Pythian Games

“ The Pythian games were, according to most legends, instituted by Apollo himself. They were originally perhaps nothing more than a religious panegyris, occasioned by the oracle of Delphi, and the sacred games are said to have been at first only a musical contest, which consisted in singing a hymn to the honour of the Pythian god, with the accompaniment of the cithara. They must, on account of the celebrity of the Delphic oracle, have become a national festival for all the Greeks at a very early period, and gradually all the various contests were introduced which occur in the Olympic games. ”

“ By means of these periodical gatherings, representing all parts of the Greek world, not only was friendly competition in every field of talent and performance secured, but even trade and commerce found through them new channels of activity. So in various ways the national games proved a source of fresh energy and broader enterprise among the various branches of the Grecian people. The particular character and significance of the Pythian games at Delphi, and their relation to the other national festivals, form an interesting subject for study in connection with the general history of Greece. ”

“ For in addition to their increase of power they were stimulated by a new and dangerous competition—that of the Pythian games, established in the third year of the 48th Ol., and this may have been one of the reasons why they determined finally to crush and spoil the Pisatans. It is likely that the Nemean and Isthmian games were instituted [233] about the same time, and these rival games were perhaps connected with some complaints as to the management of the Olympian festival, for no Eleian seems to have competed at the Isthmian games (Paus. v. 2, 2) . ”

“ The Pythian Games survived the classic Greek period and were continued under Roman sway until about A.D. 394. Not only were these games held at Delphi, but smaller contests, called Pythia, modelled on the great Pythian, were instituted in various provinces of the empire, and more especially in Asia Minor. The games lasted for several days, the first being devoted to music. To the games at Delphi came musicians from all parts of the civilized world ”

“ The victors had statues erected to them, and called forth the praises of the poets, and thus these primitive sports [pg 199] incidentally gave an impulse to art and poetry. In later times, poets and historians recited their compositions, and were rewarded with the garland of leaves. The victors of these games thus acquired a social pre-eminence, and were held in especial honor, like those heroes in the Middle Ages who obtained the honor of tournaments and tilts, and, in modern times, those who receive decoration at the hands of kings.
The Pythian games. ”

“ The greatest lyric poets of Hellas, Simonides and Pindar, for instance, celebrated the victors. Of Pindar’s ἐπινίκια or “Odes of Victory,” we possess fourteen Ὀλυμπιονῖκαι for winners in the Olympian games. Twelve Πυθιονῖκαι for the Pythian games, seven Νεμεονῖκαι for the Nemean games, and eleven Ἰσθμεονῖκαι for the Isthmian games. Even the wise men and famous bards of Greece could not resist the desire to be present. It is said that the Spartan Chilon, one of the seven wise men of Greece, died while witnessing these games, being overcome with joy at his son’s victory. ”

“ The ensuing day ended the Pythian games; but not the conflict of the youthful pair; Love was the arbiter, and in the persons of these his combatants, determined to exhibit his mightiest contest. Towards the end of the ceremony, when all Greece was looking on, and the Amphictyons sat as judges; when the races, the wrestlings, and the boxing matches were over; a herald came forward, and made proclamation for the men in armour to appear. ”

“ All the Pythiæ did not seem to have had the same talent at poetry, or to have memory enough to retain their lesson.—Plutarch and Strabo make mention of poets, who were kept in by Jupiter, as interpreters.
The solemn games instituted in honor of Apollo, and in memory of his killing the serpent Python with his arrows, were called Pythia or Pythian games.
37. The art of knowing the humour, temperament, or disposition of a person, from observation of the lines of the face, and the character of its members or features, is called Physiognomy. ”

“ The pacific communion so fostered, and the increased assurance of intercourse, as Greece gradually emerged from the turbulence and pugnacity of the heroic age, operated especially in extending the range of this ancient habit: the village festivals became town festivals, largely frequented by the citizens of other towns, and sometimes with special invitations sent round to attract Theors from every Hellenic community—and thus these once humble assemblages gradually swelled into the pomp and immense confluence of the Olympic and Pythian games. ”

“ The celebrity of the Olympic games, which drew spectators from Asia as well as all the States of Greece, led to similar institutions or festivals in other places. The Pythian games, in honor of Apollo, were celebrated near Delphi every third Olympic year; and various musical contests, exercises in poetry, exhibitions of works of art were added to gymnastic exercises and chariot and horse races. The sacrifices, processions, and other solemnities, resemble those at Olympia in honor of Zeus. ”

“ When the town had fallen, the vow of the conquerors was literally fulfilled. Crissa was razed to the ground, its harbour choked up, its fruitful plain turned into a wilderness. This triumph was commemorated by the institution of gymnastic games, called the Pythian, in the room of a more ancient and simple festival. The Amphictyons, who celebrated the new games with the spoils of Crissa, were appointed perpetual presidents. ”

“ The Sicyonian despot, Clisthenes himself, once the leader in the conquest of Cirrha, gained the prize at the chariot-race of the second Pythia. We find other great personages in Greece frequently mentioned as competitors, and the games long maintained a dignity second only to the Olympic, over which indeed they had some advantages; first, that they were not abused for the purpose of promoting petty jealousies and antipathies of any administering state, as the Olympic games were perverted by the Eleans on more than one occasion ”

“ The pentathlon, during which the Pythian air was played on the flutes in honour of Apollo, consisted of running, jumping, throwing the disc or quoit, throwing the javelin, and wrestling. Finally came chariot-racing (in a hippodrome adjoining the Altis) , which, though necessarily confined to men of wealth, added much to the spectacular attractions of the games.
The competitors had to strip naked for the athletic contests, this being a characteristic feature of the Greek games, obligatory on all without distinction of rank. ”

“ At first the person who instituted the games and defrayed the expenses was the Agonothetes; but in the great public games, such as the Olympic and Pythian, these presidents were the representatives of different states, or were chosen from the people in whose country the games were celebrated; thus at the Panathenaic festival at Athens ten athlothetae were elected for four years to superintend the various contests. ”

“ BY backgammon we usually mean one particular game played with dice and thirty draughts, on a board with twelve points on each side. But this is only one of a family of games, whose general definition is that they consist in moving pieces on a diagram, not at the player's free choice, as in draught-playing, but conformably to the throws of lots or dice. It can hardly be doubted that the set of games thus combining chance and skill are all, whether ancient or modern, the descendants of one original game. ”

“ Who, in the middle ages, could have guessed what would be its next outcome—that magic sunk into sport should rise again as science, and man's failure to divine the future should lead him to success in controlling it?
Already in the ancient world there appear mentions of games where the throws of lots or dice, perhaps at first merely scored with counters on a board, give the excitement of chance to a game which is partly a draught-game, the player being allowed to judge with which pieces he will move his allotted number. In England this group of games is represented by backgammon. ”

“ He told them only one of their number would be taken as a specimen to the land of One; the person chosen would be retained alive and, if he proved tractable, he would undoubtedly be allowed to run at large within certain limits and might be taught simple tricks wherewith to amuse the visitors at the zoo; such as playing a simple game of chess on one board.
This may or may not have been a sarcastic fling at the feeble game of chess which Pethwick had just played; at any rate the thought of playing endless games of chess through the bars of a zoological cage filled the engineer with nausea. ”

“ And in such a game as whist en deux in which all the cards are dealt, and each player knows exactly the strength of his opponent, the whole thing depends on calculation, and consequently is not so attractive. It would be a game of chess with cards but for its inferiority in variety and combination.”400 Lazarus goes on to say why chance is indispensable in card games—namely, because, as there is no such thing as space combination, the monotony would be wearisome, and continued playing well-nigh impossible. ”

“ To be successful in throwing the dice is one of the most fickle achievements of fickle fortune; and therefore the principal game played with them is very properly and emphatically called 'Hazard.' It requires, indeed, some exertion of the mental powers, of memory, at least, and a turn for such diversions, to play well many games at cards. ”

“ Gaming in England became rather a science than an amusement of social intercourse. The 'doctrine of chances' was studied with an assiduity that would have done honour to better subjects; and calculations were made on arithmetical and geometrical principles, to determine the degrees of probability attendant on games of mixed skill and chance, or even on the fortuitous throws of dice. ”

“ Only in connection with chance, then, can Reason find in cards a task worthy of her powers, and, indeed, a small prize is a stimulus sometimes needed to keep up our interest. This may be a suitable place to mention that it was formerly the custom to play for money or some stake with all games of cha196nce and even with chess.
I close this review of contests which are purely intellectual with two brief remarks, the first of which concerns the invention of board games. It is difficult to find a perfectly satisfactory answer to the question of their origin. ”

“ Besides chess they had backgammon, or tables, as the game was called, Merelles, or Nine men's Morris (which also found its way to the shepherds' cottages) , dice, and card games, some of which I have described before. Gambling was often carried on to a great extent, but evidently our modern people are not wiser than their ancestors in this matter; and instead of playing games for recreation, are not satisfied until they [pg 113] lose fortunes on the hazard of a dice or a card. Let us hope that men will at length become wiser as the world grows older. ”

“ Againe, if Dice be wholly evill, because they wholly depend upon chance, then Tables and Cardes must needes be somewhat evill, because they somewhat depend upon chance. Therefore, consider well this reason, which condemneth the one as well as the other: Lots are not to be used in sport; but games [30] consisting in chance, as Dice, Cardes, Tables, are Lots; therefore not to be used in sport. ”

“ The game goes on until every one is out of the circle. If there should happen to be one who doesn't laugh when the handkerchief is on the floor, he surely deserves a prize.
LOCATION.
Choose two leaders who select sides. One begins by calling the name of some town or place and then counts ten. While he is counting, the opposite opponent must answer where the place is. If he fails to answer before ten is counted, he must drop out.
Then the leader of the other side takes his turn, and challenges some player of the opposite side.
The side which stands up the longest, wins the game. ”

“ It is not quite easy to say whether man in a low savage state ever goes beyond these practical sports, and invents games of mere play. But higher up in civilization, such games are known from very ancient times. A trifling game, if it exactly takes hold of the playful mind, may last on in the world almost for ever. The ancient Egyptians, as their old paintings show, used to play our childish game of hot-cockles, where the blind-man who stoops down has to guess who thumped him on the back. ”

“ Later authors ascribe the honour of these inventions to the Greeks, when irritated at the tedious delays of the siege of Troy. Cicero even mentions by name Pyrrhus and Palamedes as the originators of the “games in use in camps” (ludos castrenses) . What were these games? Some say, chess; others, dice or knuckle-bones.
Certain very ancient specimens prove unquestionably that the Indian cards were nothing but a transformation of the game of chess; for the principal pieces in this game are reproduced on the cards, but in such a way that eight players instead of two could take part in it. ”

“ If any one offers a puhlic sacrifice the kings have the first seats at the hanquet, and the commencement of distributing the food is made by them, yet in such way that a douhle portion is assigned to each king. At all the public games they have the best seats. Each king nominates two Pythii; now the Pythii are citizens who are sent to Delphi to consult the oracles. Whenever the kings do not come to the supper, food and wine are sent home for each of them; but to them, when present, a double portion is assigned. The kings alone pronounce judgment on all matters. ”