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CHAPTER TWO.
Origins, first Institutions, Restorations, Continuations, Additions, and Glorifications of the Olympic Games.
§ I.
Furthermore, we will say something about the origins and first institutions of the OLYMPIC EXERCISE GAMES, and about their restoration, continuations, additions, and glorifications. For they did not become perfect in all their parts at once and simultaneously. Things in their first emergence are generally rough and insignificant; they grow with time (with help and support), and only at the end do they become great and perfect.
§ II.
However, just as the first principles and institutions of things are insignificant and imperfect, so too are they very obscure and doubtful. For who pays attention to such small things? And moreover, if any observation or record was made of them, it vanishes through all-devouring and all-concealing time, so that nothing is left of it but a few disconnected and mutilated pieces, like ruins of ancient palaces. Therefore, we praise Strabo when, after treating the various stories about the origins or first founders of our games, he adds this conclusion (Strabo, book 8): "for such matters are told in various ways, but not truly believed."
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§ III.
We will not say that some attribute the institution to the gods and to HERCULES or multiple HERCULESSES. For among the pagan scholars there are those who record all these as first founders (Pausanias, book 5) or as first practitioners (Nat. Com. Mythol., book 5, chap. 1). They say that JUPITER would have instituted them after the destruction of the TITANS, and that APOLLO would have surpassed MERCURY in the footrace and MARS in the fistfight, and all others. Or that JUPITER and SATURN would have first contended for rule in such a game. Or also that HERCULES with the unknown JUPITER would have first fought the game. In these stories, two things require our attention, namely: 1. that, to give the games more splendor and glory, they brought in gods and HERCULESSES; 2. that with the names of gods and Herculesses they depicted some kings, sons of kings, and brave knights who had done something for the institution, increase, glorification, and practice of the martial games. Such JOVESSES or gods and HERCULESSES could have been, for example, AETHLIUS, ENDYMION, brave youths of Ida, and from Tiryns or Thebes; whom in the following list of game founders, restorers, and improvers we will consider and present as nothing other than such.
§ IV.
We cannot trace an earlier founder of these exercise games than AETHLIUS, king of ELIS (C. Pascalis, de Coronis, book 6, chap. 5) (married to PROTOGENIA, daughter of DEUCALION). For from him they seem to have been named contests (in Greek ATHLA), prizes (in Greek EPATHLA), and the contestants athletes (in Greek ATHLETAE). And we suspect that he introduced them
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initially with the aim of giving the market days of that region a name and fame, to honor them and make them very profitable. For such games attract people, and "where there are people, there is trade," as the proverb says. The market held there dealt primarily in byssus (fine linen), for it grew very abundantly in the region of Elis and was also very valuable, as Pausanias testifies in more than one place (Pausanias, book 5 & 6 at the end & book 7). "Among the wonders," he says, "of the country of the Eleans is the byssus. For it grows here, and nowhere else in Greece. In fineness, it is no less than the one produced by the Hebrew land, and is certainly less yellow." It also seems that the Eleans wove that byssus (See also Pliny, Naturalis Historia, book 19, chap. 1), decorated it with purple, prepared it for clothing and spreads, and offered it for sale. Yes, perhaps a large part of the Greek purple trade itself was drawn there. For purple was very abundant in ancient times in the PELOPONNESE, according to the testimony of Pausanias (Pausanias, book 10) and Bochartus (Bochartus, Phaleg, book 3, chap. 4). And although the city of the Mycenaeans, HERMIONE, flourished through that trade, ELIS may have also flourished before or after, or in part, because of it. Other goods of more or less value will also undoubtedly have been brought and offered for trade. These market days may have first been held in or near ELIS. But when they became famous, so that not only the inhabitants of neighboring cities but also those from overseas, from the east and west, flocked to them, they seem to have been moved afterward to the later so-called Olympic Field. This was very convenient for transporting the traded goods via the flowing ALPHEUS either upwards to Arcadia and through all of Greece, or downwards to the Triphylian Sea. Moreover, it was very suitable, because of its spacious, flat, and clean woodlands, for the great games; for
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they demanded both suitability and space, as anyone can easily understand. But furthermore, that AETHLIUS specifically instituted the games to serve as market games, so to speak, seems clear from the actions of IPHITUS (more on which below), of whom Velleius clearly says that he instituted those games and market (Velleius Paterculus, book 1). Although he would have been better to say: renewed. Finally, whether that market in the time of AETHLIUS took place more than once a year, or every other year, like many large markets and so-called annual markets, or even less frequently, and whether the games were thus celebrated annually or after a lapse of some years, we cannot say.
§ V.
After AETHLIUS, some name APIUS as the founder or renewer of the game. However, Pausanias (Syncellus, page 195) has his son ENDYMION follow AETHLIUS.
§ VI.
Under ENDYMION (about whom the poets invent fables, including that the Moon fell in love with him), born of the aforementioned PROTOGENIA, the daughter of DEUCALION (Pausanias, book 5, from the beginning), the Olympic market games seem to have been celebrated with such great splendor and fame that he gained the name of first founder from some. And the splendor and fame were all the greater because he had the game honored with the footrace of his three sons PEON, EPEUS, and AEOLUS, for the succession to the kingdom. Here a royal crown was at stake; which also seems to have been at stake again afterward, when OENOMAUS (more on whom shortly) offered his daughter and crown to the one who could outrun him with the chariot team, which PELOPS is said to have done. And
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it seems that those races for a crown were the causes, and gave occasion, for winners to be given symbolic crowns of olive leaves and such afterward.
§ VII.
Phlegon presents a certain PISUS, son of PERIERIS, as the first founder of the exercise games (Phlegon Trallianus apud Aegidius Strauchius § 4). However, it seems to us that he must have lived after ENDYMION; for it seems to us that he is the one said to be from the family of NESTOR. But then he must have been a descendant of the first generation of NESTOR, otherwise he would have to be placed later, because NESTOR was also present in the Trojan war. He was then three centuries, that is, three hundred years old, if one does not prefer to count each century at a little over thirty years, as many want, in which case he would only have been between ninety and a hundred years old. Meanwhile, it is no wonder that PISUS, a member of the house of NESTOR, ruled over ELIS, because NESTOR's country PYLUS bordered it. And he could have worked, by the wisdom and eloquence attributed to him, that the Eleans chose him as ruler or king on a certain occasion. Therefore, this ruler, who came from outside, had the Olympic game celebrated magnificently, either at the coronation or afterward. Strabo attributes to him, so it seems, the building and naming of the city PISA. The latter is most plausible to us. But with regard to the games, nothing else is reported of him but this from Pausanias, which means: "The one who drives the two-horse chariots is Pisus, son of Perieris, and Asterion, son of Cometes."
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§ VIII.
However, after ENDYMION, Syncellus (Syncellus, in the cited place), who makes no mention of PISUS, places ALEXIUS, whom Pausanias (Pausanias, book 5, from the beginning) calls ALXIO, and says that some consider him a brave warrior, and he himself, namely Pausanias, places him as the father of OENOMAUS. Since he was a famous hero, it is not strange to think that he renewed the proud exercise games and had them celebrated with great splendor; yes, so much so that he could have obtained the name of founder among his descendants.
§ IX.
After that, SYNCELLUS places OENOMAUS (Syncellus, in the cited place; Marsham, Canon Chronicus, p. 458), son (as we said from Pausanias) of ALEXIUS or ALXIO. OENOMAUS was king of ELIS and PISA, and brought great fame to the Olympic games, because he offered his daughter HIPPODAME, or HIPPODAMIA, with the royal crown as a prize. However, this was on the condition that the one who fell short against him (for he himself would be the opponent) in the race of the chariot teams would lose his life without mercy. OENOMAUS now took this path with his daughter because, it is said, it had been prophesied to him that his son-in-law would rob him of his crown and life. For this reason, he thought to scare away his daughter's suitors in this way, either by the harsh condition, or to do away with those who were not scared away, and thus remain without a son-in-law. For he relied on the speed of the horses he had harnessed to the team, which are said to have been begotten by the wind; which fable, however, means nothing else than that they were extraordinarily fast and flew like the wind. PELOPS, however, defeated him, although it is said by a trick, by bribing the charioteer (Natalis Comes, book 7, chap. 17)
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Myrtilus to mount weak and brittle axles, or none, or to put wax pins for the wheels. Because of this, the king crashed during the race; PELOPS won and fled with the bride to Phrygia. Propertius shows this when he says (Propertius, book 1, elegy 2) that "Hippodamia, carried away on strange wheels, did not attract her Phrygian husband with false beauty." No doubt, because the defeated king, who did not want a son-in-law, not only refused him the promised prize but also pursued him.
§ X.
The Idaean HERCULES is also celebrated as a founder of the games, that is, a son of a king from IDA. IDA was a mountain range in Phrygia, but also one on the island of CRETE. The interpreters want him (Pausanias, book 5) to have come from the Cretan IDA (Alexander ab Alexandro, Geniales Dies, book 5, chap. 8). This is placed very high by the knight Marsham in his second chronicle list (Marsham, Canon Chronicus, table 2), for he places him at the time of the division of Canaan among the Israelites and the eighty-fifth year of CALEB's life, or at the time of the forty-seventh year after the exodus from Egypt. However, it seems to us that in all the above, two errors can be seen. First, that one understands the wrong Ida and calls it the Cretan, instead of the Phrygian in TROAS. The second error is that this HERCULES
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is too highly praised and placed in the time when not the Idaean but the Tyrian HERCULES must have lived. We indeed believe that behind the person and mask of this HERCULES lurks PELOPS. For he was the son of the Phrygian king TANTALUS, who, if not ruling, at least oppressed and curtailed TROAS, in which IDA lay, as is evident from the fact that he kidnapped and carried off GANYMEDES (Orosius, book 1, chap. 12), the son of King TROS. Kings were formerly called JOVESSES (Herodotus in Euterpe), and their brave sons HERCULESSES (Arrianus). Hence one reads about so many HERCULESSES (Cicero, de Natura Deorum, book 3, chap. 16) (Vossius, de Idolatria, book 1, chap. 14), for some count two, some three, some six, some more. However, TANTALUS in particular was honored as the Phrygian JUPITER. Therefore, his son PELOPS could bear the name HERCULES with a special right. He and his companions are called the Idaean Dactyls, in which ignorance and love of fables confuse him and his people with the priests of the Cretan IDA, who were called Curetes. There is also a difference of opinion about the number of our Idaeans. The Arundel Marble (Marmor Arundelianum) states one, named KELMIS. Clemens Alexandrinus (Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromateis, book 1) two, KELMIS and DAMNAMENEUS. The scholiast of Apollonius (Scholiast on Apollonius, Argonautica, book 1, vs. 1129) three, KELMIS, DAMNAMENEUS and AKMON. Strabo (Strabo, book 10), from the fictions of others, four: SALAMINUS (this one is held to be KELMIS), DAMNANEUS (for DAMNAMENEUS), HERACLEUS (that is, HERCULES) and AKMON. Pausanias (Pausanias, book 5) counts five: HERCULES, PEONIUS, EPIMEDES, JAZIUS and IDA. Others (Marsham, Canon Chronicus, p. 256) count ten, as many as one has fingers on two hands, and babble that they were therefore called Dactyls (which also means fingers). Others count a hundred. It is to be thought that HERCULES, that is PELOPS, had some brave men with him when he came to seek his adventure
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in Greece. But let's continue our purpose.
PELOPS then, returning afterward with his bride, and now wife, seized ELIS, killed the traitor MYRTILUS and threw him into the sea (from which, it is said, the Myrtoan Sea got its name) and furthermore became so powerful through various ways that the entire peninsula, formerly called APIA and PELASGIA, received the name PELOPONNESE, that is, Pelops' Island, from him. This one, now so great and having won so much in the footrace, renewed, increased, and greatly glorified the exercise games, and dedicated them to JUPITER. In our opinion not that JUPITER, to whom they were dedicated of old, but his father TANTALUS, the Phrygian JUPITER. For this act, he was considered the first founder of the games by many. Therefore, it is no wonder that Pausanias said of him (Pausanias, book 5) that "Pelops is so much more honored in Olympia by the Eleans than the other heroes, as Jupiter is above the other gods." Pausanias narrates something else wonderful, yet also fabulous, about this PELOPS at the said place, namely: the Greeks were prophesied that they could not conquer TROY unless they had the bones of PELOPS and the arrows of HERCULES. Thereupon, the bones of PELOPS were brought there. However, when the Greeks returned after the destruction of Troy, the ship that carried these bones perished. Some years later, an Eretrian, the fisherman DEMARMENUS, took it out of the depths with his dragnet, and, wondering at its size, hid it in a secret place and goes
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to consult the Delphic oracle about it, to know of what man it could be, and for what purpose he could usefully preserve it. Just then, the Eleans also came to ask APOLLO what to do against the devastating plague. They were now answered: they should look for the bones of PELOPS. But DEMARMENUS received the reply that he had to return the found item to the Eleans. When this had happened, the plague stopped. DEMARMENUS was greatly honored by the Eleans, and the keeping of PELOPS' bones was entrusted to him and his family.
§ XI.
Velleius makes us think of ATREUS, the son of PELOPS, when he says (Velleius Paterculus, book 1) that the most famous contest of all, and the most effective for strengthening the strength of body and mind, had the Elean Iphitus as its founder for the beginning of the Olympic Games. This one instituted the games and the market, 823 years before you, Marcus Vinicius, became consul. It is said that Atreus instituted this sanctuary in the same place, about 1250 years ago, when he held funeral games for his father Pelops. The Olympic games are also considered by others (Stellingfleet, Origines Sacrae, book 1, chap. 6, § 3; Statius, Thebais, book 6; Clemens Alexandrinus; Protrepticus ad Graecos) as funeral games in honor of PELOPS (however not celebrated by ATREUS, but by HERCULES) (C. Pascalius, de Coronis, book 6, chap. 3). If Vellejus adds that Hercules won in all game types in that contest, he seems to be mistaken
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in time. For ALCIDES seems not to have been there yet or was still too young for it, since he was PELOPS' great-great-grandson. Unless we say that Vellejus, or the source from which he learned it, had an eye on a mediocre hero, who had won all the prizes at ATREUS's game celebration and was therefore to be honored with the title of HERCULES. However, ATREUS's funeral games seem to us to have brought the funeral games in honor of the deceased into great use. Therefore, Homer also has them celebrated afterward in honor of PATROCLUS, and so they came into further use.
§ XII.
But King ELEUS is also considered the founder of the games by some. And we are of the opinion that he, too, had the long-instituted games celebrated, with the addition of new splendor and greater fame. Pausanias (Pausanias, book 5) describes him as the son of ENDYMION from EURYCYDA. However, since that was ENDYMION's daughter, the word "son" here means as much as grandson, yes, perhaps even great-grandson. But this one could by no means reach the age of AUGEAS and the Theban HERCULES, which he should have done, if he were the father of AUGEAS. Therefore, we think that Pausanias ignorantly mixes ELEUS, grandson or great-grandson of ENDYMION, with ELEUS, father of AUGEAS, where one ELEUS is I and the other ELEUS II. And it may be that both of them, each in their time, renewed the games. Pausanias also says that some called ELEUS the son of NEPTUNE (that is, a bastard, or the son of a sea-prince), and that the countrymen, formerly called Epeans, named themselves Eleans after him. But here too he confuses the persons, and we do not know which of the two he means, although we prefer to apply those stories to ELEUS
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I, although even he would not have given the countrymen his name (Bochartus, Phaleg, book 3, chap. 4), for ELISA, son of JAPHETH, had already done that before him.
§ XIII.
After these, AUGEAS is placed, who is said to be the son of ELEUS II. However, to raise him, the Eleans and their affairs higher, some have said that he was the son of HELIUS, that is, of the Sun (Pausanias, cited place). It is said that he had a stable of 3000 cattle that had not been cleaned in thirty years. EURYSTHEUS commanded HERCULES to clean it in one day, and sent him to AUGEAS for that purpose. He promised HERCULES the tenth part of the cattle (Natalis Comes, book 7, chap. 1) if he would do it, because he considered it impossible. Thereupon HERCULES had the river ALPHEUS flow into the stable and simultaneously wash away all the dung. Thereupon AUGEAS refused him the agreed-upon payment. Therefore, HERCULES killed him either at once with his arrows, or he attacked him afterward together with PHYLEUS, the son of AUGEAS (who had fled to DULICHIUM from his father's wrath, because, when he had to make a judgment on the dispute between his father and HERCULES about said payment, he had declared in favor of the latter), killed him, and put said PHYLEUS on his father's throne.
§ XIV.
Then follows HERCULES, not the Idaean, whom we believe to be PELOPS himself, but a later one, whose real name was perhaps ALCIDES, son of AMPHITRUO and ALCMENE, born in Tiryns, hence called the Tirynthian Hero. He was, however, transferred by his father to Thebes in Boeotia, hence the Theban Hercules. He is considered the great-great-grandson of PELOPS; for it is said that his mother ALCMENE was born of EURYMEDA or (Diodorus Siculus, book 4)
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EURYDICE, the daughter of PELOPS, although Apollodorus states ALCMENE as the daughter of ANAXO, daughter of ALCEUS. Marsham places his age against that of Israel's judge SAMGAR (Marsham, Canon Chronicus, table 2). Dionysius Petavius places EURYSTHEUS, and thus also ALCIDES, against GIDEON (Petavius, Rationarium Temporum, book 1, chap. 10). Foreign writers place the end of his life a little before the final fall of Troy. Having reached manhood, he performed great and many deeds. However, the deeds of previous heroes and Herculesses were also attributed to him, just as his own were in turn attributed to the previous ones by later fantasists. Among his deeds are these: that he freed Thebes from the violence of the Minyan king ARGINUS, and destroyed his capital ORCHOMENUM; for which service King CREON gave him his daughter MEGARA as his wife. He was also among those daredevils who embarked on the ship ARGO, from which they were called ARGONAUTS, and undertook to fetch the famous golden fleece from KOLCHOS. On the way there, he freed HESIONE, the daughter of the Trojan king LAOMEDON, from the sea monster, and thereby earned the freed daughter and swift horses. He left them there, however, to take them on the way back, but then they were refused to him. Therefore, he took ILIUM, killed LAOMEDON, and put his son PRIAMUS on the throne. EURYSTHEUS also demanded of him, among other things, that he should clean AUGEAS's cattle stable of all its dung in one day, which he is said to have done, after which he killed AUGEAS and put PHYLEUS on his father's throne, as we showed above. After such deeds, he is then said to have instituted, that is, renewed and enlarged, the exercise games in honor of PELOPS, his great-grandfather. However, the
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writers differ in opinion about the occasion of those games. For some want him to have seen fit to institute such games from the spoils of AUGEAS (Natalis Comes, cited place). Others that he did it to celebrate the funeral memory of his great-grandfather PELOPS; which was, however, first done by ATREUS, see above. Still others want him to have introduced them on the occasion of his return with the Argonauts, and at the suggestion of the leaders of these heroes. Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus Siculus, book 4) speaks of it in the following words: "When the Argonauts prepared to return each to his homeland, Hercules is said to have given the following advice: that they should bind themselves to each other with an oath to help each other when (because things in the world often change unexpectedly) one needed the help of the other. That they should also choose the most famous place in Greece for celebrating solemn games and for a gathering of all Greeks, and dedicate it to the greatest of the gods, the Olympian Jupiter. When the chieftains had agreed to this assistance pact and entrusted the organization of the games to Hercules, he designated, before all others, the fields of the Eleans by the Alpheus for the great gatherings and solemnities. He sanctified the whole region to the great Jupiter and named it Olympia after him. After he had instituted the horse races and the exercise games and named the prizes, he sent out envoys to invite the regions to come and watch the games." Plutarch (Plutarch in the life of Theseus) adds that in imitation of these Olympic games, shortly afterward THESEUS, a contemporary of HERCULES, introduced the Isthmian Games in his honor.
§ XV.
After the Theban HERCULES, OXYLUS, according to Pausanias, celebrated the games (Pausanias, book 5), and without
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a doubt with such solemnity that he seemed to be the first founder and great glorifier of them. All the more so because they had now fallen into disuse for a time; for the Pizans, under whose rule they had been brought by the Pelopids, after a while did not want to celebrate the games for the Eleans, and did not even consider them legitimate. OXYLUS then, with the armies of the Etolians, Heraclids, and Epeans, freed ELIS from the Pizan yoke, also transferred the right of the game back to ELIS, and made that nation master over the others again. For he took away a part of the territory from the Pizans, which undoubtedly included OLYMPIA. Thus, the crooked ELIS was happily restored to its high splendor, while PISA, harshly disciplined, was deeply humbled. See Strabo (Strabo, book 8). Thereupon, he, namely OXYLUS, who had previously only ridden on a one-eyed mule (Pausanias, book 8), was appointed king over ELIS by the Heraclids, for his service rendered, and ELAEUS, the previous king, was driven out (Marsham, Canon Chronicus, ad saeculum 13). It is then to be thought that at his inauguration he had the exercise games renewed and celebrated most magnificently, while the Eleans, in wild joy, cheered the new king, and had the games, as great splendors and invaluable treasures, again under their power. This would now have happened, according to the calculation of Petavius (Petavius, Rationarium Temporum, book 1, chap. 12 & book 2, chap. 5), about eighty years after the destruction of Troy, which occurred around the time that JAIR wielded the judge's staff over Israel. However, according to the time rules of Marsham (Marsham, Canon 2), it was about the reign of ELI or SAMUEL. For he sets the final return of the Heraclids against that. The time had then already progressed to some time after the destruction of Troy, and yet there was still no firm footing and unshakable rule for their histories among the Greeks.
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§ XVI.
Not long after OXYLUS, the games were again neglected, and that even until the time of IPHITUS. IPHITUS then restored them. This IPHITUS was not the son of NAUBULUS, one of the Argonauts, of whom Flaccus sings (Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, book 1, vs. 363): "Also the son of Naubulus, Iphitus, rises here and plunges into the swirling waves." Nicolaus Heinsius reads this verse as: "Hic & Naubolides tortas insurgit in undas." Although I know that some consider him to be that one, that is with the greatest carelessness with regard to chronology. For how can that IPHITUS, who traveled to COLCHOS with JASON in the company of the Theban HERCULES before the fall of Troy, be that IPHITUS who restored the games long after OXYLUS? He may have been present at HERCULES's games and held a great command, for which reason some praised him as the founder or co-founder thereof in the beginning (from which, to be honest, the error arose, according to our guess). But he will certainly have refrained from the restoration of the games, which we are dealing with in this paragraph, since he had long since passed away. That IPHITUS, then, whom we consider the founder of the games after OXYLUS, was from the lineage of OXYLUS and through OXYLUS from HERCULES. Pausanias (Pausanias, book 5) gives us this report of his nearest origin. The inscription in (Petavius, Rationarium Temporum, book 1, chap. 12 & book 2, chap. 5) Olympia testifies that Iphitus was the son of Haemon. Many of the Greeks called him not Haemon's, but the son
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of Praxonides. The archives of the Eleans name his father with the same name, that is, also IPHITUS. C. Julius Solinus says that the Olympic contests, which Hercules had instituted in honor of his great-grandfather on his mother's side, Pelops, had become outdated, until IPHITUS the Elean (so the great Salmasius (Salmasius, Exercitationes Plinianae ad Solinum, p. 12) reads after Vinetus, instead of 'the son of Iphielus') renewed them in the year 408 after the destruction of Troy (Solinus, Polyhistor, chap. 1). Others state it a little differently, more or less, for Dicaearchus counts 436, Velleius 415, Eusebius 406, Aretes 414, Timaeus 417, Eratosthenes 407, Sosibius 395. It is no wonder that there is such a difference, for there was not yet a fixed and general era, and the intermediate period between the destruction of Troy and the games of IPHITUS is considered by most to be the mythical time, or time of fables, or at least one is not completely certain of it, as Censorinus says (Censorinus, de Die Natali, chap. 21). Be that as it may, Aristotle, Plutarch, and Pausanias show that IPHITUS was a contemporary (Marsham, Canon Chronicus, p. 328) of LYCURGUS, the famous lawgiver of LACEDEMON, his relative, since both were descendants of HERCULES (Plutarch in the life of Lycurgus), and descended from him in the tenth degree of the descending line. Salmasius clearly shows this in the person of the said LYCURGUS in this way: Hercules begot Hyllus, Hyllus Cleodeus, Cleodeus Aristomachus, Aristomachus Aristodemus, Aristodemus Procles (from which the Proclids), Procles Sofus, Sofus Europus, Europus Prytanis, Prytanis Lycurgus, although others call him the son of Eunomus. It is also attempted to prove that IPHITUS and LYCURGUS were contemporaries (Plutarch, cited place) from the fact that the name of LYCURGUS was on the discus or disk used in the Olympic game. From this it is concluded that he himself, together with IPHITUS, should be considered a renewer of the exercise games, to which two some still add a third, namely CLE-
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OSTHENES. Plutarch, from Hermippus, tells this story about LYCURGUS's participation in the institution of the games: "Some say that Lycurgus was not present there from the beginning, nor did he serve as a companion in the matters that Iphitus instituted; but that he, however, traveled there for some reason and was only a spectator. But that he heard a voice as of a human, which reproached him from behind and wondered about him that he did not urge his citizens to participate in this solemnity with others. And that, when Lycurgus looked back and the one who had spoken was nowhere to be seen, he thought it was God, and that he then went to Iphitus and with joint effort made the solemnity more splendid and lasting." The time of the first Olympic game of Iphitus is placed according to the calculation of the said Solinus at about the year 3938 of the Julian calendar, which, according to the calculation of Scaliger (Scaliger, de Emendatione Temporum, book 5, p. 382), was 722 years after the exodus of Israel, 240 years after the building of Solomon's temple, and in the 36th year of Uzziah's reign. However, IPHITUS and LYCURGUS seem to have lived and renewed the game earlier, namely about the year 3827 or 3830 of the Julian calendar, around the reign of Israel's king Jehu. And so it is. From this, it can be seen that Solinus in his calculation does not have in mind the beginning of the Iphitian game, but the time from which one began to reckon, which was as much as 112 years later, namely when CORAEBUS the Elean won (Strauchius, § 10). This time, although so far from the Iphitian beginning, is nevertheless reckoned as the beginning. Marsham distinguishes this very wisely, saying that the reckoning (epocha) of Olympia is twofold, a true and a common, and so on (Marsham, Canon Chronicus, p. 449). The true beginning of the Olympic games is that which Iphitus, Lycurgus, and Cleosthenes set, being the
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year 699 of the Attic calendar, and 3830 of the Julian. However, the first Olympiad, which was adopted for the general use of chronologists, is the twenty-eighth Iphitian, in which Coraebus the Elean won in the footrace; the year 807 of the Attic calendar, 3938 of the Julian. Phlegon also gives a clear report of this, saying (Phlegon Trallianus): "After Pisus, Pelops, and Hercules, who were the first to institute the great Olympic gathering and the contest, after the Peloponnesians had neglected that festival for a time (namely during the time from Iphitus to Coraebus the Elean, which amounts to twenty-eight Olympiads) and had neglected the contest, a commotion arose in the Peloponnese, and so on." Here he testifies that from the first institution by IPHITUS to the victory of CORAEBUS there was an interval of 28 Olympiads (Eusebius, Chronicorum, p. 216) (each reckoned at four years, for an OLYMPIAD consisted of four years) and thus was of 112 years, as we just said. Callimachus, however, wants there to be only an interval of 13 Olympiads from the institution of IPHITUS to CORAEBUS, and consequently a series of only 52 years. But he seems to be mistaken. The aforementioned IPHITUS is said to have renewed the game on the advice and command of the Delphic Oracle. The matter is said to have happened as follows, according to the story of Pausanias (Pausanias, book 5). When the games had been neglected for a long time (namely after the death of OXYLUS), Greece was almost destroyed by discord and pestilence. They then send to Delphi to ask for Apollo's advice on what to do in such urgent need. The answer is that it would be useful if the Olympic games were restored by IPHITUS and the Eleans. Thereupon IPHITUS instituted the games, had the great market held, and for the sake of the games had a truce
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proclaimed throughout Greece. IPHITUS also advised that one should sacrifice to HERCULES, whom the Eleans previously considered their enemy. After this, at the sixth game time, IPHITUS would have asked APOLLO if the winners should be crowned (Phlegon Trallianus in Fragmentis)? And, having received an answer, at the seventh game time, he crowned DAICLES with wild olive; since it had been arranged differently before, as will be said in its place. The games, which IPHITUS restored on the mentioned occasion, seem to have consisted only of running games, which were also the oldest and most common from the very first origin. Hence Aristodemus says in Syncellus (Syncellus, page 196) that the contest was only a footrace, and so on (P. Faber, Agonisticon, book 2, chap. 23). IPHITUS seems to have made the footraces quadrennial, that is, recurring after every fourth year; although we do not think that this took place before the time of IPHITUS. That they, at least after the time of IPHITUS, were quadrennial seems to be evident from the interval between IPHITUS and CORAEBUS. For, as said, that was of 28 Olympic games. These must furthermore have been quadrennial, because they had to produce about 112 years, which they could not have done otherwise. However, one could object to this that one wanted to count those 112 years as exactly 28 Olympic games by imagination, although in that same period the said games were by no means quadrennial.