Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

I32 OIYMPIA. OLY MPIA.
celebrated frequently in the loftiest strains of There were also many ancient worlks on the
poetry. (Compare ATHLETAE, p. 167.) Grelk festivals in general, in which tile Olympic
Sometimes the victory was obtained without a Games were of course treated of. Thus the work
contest, in which case it was said to be sovLsi. of Dicaearchns rlepl'Ayc6vwcv (Diog. Lalirt. v. 47),
This happened either when the antagonist, who contained a division entitled 6'OUvT1rhtds. (Athen.
was assigned, neglected to come or came too late, xiv. p.. 620, d.)
or when an Athletes had obtained such celebrity One of the most important works on the Olymby former conquests or possessed such strength and pice Games was by Phlegon of Tralles, who lived
skill that no one dared to oppose him. (Paus. vi. in the reign of Hadrian; it was entitled nEpl Tr1v
7. ~ 2.) When one state conferred a crown upon'OAvfju7rLo or'OXvuwrlwo'v tcal XPOemK't, Xvaseoywyj,
another state, a proclamation to this effect was fre- was comprised in 16 books, and extended from the
qulently made at the great national festivals of the first Olympiad to O1. 229. We still possess two
Greeks. (Demosth. de Cor. p. 265.) considerable fragments of it. The important work
As persons from all parts of the Hellenic world of Julius Africanus,'EXsv eO,'OXvuridises d&rb
were assembled together at the Olympic Games. it ri's rpc6Tr-s, &c., is preserved to us by Eusebius
was the best opportunity which the artist and the it comes down to 01. 249. Dexippus of Athens, in
Xwriter possessed of making their works known. In his XpOsUKeC~ ir'opla, carried down the Olympic
fact, it answered to some extent the same purpose conquerors to 01. 262.
as the press does in modern times. Before the in- In modern works much useful information on
vention of printing, the readiing of an author's the Olympic games is given in Corsini's Dissert.
works to as large an assembly as could be obtained, Agonisticce, and in Bbckh's and Dissen's editions
was one of the easiest and surest modes of publish- of Pindar. See also Meier's article on the Olyming them; and this was a favourite practice of the pic Gaines, and Rathgeber's articles on Olympia,
Greeks and Romans. Accordingly, we find mainy Olympieion, and Olympischer Jupiter in Ersch and
instances of literary works thus published at the Gruber's Encyclopiidie; Dissen. Ueber die AnorldOlympic festival. Herodotus is said to have read ningy der Olyspischlen Spiele, in his Kleine Skclriften,
his history at this festival; but though there are p. 185; and Krause, Olympia oder Darstellnyll des'
some reasons for doubting the correctness of this grossen Ol/7i2pisch.en Spiele, WAien, 1838.
statement, there are numerous other writers who In course of time festivals were established in
thus published their works, as the sophist Hippias, several Greek states in imitation of the one at
Prodicus of Ceos, Anaximenes, the orator Lysias, Olympia5 to which the same name was given.
Dion Chrysostom, &c. (Compare Lucian, Hlerod. Some of these are only known to us by ilscripc. 3, 4. vol. i. p. 834, Reitz.) It must be borne in tions and coins; but others, as the Olympic festimind that these recitations were not contests, and val at Antioch, obtained great celebrity. After
that they formed properly no part of the festival. these Olympic festivals had been established in
In the same way painters and other artists ex- several places, the great Olympic festival is somebibited their works at Olympia. (Lucian, I. c.) times designated in inscriptions by the addition of
The Olympic Games continued to be celebrated "in Pisa)" 4v lIefclr. (Compare Bickh, Inscer. in.
with much splendour under the Roman emperors, 247. pp. 361, 362. n. 1068. p. 564.) WVe subjoin
b:y many of whom great privileges were awarded from Krause an alphabetical list of these smaller
to the conquerors. [ATHLETAE, P. 167.] In the Olympic festivals. They were celebrated at: -
sixteenth year of the reign of Theodosius, A. D. 394 Aegae in Macedonia. This festival was in exist(01. 293), the Olympic festival was for ever abo- ence in the time of Alexander the Great. (Arrian,
lished; but we have no account of the names of Ahaeb. i. 11.)
the victors from 01. 249. Alerandroia. (Gruter, insce. p. cccxiv. n, 240.)
Our limits do not allow us to enter into the In later times, the number of Alexandrian conquestion of the influence of the Olympic Games querors in the great Olympic Games was greater
upon the national character; but the reader will than from any other state.
find some useful rernarlks on this subject in Thirl- Anazatirbts in Cilicia. This festival was not, inwall's Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 390, &c. troduced till a late period. (Eckhel, Doctr. Niun.
There were many ancient works on the subject iii. p. 44.)
of the Olympic Games and the conquerors therein. Antiocls in Syria. This festival was celebrated
One of the chief sources from which the writers at Daphne, a small place, 40 stadia from Antioch,
obtained their materials, must have been the re- where there was a large sacred grove watered by
gisters of conquerors in the games, whlich were dili- many fountains. The festival was originally called
gently preserved by the Eieans. (HXel'[wv's robls DI;phnea, and was sacred to Apollo and Arte-'OXvu7rzsov'lcas?ypaSLzasUa, Paus. iii. 21, ~ 1, v. 21. mis (Strabo, xvi. p. 750; Athen. v. p. 194), but
~ 5, vi. 2. ~ 1; T&'HXLe'WV TypdyuaTa apXiatd v. was called Olympia, after the inhabitants of An4. ~ 4.) One of the most ancient works on this sub- tioch had purchased from the Eleans, in A. D. 44,
ject was by the Elean Hippias, a contemporary of the privilege of celebrating Olympic games. It
Plato, and was entitled &vaypaep'O.uyU7rs0o ca't. was not, however, regularly celebrated as an Olym(Plut. ANTu7a, 1.) Aristotle also appears to have pic festival till the time of the emperor Commodus.
written a work on the same subject. (Diog. Labirt. It commenced on the first day of the month Hyv. 26.) There was a work by Timaeus of Sicily, perberetaeus (October), with which the year of
entitled'OxvyurtovZicai X povKa' 7rpa8ista, and Antioch began. It was under the presidency of
anotherby Eratosthenes (born B.c. 275) also called an Alytarches. The celebration of it was abo-'OAv,uzrsov7icaL. (Diog. La2rt. viii. 51.) The Athe- lished by Justin, A. D. 521. The writillgs of Linian Stesicleides is mentioned as the author of an banius, and of Chrysostom, the Christian Father,
a'a-ypaop To'~ appXd'vrTv Kal'OAvlursovsotlcv (Diog. who lived many years at Antioch, gave various
La'rt. ii. 56), and Pliny (11. N. viii. 34) speaks particulars respecting this festival.
of Ag-iopas. as a writer of Olympionicae. - Atlhens. There were two festivals of the name