s his most sacred seat; and the Olympian festival was the
greatest event in Greece.

In the district of Elis, on the western side of the Peloponnesus, the
river Alpheus, after dashing and splashing down the mountains of
Arcadia, slackens its speed and meanders westwardly through the valley
in fantastic curves and windings. Soon it meets the quiet waters of the
Cladeus coming from the north. Between the two, and not far from their
confluence, lie the wooded slopes of Mount Cronion. In the triangular
space thus formed by the rivers and the mountain is situated the sacred
grove known as the Altis, the hallowed precinct of Olympian Zeus. Here
was his temple, and not far from it the shrine of his consort Hera; and
just outside the sacred precinct lay the racecourse, where were
celebrated the Olympic games which have made the name of Olympia famous
throughout the world. This was the national centre of Greece, where
citizens from all parts of the Greek world assembled to join in friendly
contests of physical prowess and poetry and song. The situation was
indeed a beautiful one. Northward and westward were the mountain peaks
of Achaea and the high tablelands of Arcadia; southward, the rugged
mountain chain of Messene; westward, the Ionian sea. The well-watered
valley, bounded by undulating hills, was covered with luxuriant
vegetation. The pine woods of Mount Cronion, the dense grove of plane
trees within and about the sacred precinct, the vine, the olive and the
myrtle of the valley, and the quiet waters of the sacred streams, were
elements that constituted a landscape of indescribable beauty, renowned
in ancient times and the delight of modern travellers.

The festival in honor of Olympian Zeus recurred every four years, at the
time of the full moon following the summer solstice. Sacred heralds
carried to all parts of the Greek world the official message announcing
the festival, and a sacred truce was declared for a sufficient length of
time to allow all desirous of doing so to attend the gathering and to
return home. As the great day approached, men and youths, matrons and
maidens, set out to take part in or to witness the various features of
the festival. Cities sent sacred embassies, or _theoriae_, resplendent in
purple and gold, bearing offerings to the god. Artists and poets,
merchants and manufacturers, found in this gathering of the Greeks a
great mart in which they could make known their talents or their wares
and rec