THE, constituted one of the four great national festivals of the Greeks. The ordinary account of their institution is the legend that follows. As Hypsipyle, the nurse of Opheltes or Arcemonius, the infant son of Lycurgus and Eurydice, was sauntering one day with her young charge through the valley of Nemea, near the city of Cleone, she met the seven champions on their way to attack Thebes. They asked her to conduct them to the nearest fountain, where they might slake their thirst. She left her child lying on the ground, and hastened away to comply with their request. On her return, she found that Opheltes had been devoured by a dragon. The seven champions, after destroying the monster, celebrated funeral games in honour of the child. These games falling into disuse, were revived by Hercules after he had slain the Nemean lion, and were then for the first time consecrated to Jupiter. They derived their name from the grove Nemea, in which they were held. There a temple, a theatre, and a stadium were in course of time erected; and thither twice every Olympiad, in summer and winter alternately, athletes of every kind, and even musicians, were wont to flock from all parts of Greece. The judges were chosen by turns from Cleone, Corinth, and Argos, and, in commemoration of the funereal origin of the festival, they were arrayed in sable garments. A chaplet, formed of olive branches, and afterwards of green parsley, was the reward of the victors. The last time at which the celebration of the Nemean games is mentioned in history is in the reign of Hadrian. They seem to have been finally discontinued shortly afterwards. The ruined temple of Jupiter Nemesius still indicates the scene of this great biennial festival.