Buried Cities, Volume 2 - Olympia by Jennie Hall
page 38 of 40 (95%)
page 38 of 40 (95%)
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ends have been excavated. The rest still lies deep under the sand.
GYMNASIUM. Here Creon and the other boys spent a month in training before the games. The gymnasium had a covered portico as long as the track in the stadion, where the boys could run in bad weather. A Greek boy of to-day is playing on his shepherd's pipes in the foreground, and they are the same kind of pipes on which the old Greeks played. BOYS IN GYMNASIUM. From a vase painting. They are wrestling, jumping with weights, throwing the spear, throwing the discus, while their teachers watch them. One man is saying, "A beautiful boy, truly." THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS. When we see a picture of fallen broken columns lying about a field in disorder, we try to learn how the original building looked and to imagine it in all its beauty. This, men believe, is the way the Temple of Zeus looked. The figures in the pediment were all of Parian marble. In the center stands Zeus himself. A chariot race is about to be run, and the contestants stand on either side of Zeus. Zeus gave the victory to Pelops, and Pelops became husband of Hippodameia, and king of Pisa, and founded the Olympic Games. These games were held every fourth year for more than a thousand years. |
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