Scientific Athletics

birth, in the y ar of th Julian period 3938, and 22 year b fore the building of Rome. The game took place at the time of th full moon next aft r th umm r sol tice. Th refore the Olympiad w r of un qual luration, b cause the tim of the full moon diff r about elev n days ev ry year, and for that rea on they ometime b gan the following clay after the 1 tic , and at oth r time four week after. Th computation by Olympiad cea ed in the year 440 of the hri tian era. It wa universally adopted by the Gr k and by many of the urrounding c untrie ; though still the Pythian Garn s rved as an epoch to th inhabitants of Delphi and to the ccotian ; the 0l emcean Garn s to the Argiv and .\rcadians; and the I thmian Game to the orinthian and the inhabitants of the Pelopon– ne ian Isthmu . The Olympic Game were in tituted by the Gr eks a·1d wer o all d from JUPITER OLYMPIU , to whom they wer d licat cl, and said to hav b en fir t in– , tituted by him after his victory ver th of Titan. 0th rs a crib their in titution to the on of lcmena ; other to a H rcul greater antiquity ; and oth r to P lop . But by whomso ver they wer origin.at cl at an arly p riocl th y had fallen into disuse. Th civil wars whi h prevailed among the Gr ek had totall int rruptecl the religiou cer monies an l demon tration with which th y had b en accu tom d to honour th ir ommon god and hero ; but th Garn s w re ulti– mately r uscitatecl by I phitu, , a d ccndant of Oxyh1s, to whom th prnvinc of El ia had fall n in th g ncral partition of the penin ula. The f tival, which o cupied fiv days, b gan and nded with a sacrific to Olympian J ovc. The int r– mediate tim wa chi fly fil] d up by th gymna tic x rci , in whi h all fr em n of 1r cian xtracti n were invit d to cont nd, provicl cl th y w r legitimat , and had liv d an unimp achab] 1if untainted by any infamou immoral tain.