Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-09

Zeus that he would be guilty of no crime
in connection with the contest. and final
ly to attend for thirty days at Ellis to go
through certain prescribed exercises I'M
der the Hellenodicae. who filled the high
ly honored office of judges, enforced the
laws of the contest, determined the win
ners presented the prizes. and presided
over the ceremony. sitting In purple robes
in special seats. The competitors. after
having their names and countries pro-
claimed by heralds. took their places by
lot were exhorted by the HeIlenodicae to
acquit themselves nobly, and the winner
was crowned on a table of gold with the
garland of wild olive cut by a boy with
golden sickle from the sacred grove
near the altar of Aphrodite. The great
gathering. which lasted some four or five
lays at the period of highest develop
ment. was concluded by religious cere-
mony, in which the theori. or deputies.
representing the various states. made
sacrifices to ZeuS, and so brought the
festival to an end.
Gradual Development.
AS might be expected in an institution
which had a. continuous existence OF
nearly twelve centuries, it's athletic side,
at least, had had a gradual development.
Thus for the thirteen Olympiads follow
ing the first in 776-that is. during pc
Rod of fifty-two years-a short foot race
IS the only athletic event of which there
is any record. This was run over a
course of 600 Greek feet, which COM
prised the length of the stadium. The
Greek foot being only six millimeters
short of the English foot. this race may
be compared for all practical purposes to
our two hundred yards. From the next
Olympiad. the fourteenth onward. was
added race of two stadia. or say four
Olympiad We're introduced longer races
from six to twenty-four stadia-that
is to say, races which, with those al
ready included, would bring into the
program most distances from two hum
dred yards up to two miles and three
quarters. Only at the eighteenth Olym-
pad seventy-two years after the re-
vival of the festival. were general am
letics initiated by the inclusion of wres-
thing and the pentathlum of five exer-
ing the discus and the javelin and wres-
Ting. In that year also came some sort
of long jump. in which Croton is said to
have cleared 30 feet. The record made in
athletic opinion inclines to the belief that
the leap was a hop, step and jump. for
which there is modern record of 40 feet
inch. Boxing and horse racing were
added al the twenty-third Oiympiad;
chariot racing with four full-grown horses
at the twenty-fifth. Later came the pan
cratium, or wrestling and boxing COM
bined. Subsequent additions to the pro-
gram were the foot race for men in
armor which was introduced at the
of heralds and trumpeters. which came in
with the ninety sixth celebra zion.
The Chariot Races.
The other items which came afterward
were mainly developments of some of
these, in which the extension of a whole
series of contests for boys was included.
IN
with mares with foals, both pair and
four hand, and horse races for foals.
Most of the adult exercises. Ike boxing,
foot racing. wrestling and the pentarhlum.
were thrown open to boys. and by the
145th Olympiad-that is. in the year 1876
b. C.-the program included twenty-fOur
events. and occupied about five days. The
poorest citizens could compete in the
games and the noblest and the lowest of
the Hellenic race met side by side. and
were held to have honored each other by
their rivalry, though the equestrian ex-
ercises were necessarily confined to those
of the richer classes. 1t is notable that
women were allowed to enter their horses
for some of the chariot races. and We're
often successful the first woman dis
tinguished being Cynisca. the sister of
Agesilaus. The winners had their
ward from the citizens of their own
state or country. which frequently took
the form of a triumphal progress. The
reward at Olympia itself was purely hon
critic. The garland of wild olive was the
winners sole prize. but his statue was
erected in the Altis and his name given
to the Olympiad in which he prevailed.
period of four years, by which the Hell
lenic historians came to measure their
chronology. Thus the first Olympiad was
known as that of COroebus tn, winner in
776 g. c.. and from that year onward I'M
til 2l7 B. c. the winner Of each of the
contests every fourth year is recorded.
As already stated. there followed con-
secutive series of Olympiads, without rec
ord Of the winner. but stretching with
out interruption until the end of the
fourth century Of our era a date when
Hellas itself was only a name. and the
high standards and ideals of the earlier
period of the games had suffered a
grevous decline under the foreign domi-
nation of Rome.