REAL OLYMPIC GAMES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13678, 21 August 1908, Page 7

REAL OLYMPIC GAMES.

A capital-article in the I'all Mall Magazine gives tlif? story of •The lieal Olympic Games," and desu: ilies a visit to the Greek (Jlympia. "The aihh.ic aspect of th? (Jlynijiic festival w.i.s . uliordinaß- i.:'< it,; social, political, and u-'igious i,ignilicancf." says the writer, .Mr. A. K. Johnsnn. " Iji the discussion so ol.en pur. tied nl' 1112 relative-iinrriL, of ill - - ancient and modern ;athlek\ the efGc-ittial difference br-'lween. 'i he two tlr.es not seem n> be grasped. Tins distinction is mil a physical one of greater or lees speed <vr enilnrance, bn; a mental one. In the Greek view the cult of the body was complimentary to the cull of the mind, and the two things in conjunction made rip the ancient Greek ideal of life. The Greek athlete in brief, ran or wrestled for an ideal. •Such things as ' records' did noi concern him; tlie lust of the pot liunt-r hail no: place in his desires. Olvmpia. unique among the i-ities. dead and living, of the world, occupied a natural oil:- in the plain of Klis. through which ran the Alpheios. This stream was wont to overHow its banks, leaving a deposit if mud after its rc-tiie-menr, with the lesulr thai witii (lie lapse of centuries the > itf of the ancient city became buried' beneath a deep

succession of lay-'-ni <.f uhich 1 Inix -silled tip. In 1875. however, i-xenvation:-: upon the. site of Olvmpia- were begun under the an-pii-is of tlit*- German Government. Out of the i-aitliy aecumulatii.n beneath which they wore buiied the ex--ler.i-isv ivmains now to b:> s n were dug, and a! the present day it is possible for • veil thr- lr-:i--l imaginative man to stand admidst the i uins of wlia; was once the wry hub. social, political, and religious, of the- Greek world, xr.d to reconstruct in his mind's eve the ancient scene, in ail ii> r-plmduir arid rnagnilicfnee. Great war, ihf gloiy of th • athlete who achieved a vietoiv. The Sfridion rang with the •shouts that acclaimed him, and in joyous triumph he was borne through the pi-era by his thronging companions i o ih - l -mple of Zen.-. A herald' proclaimed the victor's name, his parentage, and his native city, and forthwith he was crowned with a garland of olive cu[. with a golden sickle from the kalli-steplianos. the sac-. v<d tree, which tradition declared had b;eri planted by Heracles. No honour was too great to b? conferred upon him by hir, native place. His image was graven in marble by famous sculptors. or limned by the most celebrated painters. Pods, even of the greatness of Pindar, .sang of his praises in immortal verse, and his name wan handed down to eternal posterity as a. national hero. And not. Ir-sa were the matfrial rewards which were showered upon him."