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before the great temple; and near it was the hippodrome, or course for the races of horses and chariots. The Alpheus flowed by from Arcadia with a copious and very pleasant stream, which was received on the coast by the Sicilian Sea.

The temple of Jupiter was of the Doric order, sixty-eight feet high to the pediment, ninety-five wide, and two hundred and thirty long; the cell encompassed with columns. It was erected with the country-stone; the roof, not of earth baked, but of Pentelic marble, the slabs disposed as tiles; the way to it up a winding staircase. The two pediments were enriched with sculpture, and one had over the centre a statue of Victory gilded; and underneath, a votive buckler of gold At each corner was a gilded vase. Above the columns were fixed twenty-one gilded bucklers, offered at the conclusion of the Achæan war by the Roman general Mummius. The gates in the two fronts were of brass, and over them were carved the labours of Hercules.. Within the cell, as in the Parthenon at Athens, were doubled colonnades, between which was the approach to the image.

The Jupiter of Olympia was accounted alone sufficient to immortalize its maker Phidias.. It was of ivory and gold, the head crowned with olive. In the right hand was a statue of Victory; in the left, a flowered sceptre, composed of various metals, on which was an eagle. The sandals were of gold, as also the vestment, which was curiously embossed with lilies and animals. The throne was gold, inlaid with ebony and ivory, and studded with jewels, intermixed with paintings, and exquisite figures in relievo. The pillars between the feet contributed to its support. Before it were walls, serving as a fence, decorated principally with the exploits of Hercules;

the portion opposite to the door of a blue colour. It was the office of a family descended from Phidias, called phædruntæ, or the polishers, to keep the work bright and clean. The veil or curtain was cloth rich with the purple die of Phoenicia, and with Assyrian embroidery, an offering of king Antiochus; and was not drawn up as in the temple of Diana at Ephesus, but was let down from above by loosing the strings. The image impressed on the spectator an opinion that it was higher and wider than it measured. Its magnitude was such, that though the temple was very large, the artist seemed to have erred in the proportions. The god, sitting, nearly touched the ceiling with his head; suggesting an idea, that if he were to rise up, he would destroy the roof. A part of the pavement before it was of black marble, inclosed in a rim of Parian or white, where they poured oil to preserve the ivory. Pausanias has remarked, that the dry air and lofty situation of the citadel at Athens, rendered water more proper for the Minerva in the Parthenon. He enquired why neither oil nor water was used at Epidaurus, and was informed that the image and throne of Esculapius stood over a well.

The altar of Jupiter Olympius was of great antiquity, and composed of ashes from the thighs of the victims, which were carried up and consumed on the top with wood of the white poplar tree. The ashes also of the Prytanèum, in which a perpetual fire was kept on a hearth, were removed annually on a fixed day, and spread on it, being first mingled with water from the Alpheus. The cement, it was affirmed, could be made with that fluid only, and therefore this river was much respected, and esteemed the most friendly of any to the god. On cach side of the altar were stone steps. Its height was twenty-two feet. Girls and women, women, when

allowed to be at Olympia, were suffered to ascend the basement, which was a hundred and twenty-five feet in circumference. The people of Elis sacrificed daily, and private persons as often as they chose.

Religion flourished at Olympia, and many deities were worshipped besides Jupiter. Pausanias has enumerated above sixty altars of various shapes and kinds. One, of the unknown gods, stood by the great altar. The people of Elis offered on all these, monthly; laying on them boughs of olive; burning incense, and wheat mixed with honey; and pouring libations of such liquors as the ritual prescribed. At the latter ceremony sometimes a form of prayer was used, and they sung hymns composed in the Doric dialect.

Olympia preserved much longer than Delphi, and with less diminution, the sacred property, of which it was a similar repository. Some images were removed by Tiberius Nero. His successor, Caius Caligula, who honoured Jupiter with the familiar appellation of brother, commanded that his image should be transported to Rome, but the architects declared it was impossible without destroying the work; and his commissioner, Memmius Regulus, terrified by prodigies, ventured to apologize for a disobedience, which endangered his life. The god in the time of Pausanias retained his original splendour. The votive offerings of crowns, and chariots, and of charioteers, and horses, and oxen, in brass, the precious images of gold, ivory or amber, and the curiosities consecrated in the temples, the treasuries, and other edifices, could not be viewed without astonishment. The number of statues within the altis or grove was itself an amazing spectacle. Many were the works of Myron, Lysippus, and the prime artists of Greece. Their kings and emperors were assembled;

and Jupiter towered in brass, of colossal proportions, from twelve to near thirty feet high. The class of men and boys, conquerors in the games in brass, which was the largest, continually increased. The statue of a Roman senator, who had been victorious, was erecting, when the collection was viewed by Pausanias. Let the reader peruse the detail given by that traveller, and imagine, if he can, the entertainment, which Olympia must then have afforded to the connoisseur, to the historian, and the antiquary.

Pausanias declares, that a person might see many things wonderful to tell of, among the Greeks; but that the Olympic agon, or games, with the Eleusinian Mysteries, partook in an especial manner of the deity. The former grand exhibition was conducted with prodigious solemnity. The order of the exercises and the ceremonial were controlled by the præfects, who were commonly ten or twelve in number, elected one from each tribe of the Eleans. These, and the competitors, were required to qualify by taking an oath, with dire imprecations, in the presence of Jupiter Horcius. The terrible image stood in the council-chamber, bearing in either hand avenging thunder; and a boar was the victim. The spectators assembled in the stadium, which was of earth, like that of Epidaurus, and had seats for the præfects, who entered with the candidates by a private way. Opposite to them was an altar of white marble, on which the priestess of Ceres sate; and before them on a table were laid crowns of oleaster or wild olive, made from a tree growing near the back front of the temple of Jupiter.

From the silence of Homer it has been argued, that the four great spectacles of games in Greece either did not exist, when he wrote, or were in no repute. That of Olympia,

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