were solemn games among the ancient Greeks, so called from Olympian Jupiter, to whom they were dedicated; and by some said to be first instituted by him, after his victory over the sons of Titan; others ascribe their institution to Hercules, not the son of Alcmena, but one of much greater antiquity; others to Pelops; and others to Hercules the son of Alcmena. By whomsoever they were instituted, we know that, at a period rather early, they had fallen into disuse. The wars which prevailed among the Greeks, for a while, totally interrupted the religious ceremonies and exhibitions with which they had been accustomed to honour the common gods and heroes; but the Olympic games were restored on the following occasion. Amidst the calamities which afflicted or threatened Peloponnesus, Iphitus, a descendant of Oxylus, to whom the province of Eleia* had fallen in the general partition of the peninsula, applied to the Delphic oracle. The priests of Apollo, ever disposed to favour the views of kings and legislators, answered agreeably to his wish, that the festivals anciently celebrated at Olympia, on the Alpheus, must be renewed, and an armistice proclaimed for all the states willing to partake of them, and devious to avert the vengeance of heaven. Fortified by this authority, and assisted by the advice of Lycurgus, Iphitus took measures, not only for restoring the Olympic solemnity, but for rendering it perpetual. The injunction of the oracle was speedily diffused through the remotest parts of Greece by the numerous votaries who frequented the sacred shrine. The armistice was proclaimed in Peloponnesus, and preparations were made in Eleia for exhibiting shows and performing sacrifices. In the heroic ages, feats of bodily strength and address were defined to the honour of deceased warriors; hymns and sacrifices were offered for the gods; but the flexible texture of Grecian superstition, easily confounding the expressions of respectful gratitude and pious veneration, enabled Iphitus to unite both in his new institution.

The festival, which lasted five days, began and ended with a sacrifice to Olympian Jove. The intermediate time was chiefly filled up by the gymnastic exercises, in which all freemen of Grecian extraction were invited to contend, provided they had been born in lawful wedlock, and had lived untainted by any infamous immoral stain. The preparation for this part of the entertainment was made in the gymnasium of Elis, a spacious edifice, surrounded by a double range of pillars, with an open area in the middle. Adjoining were various apartments, containing baths, and other conveniences for the combatants. The neighbouring country was gradually adorned with porticoes, shady walks and groves, interpersed with seats and benches; the whole originally defined to relieve the fatigues and anxiety of the candidates for Olympic fame; and frequented in later times, by sophists and philosophers, who were fond to contemplate wisdom, and communicate knowledge, in those delightful retreats. The order of the athletic exercises, or combats, was established by Lycurgus, and corresponded almost exactly to that described by Homer, in the 23d book of the Iliad, and eighth of the Odyssey. Iphitus, we are told, appointed the other ceremonies and entertainments; settled the regular return of the festival at the end of every fourth year, in the month of July; and gave to the whole solemnity that form and arrangement, which it preserved with little variation above a thousand years; a period exceeding the duration of the most famous kingdoms and republics of antiquity. Among the benefactors of Olympia, at a much later period, was reckoned Herod, who was afterwards king of Judea. Seeing, on his way to Rome, the games neglected or dwindling into insignificance from the poverty of the Eleans, he displayed vast munificence as presiding, and provided an ample revenue for their future support and dignity.

The care and management of the Olympics belonged for the most part to the Eleans; who on that account enjoyed their possessions without molestation, or fear of war or violence. They appointed a certain number of judges, who were to take care that those who offered themselves as competitors should perform their preparatory exercises; and these judges, during the solemnity, sat naked, having before them a crown of victory, formed of wild olive, which was presented to whomever they adjudged it. Those who were conquerors were called Olympionices, and were loaded with honours by their countrymen. At these games women were not allowed to be present; and if any woman was found, during the solemnity, to have passed the river Alpheus, she was to be thrown headlong from a rock. This, however, was sometimes neglected; for we find not only women present at the celebration, but also some among the combatants, and some rewarded with the crown. The preparations for these festivals were great. No person was permitted to enter the lists, if he had not regularly exercised himself ten months before the celebration at the public gymnasium of Elis. No unfair dealings were allowed; whoever attempted to bribe his adversary was subjected to a severe fine; and even the father and relations were obliged to swear that they would have recourse to no artifice which might decide the victory in favour of their friends. No criminals, nor such as were connected with impious and guilty persons, were suffered to present themselves as combatants. The wrestlers were appointed by lot. Some little balls superscribed with a letter were thrown into a silver urn, and such as drew the same letter were obliged to contend one with the other. He who had an odd letter remained the last; and he often had the advantage, as he was to encounter the last who had obtained the superiority over his adversary. In these games were exhibited running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and the throwing of the quoit, which was called altogether πενταθλιον, or quintertium. Besides these, there were horse and chariot races, and also contentions in poetry, eloquence, and the fine arts. The only reward that the conqueror obtained was a crown of olive. This, as some suppose, was in memory of the labours of Hercules, which were accomplished for the universal good of mankind, and for which the hero claimed no other reward but the consciousness of having been the friend of mankind. So small and trifling a reward stimulated courage and virtue, and was the source of greater honours than the most unbounded treasures. The statues of the conquerors, called Olympionices, were erected at Olympia in the sacred wood of Jupiter.

Their return home was that of a warlike conqueror; they were drawn in a chariot by four horses, and every where received with the greatest acclamations. Their entrance into their native city was not through the gates: to make it more grand and more solemn, a breach was made in the walls. Painters and poets were employed in celebrating their names; and indeed the Olympic, victories feverally obtained at Olympia are the subjects of the most beautiful odes of Pindar. The combatants were naked. A scarf was originally tied round their waist; but when it had entangled one of the adversaries, and been the cause that he lost the victory, it was laid aside, and no regard was paid to decency. The Olympic games were observed every fifth year, or, to speak with greater exactness, after a revolution of four years, and in the first month of the fifth year, and they continued for five successive days. As they were the most ancient and most solemn of all the festivals of the Greeks, it will not appear wonderful that they drew so many people, not only inhabitants of Greece, but of the neighbouring islands and countries.

Such is the account of Grecian writers, who have, doubtless, often ascribed to positive institution many inventions and usages naturally resulting from the progressive manners of society. When we come to examine the Elean games in their more improved state, together with the innumerable imitations of them in other provinces of Greece, there will occur reasons for believing, that many regulations, referred by an easy solution to the legislative wisdom of Iphitus or Lycurgus, were introduced by time or accident, continued through custom, improved by repeated trials, and confirmed by a sense of their utility *. Yet such an institution as the Olympiad, even in its least perfect form, must have been attended with manifest advantages to society. It is sufficient barely to mention the fulsomeness of hostilities which took place, not only during the celebration of the festival, but a considerable time both before and after it. Considered as a religious ceremony, at which the whole Grecian name was invited, and even enjoined to assist, it was well adapted to facilitate intercourse, to promote knowledge, to soften prejudice, and to hallow the progress of civilization and humanity. Greece, and particularly Peloponnesus, was the centre from which the adventurous spirit of its inhabitants had diffused innumerable colonies through the surrounding nations. To these widely separated communities, which, notwithstanding their common origin, seemed to have lost all connexion and correspondence, the Olympiad served as a common bond of alliance and point of reunion. The celebrity of this festival continually attracted to it the characters most distinguished for genius and enterprise, whose fame would have otherwise been unknown and lost in the boundless extent of Grecian territory. The remote inhabitants, not only of European Greece, but of Asia and Africa, being assembled to the worship of common gods, were formed to the sense of a general interest, and excited to the pursuit of national honour and prosperity. Strangers of similar dispositions might confirm in Elis the sacred and indissoluble ties of hospitality. If their communities were endangered by any barbarous power, they might here solicit assistance from their Grecian brethren. On other occasions they might explain the benefits which, in peace or war, their respective countries were best qualified to communicate. And the Olympic festival might thus serve the purpose of resident ambassadors, and other institutions alike unknown to antiquity.