes between the
carved columns.
Outside, on the wide walk leading to
the stadium, there are many pedestaIs
of the money given for fines when the
rules of the games were broken. for
these contests went On for 1000 years
and were of such Importance that her
aids We're sent over the country to
proclaim to turbulent and warlike
Greece that she must pledge herself
to peace while the competition lasted.
After three successes a portrait
statue could be erected in the Altis bv
the victor. These date so far Aacl;
that the first was wrought in wood.
Some of these figures are now in the
museum at Athens. There is al
archaic stele of Ariston, the first
Olympian runner, which gives some
idea of the costume of the athlete and
the development of the muscles. He
is said to have u from the battle of
Marathon to bring the news to the
city and to have fallen dead at the
portal of the temple of Theseion. The
spear he carries was doubtless a
trophy won by his prowess.
There is a beautiful little temple in
the heart OF Athens which l visited
over and over again, because it had to
do with the games. The victors ex.
hibited their prizes in public places
and between the sculptured columns
of this temple there once stood the
evidences of the conquests of young
Greece. Imagine a whole street of
such beautiful temples extending from
the theater of Dionysos to the town,
all holding the trophies of the trium-
plant competitors.
But Olympia soon lost its local
celebrity in the days when the oracle
of Delphi proclaimed the spot the
favored n of all the many centers
for games, and it was a national festi-
val that brought people from all over
the world. |