Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1896 — THE OLYMPIAN GAMES. [ARTICLE]

THE OLYMPIAN GAMES.

They Were Part and Parcel ot the Life of the Ancient Creek. These closing ten years of the nineteenth century may be called the period of international games. If the Greek gymnastic festival of April, 1800, signified no more than a series of games offering the hospitality of the country, over which the glamour of a glorious past lingers like a rich sunset, it would he'll notnble event. Hut it is more than this—far more. The enterprise revives the memory and spirit of an institution which shed a peculiar luster on the history of classic Greece. It entered into the life of the ancient Greek to an extent which we of fc -day can scarcely realize. It was associated with his religion, his civic pride, his Ideals of art, and his highest patriotism. This Institution was the Olympia festival, celebrated every four years at Olympia, on the river Alpheus, near the boarders of Elis and Pisa, and so kept up for more than a thousand years. There were other national games of a similar sort—such as the Isthmain games; but those, though highly regarded, wore of far less dignity and interest. When one speaks, then, of the Olympic games there arises in the mind a picture of those vast gatherings where all Greece, though at the very time divided by civil wars, remembered for a brief period that Its borders bounded one people—a people of one blood, one glory, and one destiny. The hold of the Olympic festival on the ancient Hellenic world Is seen In the fact that from 770 B. C., time was measured by “Olympiads,” or the four year intervals between tint games. The remote origin of this festival is hidden in myths, us is the case with so many customs of the classic ages. In general, all these legends ascribe the games to the deml-god Hercules as founder. Sufficient time had passed for the early form of this festival to have gone Into decay, before It was revived ami had a historic beginning. 'Pills occurred under the patronage of Iphitus, king of Ells, and Lycurgus.the celebrated lawgiver of the Spartan commonwealth. It is fixed at or about HK4 It. C. This revival soon lighted a living spark which fired Greek blood everywhere, and In less than half a century the festival became national In character.

Only contestants of pure Hellenic blood wore allowed to enter their names. As time rolled on, and the Greeks (who were, you know, great sailors and merchants) pushed their maritime enterprises, and established colonies throughout the whole length and brendth of the Mediterranean, children of the greater Greece, everywhere from the distant borders of Persia to where the city of Marseilles now stands, assembled to struggle for the prize* wreath. The interest of the Greek race in these games became a passion. To win a victory In any or the contests reflected us much glory on the athlete and on his community us if he had been the successful general In a great battle. His name was added to the brazen tablets recording the celebrities and benefactors of bis native town. If he died on this field of honor, —as was oftoit the case, even In tlie flush of victory,—lie became almost an idol In the public esteem, and his family wns ennobled nud enriched by public decree,