Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-09
ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES
COMPETITION BETWEEN THE
BEST YOUTH OF HELLAS.
Heralds Proclaimed Truce Through.
out Greece-High Morals De-
manded of the Entrants.
Lord Desborough, in National Review.

Lord Desborough, In National Review.
There Is much in the long story Of the
Olympic games Of the Hellenes which
appeals strongly to the Imagination and
distinguishes those festivals from any
other of which there is record. In one of
their aspects the games at Olympia in
Ellis were the expression. throughout what
is practically the entire history of the Hell
lenes. of the Hellenic religious piety and
the Hellenic pride Of race. The modern
feeling Of national solidarity was un-
known to that people; the political sys-
TEN under which the race developed,
with its resulting congeries Of small
states with separate interests. perpetual
ly opposed to each other; its islands and
settlements. spread along the Mediter-
ranean shores of three continents. in
disintegration and reconciliation, render
ed national solidarity as we understand
1t impossible. But there was an intense
feeling Of racial solidarity. common to
all the Hellenic peoples. which found Its
chief expression in those festivals of the
Olympic games, when once every four
years during a period of nearly twelve
centuries the flower of the Hellenic youth
flocked to the sacred plain at Olympia
to dedicate its manhood to the Hellenic
tie which united the Hellenes of Athens
or Sparta, of Aegina or Boeotio. with
the jewellers in the farthest Hellenic set
Elements on the coasts Of the Black sea
Or the Gulf Of Lyons.
Every four years, accordingly, as the
moon which marked the Greek midsum-
mer drew to its full. a pilgrimage Of all
that was best and most vigorous in Hell
las ended at the little plain Of Olympia
in Ellis the small state on the vestern
coast Of the Peloponnesus a fiat space.
with its natural barriers Of mountain and
river. some fifteen miles from the sea;
Long before the beginning of the festival
heralds went forth, flrst through Ellis.
thence throughout Greece, to proclaim a
truce, during which all fighting between
city and city. state and state, should
cease, so as to allow a whole month OF
peace during which the Hellenic youth
should be able to travel unmolested and
unhindered from the farthest settlements
of the race. it might be from Marseille
or the Crimea, in order to make the Of
fering of it's vigor and its piety to the
Olympian Zeus In Ellis. For the festival
was in essence religious. In times long
antecedent to recorded history tradition
had placed the most important of the
Hellenic festivals at the same spot. In
SS4 Be Iphitus, King Of Ellis, is said to
have revived rites which had been prac-
ticed there time out of mind. Certainly
in the year 776 BIC. began series of
games at Olympia which continued with
out interruption every fourth year for a
period Of ia years. until 1914 AID, when,
in the reign of Theodosius, they were
abolished and the Olympic games were
added to those other legacies Of Hellas.
it's plastic art. architecture, poetry.
drama. philosophy and political science.
which together have had so mighty an
influence upon the evolution of western
civilization.