DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0815
addenda.
but here he seems specially to refer to the Thessalian forces. Among the Lacedaemo-
nians a xofros consisted of 125 men. The m^o; of the Athenians is not ascertained.
The term ko%os in Homer and Pindar is used for a chosen band of warriors, planted
jn ambuscade for a sudden attack: hence the expression kgixcs ^o^os, applied by
the former poet to the wooden horse. In a later age it signified any indefinite num-
ber of warriors ; sometimes also a definite number. Dionysius of ffalicamstesas calls
the Roman centuries \oyj>i.
Page 482. " Those Grecians who first introduced the custom of erecting pillars
for trophies incurred a severe censure from the ages in which they lived." They who
first erected trophies of brass or stone were even accused at the tribunal of the Am-
phictyons. vid. Wesaeling. ad Diod- Sic. XIII- 24. Cic. dt Juvent. II. 33. Spanheim.
ad Julian, p. 139. Prcef. p. 103.
Page 488. • *' Sometimes crowns were presented," &c. As this subject of antiquity
has lately been made a topic of discussion, it may not be improper to subjoin the re-
marks of an accomplished scholar, in relation to the enquiry, of what materials was
the Grecian crown of victory composed ? Professor Everett's words are as follows :
ki The variety of occasions, both public and private, on which crowns were assigned
as prizes, and assumed as festive or triumphal ornaments, makes it somewhat difficult
to decide in favour of any material to the exclusion of every other. Very express
authorities, however, are found both in the Greek and Roman classical writers, in fa-
vour of the opinion that the Athenians made use both of the olive and of the wild
olive, for this purpose. Pliny, the elder, informs us, that " the Athenians crowned
their victors with olive, while the rest of the Greeks made use of the wild olive, em-
ployed at the Olympic games." Herodotus relates that after the victory of Salamis,
the Lacedaemonians assigned a crown of olive to Eurybiades, as the prize of skill, and
Plutarch repeats the account. Miltiades claimed the olive wreath for the victory at
Marathon, which one of the orators declared was no more due to him than to his
army. Thrasybulus was presented by his countrymen with an olive crown after the
expulsion of the thirty tyrants. Theophrastus speaks of an olive in the market-
place at Megara, the cutting down of which portended the capture and plundering of
the city. In a pompous triumphal procession at Alexandria, of which an account by
a lost author is preserved by Atheaeeus, the statue of victory was crowned with
olive. The imagery of the Greek poet confirms these authorities. The herald who,
in the Agamemnon of ^Eschyles, brings to Argos the news of the capture of Troy, is
" shaded with branches of olive.'' Pindar culls the olive " the crown of valour,"
Euripides salutes Salamis as the native spot of the olive, "the heavenly crown of Mi-
nerva, and the ornament of illustrious Athens." Tertullian condemns the use of
" olive crowns in war, as an idolatry to Minerva, the goddess of arms.'' These autho-
rities, with others to the same effect, may mostly be found in the learned work of Pas-
chal on crowns. They seem decisive of the fact, that among the Athenians at least
the olive crown was the prize of victory. The selection of the wild olive as the
prize of the victory at the Olympic games raised that tree to a poetical celebrity ;
but it may be supposed that this selection was originally owing to some previously
existing principle of association. A great part of the third Olympic of Pindar con-
sists of a glowing account of the expedition of Hercules to the Hyperborean regions ;
which, in the primitive mythology of the Greeks were the abode of the blessed, to
procure the wild olive tree, which he planted at Olympia, and of which the crowns
of the victors were made. It is observable, that though the Olympic tree was cer-
tainly the wild olive, Pindar speaks of it simply as the olive. The diadem of the Ju-
piter Olympius of Phidias, the most illustrious wreath ever woven by human hands,
was of gold, wrought in the form of leaves of the wild olive. As many of the Ro-
man customs were borrowed from the Greeks, it may not be improper to mention
from Dio Cassius and Appian, that Julius Caa3ar, on two occasions, bestowed olive
crowns on the soldiers of his army; although express authorities are found for the
opinion that laurel was employed by the Romans in general for this purpose. The
wild olive differs but little from the olive, and Mr. Martyn in his notes to the Geor-
gies, expresses his belief that it is naturally the same plant. The shape and colour of
the leaf, and general appearance of the branches are the same. Both abound in
many parts of Greece, particularly in Attica, and while the spots where the Academy
and Lyceum stood, are still shaded by plantations of olive, the hills which separate
Attica from the plain of Thebes, are covered with the oleaster. The almost super-
stitious value which the Athenians attached to the olive, may have furnished a reason
for sp aring its branches, on their numerous festive and triumphal occasions, and for
substituting those of the wild olive, as beautiful in its appearance, and which mignt.
but here he seems specially to refer to the Thessalian forces. Among the Lacedaemo-
nians a xofros consisted of 125 men. The m^o; of the Athenians is not ascertained.
The term ko%os in Homer and Pindar is used for a chosen band of warriors, planted
jn ambuscade for a sudden attack: hence the expression kgixcs ^o^os, applied by
the former poet to the wooden horse. In a later age it signified any indefinite num-
ber of warriors ; sometimes also a definite number. Dionysius of ffalicamstesas calls
the Roman centuries \oyj>i.
Page 482. " Those Grecians who first introduced the custom of erecting pillars
for trophies incurred a severe censure from the ages in which they lived." They who
first erected trophies of brass or stone were even accused at the tribunal of the Am-
phictyons. vid. Wesaeling. ad Diod- Sic. XIII- 24. Cic. dt Juvent. II. 33. Spanheim.
ad Julian, p. 139. Prcef. p. 103.
Page 488. • *' Sometimes crowns were presented," &c. As this subject of antiquity
has lately been made a topic of discussion, it may not be improper to subjoin the re-
marks of an accomplished scholar, in relation to the enquiry, of what materials was
the Grecian crown of victory composed ? Professor Everett's words are as follows :
ki The variety of occasions, both public and private, on which crowns were assigned
as prizes, and assumed as festive or triumphal ornaments, makes it somewhat difficult
to decide in favour of any material to the exclusion of every other. Very express
authorities, however, are found both in the Greek and Roman classical writers, in fa-
vour of the opinion that the Athenians made use both of the olive and of the wild
olive, for this purpose. Pliny, the elder, informs us, that " the Athenians crowned
their victors with olive, while the rest of the Greeks made use of the wild olive, em-
ployed at the Olympic games." Herodotus relates that after the victory of Salamis,
the Lacedaemonians assigned a crown of olive to Eurybiades, as the prize of skill, and
Plutarch repeats the account. Miltiades claimed the olive wreath for the victory at
Marathon, which one of the orators declared was no more due to him than to his
army. Thrasybulus was presented by his countrymen with an olive crown after the
expulsion of the thirty tyrants. Theophrastus speaks of an olive in the market-
place at Megara, the cutting down of which portended the capture and plundering of
the city. In a pompous triumphal procession at Alexandria, of which an account by
a lost author is preserved by Atheaeeus, the statue of victory was crowned with
olive. The imagery of the Greek poet confirms these authorities. The herald who,
in the Agamemnon of ^Eschyles, brings to Argos the news of the capture of Troy, is
" shaded with branches of olive.'' Pindar culls the olive " the crown of valour,"
Euripides salutes Salamis as the native spot of the olive, "the heavenly crown of Mi-
nerva, and the ornament of illustrious Athens." Tertullian condemns the use of
" olive crowns in war, as an idolatry to Minerva, the goddess of arms.'' These autho-
rities, with others to the same effect, may mostly be found in the learned work of Pas-
chal on crowns. They seem decisive of the fact, that among the Athenians at least
the olive crown was the prize of victory. The selection of the wild olive as the
prize of the victory at the Olympic games raised that tree to a poetical celebrity ;
but it may be supposed that this selection was originally owing to some previously
existing principle of association. A great part of the third Olympic of Pindar con-
sists of a glowing account of the expedition of Hercules to the Hyperborean regions ;
which, in the primitive mythology of the Greeks were the abode of the blessed, to
procure the wild olive tree, which he planted at Olympia, and of which the crowns
of the victors were made. It is observable, that though the Olympic tree was cer-
tainly the wild olive, Pindar speaks of it simply as the olive. The diadem of the Ju-
piter Olympius of Phidias, the most illustrious wreath ever woven by human hands,
was of gold, wrought in the form of leaves of the wild olive. As many of the Ro-
man customs were borrowed from the Greeks, it may not be improper to mention
from Dio Cassius and Appian, that Julius Caa3ar, on two occasions, bestowed olive
crowns on the soldiers of his army; although express authorities are found for the
opinion that laurel was employed by the Romans in general for this purpose. The
wild olive differs but little from the olive, and Mr. Martyn in his notes to the Geor-
gies, expresses his belief that it is naturally the same plant. The shape and colour of
the leaf, and general appearance of the branches are the same. Both abound in
many parts of Greece, particularly in Attica, and while the spots where the Academy
and Lyceum stood, are still shaded by plantations of olive, the hills which separate
Attica from the plain of Thebes, are covered with the oleaster. The almost super-
stitious value which the Athenians attached to the olive, may have furnished a reason
for sp aring its branches, on their numerous festive and triumphal occasions, and for
substituting those of the wild olive, as beautiful in its appearance, and which mignt.