wealthiest of the Greeks. Such a person was considered to have
conferred everlasting glory upon his family and his country, and
was rewarded by his fellow-citizens with distinguished honours.

During the sixth century before the Christian era three other
national festivals--the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games--
which were at first only local became open to the whole nation.
The Pythian games were celebrated in every third Olympic year, on
the Cirrhaean plain in Phocis, under the superintendence of the
Amphictyons. The games consisted not only of matches in
gymnastics and of horse and chariot races, but also of contests
in music and poetry. They soon acquired celebrity, and became
second only to the great Olympic festival. The Nemean and
Isthmian games occurred more frequently than the Olympic and
Pythian. They were celebrated once in two years--the Nemean in
the valley of Nemea between Phlius and Cleonae--and the Isthmian
by the Corinthians, on their isthmus, in honour of Poseidon
(Neptune). As in the Pythian festival, contests in music and in
poetry, as well as gymnastics and chariot-races, formed part of
these games. Although the four great festivals of which we have
been speaking had no influence in promoting the political union
of Greece, they nevertheless were of great importance in making
the various sections of the race feel that they were all members
of one family, and in cementing them together by common
sympathies and the enjoyment of common pleasures. The frequent
occurrence of these festivals, for one was celebrated every gear,
tended to the same result.

The Greeks were thus annually reminded of their common origin,
and of the great distinction which existed between them and