ication of the subjects of competition, and the first
introduction of a continuous record of the conquerors, date only from
the time when it came under the presidency of the Amphictyon, at the
close of the Sacred War against Cirrha, What is called the first Pythian
contest coincides with the third year of the 48th Olympiad, or B.C. 585.
From that period forward the games become crowded and celebrated: but
the date just named, nearly two centuries after the first Olympiad, is a
proof that the habit of periodical frequentation of festivals, by
numbers and from distant parts, grew up but slowly in the Grecian world.

The foundation of the temple of Delphi itself reaches far beyond all
historical knowledge, forming one of the aboriginal institutions of
Hellas. It is a sanctified and wealthy place even in the _Iliad_; the
legislation of Lycurgus at Sparta is introduced under its auspices, and
the earliest Grecian colonies, those of Sicily and Italy in the eighth
century B.C., are established in consonance with its mandate. Delphi and
Dodona appear, in the most ancient circumstances of Greece, as
universally venerated oracles and sanctuaries: and Delphi not only
receives honors and donations, but also answers questions from Lydians,
Phrygians, Etruscans, Romans, etc.: it is not exclusively Hellenic. One
of the valuable services which a Greek looked for from this and other
great religious establishments was, that it should resolve his doubts in
cases of perplexity; that it should advise him whether to begin a new,
or to persist in an old project; that it should foretell what would be
his fate under given circumstances, and inform him, if suffering under
distress, on what conditions the gods would grant him relief.

The three priestesses of Dodona with their venerable oak, and the
priestess of Delphi sitting on her tripod under the influence of a
certain gas or vapor exhaling from the rock, were alike competent to
determine these difficult points: and we shall have constant occasion to
notice in this history with what complete faith both the question was
put and the answer treasured up--what serious influence it often
exercised both upon public and private proceeding. The hexameter verses
in which the Pythian priestess delivered herself were indeed often so
equivocal or unintelligible, that the most serious believer, with all
anxiety to interpret and obey them, often found himself ruined by the
result. Yet the general faith in