important
of
these
games
were
the
Olympic.
They
were
held
every
four
years,
and
so
great
was
the
occasion
that
from
the
year
b.c.
264
events
as
far
baclc
as
776
were
computed
by
them.
The
period
between
one
celebration
and
another
was
called
an
Olympiad,
and
an
event
was
said
to
have
occurred
in
the
1st,
2nd,
3rd,
or
4th
year
of
such
an
Olympiad.
The
Isthmianj
games,
which
took
place
biennially
in
the
first
and
third
year
of
each
Olympiad,
seem
to
have
been
modelled
on
very
much
the
same
lines
as
the
Olympic.
To
the
Biblical
student
they
have
a
more
direct
interest,
as
it
is
highly
probable
that
the
frequent
allusions
to
such
contests
by
St.
Paul
(see
esp.
1
Co
9^-")
were
due
to
his
personal
observation
of
these
games,
which
must
have
taken
place
while
he
was
at
Corinth.
As,
however,
our
knowledge
of
the
Olympic
games,
of
which
several
ancient
writers
have
left
us
particulars,
is
far
more
complete,
it
often
happens
t,hat
the
language
of
St.
Paul
is
more
easily
illustrated
from
them.
It
should
be
mentioned
also
in
this
connexion
that
besides
these
four
great
athletic
contests,
games
of
a
local
character,
often
in
imitation
of
the
Olympic,
were
held
throughout
Greece
and
her
colonies
in
all
towns
of
importance,
which
had
both
their
stadium
and
their
theatre.
The
most
important
of
these,
from
the
Biblical
student's
point
of
view,
were
the
games
of
Ephesus.
With
these
St.
Paul
was
certainly
familiar,
and,
as
will
be
seen
below,
allusions
to
games
are
remark-ably
frequent
in
writings
connected
with
Ephesus.
The
contests
at
Olympia
included
running,
boxing,
wrestling,
chariot
races,
and
other
competitions
both
for
men
and
for
youths.
The
judges,
who
seem
also
to
have
acted
as
a
sort
of
managing
committee,
with
many
dependents,
were
chosen
by
lot,
one
for
each
division
of
Elis.
They
held
at
once
a
highly
honoured
and
a
very
difficult
post,
and
were
required
to
spend
ten
months
in
learning
the
duties
of
their
office.
For
the
last
30
days
of
this
period
they
were
required
personally
to
superintend
the
training
of
the
athletes
who
were
pre-paring
to
compete.
In
addition
to
this,
the
athletes
were
required
to
swear
before
competing
that
they
had
spent
ten
months
previously
in
training.
We
thus
reaUze
the
force
of
such
allusions
as
that
of
1
Ti
V-
',
where
St.
Paul
insists
on
the
greater
importance
of
the
training
unto
godliness
than
that
of
the
body.
These
facts
also
add
point
to
the
allusions
in
2
Ti
2'.
An
athlete
is
not
crowned
unless
he
contend
'
according
to
regulation.'
These
regulations
required
the
disqualifica-tion
not
only
of
the
disfranchised
and
criminals,
but
of
those
who
had
not
undergone
the
required
training.
It
is
the
last
to
which
the
passage
seems
especially
to
point.
The
prize,
while
it
differed
in
different
places,
was
always
a
crown
of
leaves.
At
Olympia
it
was
made
of
wild
olive;
in
the
Isthmus,
in
St.
Paul's
time,
of
pine
leaves;
at
Delphi,
of
'laurel';
at
Nemea,
of
parsley.
In
addition
to
this,
at
Olympia,
Delphi,
and
probably
elsewhere,
the
victor
had
handed
to
him
a
palm-branch
as
a
token
of
victory.
It
is
almost
impossible
to
ex-aggerate
the
honour
attached
to
winning
the
prize
in
these
contests.
The
victor
entered
his
native
city
in
triumphal
procession;
he
had
conferred
upon
him
many
privileges
and
immunities,
and
his
victory
was
frequently
celebrated
in
verse.
His
statue
might
be,
and
often
was,
placed
in
the
sacred
grove
of
Elis,
and
he
was
looked
upon
as
a
public
benefactor.
St.
Paul
in
1
Co
QM-27
makes
use
of
the
spirit
of
these
contests
to
illustrate
to
the
Corinthians,
to
whom
it
must
have
specially
appealed,
the
self-denial,
the
strenuousness,
and
the
glorious
issue
of
the
Christian
confiict,
drawing
his
meta-phorical
allusions
partly
from
the
foot-race
and
partly
from
the
boxing
and
wrestling
matches.
'They
do
It
to
receive
a
corruptible
crown;
but
we
an
incorruptible.
I
therefore
so
run,
as
not
uncertainly;
so
fight
I,
as
not
beating
the
air;
but
I
buffet
my
body,
and
bring
it
into
bondage,'
etc.
There
is
a
very
interesting
allusion
to
the
games
of
Ephesus
in
2
Ti
4'
'
I
have
contended
the
good
contest.
I
have
completed
the
race
.
.
.
henceforth
is
laid
up
for
me
the
crown
of
righteousness,'
etc.
This
stands
in
striking
contrast
to
Ph
3'2-i»
'
Not
that
I
have
already
obtained,
or
am
already
made
perfect:
but
I
press
on
.
.
.
forgetting
the
things
which
are
behind,
and
stretching
forward
to
the
things
which
are
before,
I
press
on
toward
the
goal
unto
the
prize
of
the
high
calling
of
God
in
Christ
Jesus.'
Here
again
it
is
the
intense
eagerness
of
the
athlete
that
is
specially
in
St.
Paul's
mind.
We
have
many
other
allusions
by
St.
Paul
to
the
foot-race,
as
in
Ro
916,
Gal
•»
5',
Ph
2'6,
Ac
20=".
These
generally
refer
to
the
'course'
of
life
and
conduct.
The
last
passage,
it
should
be
remembered,
is
addressed
to
the
elders
at
Ephesus.
The
full
significance
of
Ro
9'»
is
missed
unless
we
realize
the
intensity
of
effort
required
by
the
racer.
The
supreme
effort
of
the
will
is
worthless
without
the
grace
of
God.
•
We
have
allusions
to
the
wrestling
match
certainly
in
Eph
6'2,
where
St.
Paul
speaks
of
wrestling
against
spiritual
forces,
and
probably
to
boxing
in
4"',
where
'giving
place'
means
giving
vantage-ground
to
the
spiritual
foe.
In
connexion
with
Ephesus
we
may
notice
also
the
allusion
in
Ac
19^'
to
the
Asiarchs
—
the
officers
who
superintended
the
games.
The
reference
to
fighting
'
with
wild
beasts
at
Ephesus
'
in
1
Co
IS*'
is
probably
a
metaphorical
allusion
to
such
contests
as
were
common
afterwards
in
the
Colosseum
at
Rome,
and
were,
according
to
Schmitz
(see
'Isthmia'
in
Smith's
Diet,
of
Gr.-Rom.
Ant.),
probably
introduced
into
the
Isthmian
games
about
this
time.
Outside
St.
Paul's
writings
there
is
an
important
reference
to
athletic
contests
in
He
121-2.
Here
the
two
points
emphasized
are:
(1)
the
'cloud
of
witnesses'
(Gr.
martyres),
whose
past
achievements
are
to
encourage
the
Christian
combatants
for
the
faith;
(2)
the
self-
sacrifice
and
earnestness
needed
in
running
the
Christian
race.
The
Christian
athlete
must
lay
aside
every
'weight'
—
every
hindrance
to
his
work,
just
as
the
runner
divested
himself
of
his
garments,
having
pre-viously
by
hard
training
got
rid
of
all
superfluous
fiesh,
—
and
look
only
to
Christ.
Again,
in
Rev
7*
we
have
in
the
palms
in
the
hands
of
the
great
company
of
martyrs
a
very
probable
reference
to
the
palms
given
to
the
successful
competitors
in
the
games.
Here,
again,
it
should
be
borne
in
mind
that
it
was
to
Ephesus
and
the
surrounding
towns,
the
district
of
the
great
Ephesian
games,
that
St.
John
was
writing.
F.
H.
Woods.
GAHMADHVI.—
A
term
of
very
doubtful
meaning,
occurring
in
Ezk
27"
'
The
Gammadim
(AV
-ims)
were
in
thy
towers.'
No
place
of
the
name
of
Gammad
is
known,
but
a
proper
name
is
what
the
context
seems
to
demand.
RVm
'valorous
men'
has
not
commended
itself
to
the
majority
of
scholars.
G-AMUL
('weaned').
—
A
chief
of
the
Levites,
and
head
of
the
22nd
course
of
priests
(1
Ch
24").
GABDEK
(Heb.
gan
[lit.
'enclosure'],
gannah,
which,
like
the
Persian
[mod.
Armenian]
pardSs
[Neh
2*
etc.],
and
the
Arab
jannah
and
bustan,
may
mean
a
garden
of
herbs
[Dt
ll",
1
K
2iz
etc.],
a
fruit
orchard
[Jer
295-
2»,
Am
4'
etc.],
or
a
park-like
pleasure-ground
[2
K
25«,
Est
V
etc.]).—
Flowers
were
cultivated
(Ca
6^),
and
doubtless,
as
in
modern
times,
crops
of
grain
or
vegetables
were
grown
in
the
spaces
between
the
trees.
In
the
long
dry
summer
of
Palestine
the
fruitfulnesa
of
the
garden
depends
upon
abundant
water
supply
(Nu
24«).
Perennial
fountains
fleck
the
landscape
with
the
luxuriant
green
and
delicious
shade
of
gardens,
as
e.g.
at
Jemn
(Ca
4").
Great
cisterns
and
reservoirs
collect
the
water
during
the
rains,
and
from
these,
by
numerous
conduits,
it
is
led
at
evening
to
refresh
all
parts
of
the
garden.
Failure
of
water
is
soon
evident
in
withered
leaves
and
wilted
plants
(Is
58",
cf.
l'»).
The
orange
and
lemon
groves
of
Jaffa
and
Sidoh
are
famous;
and
the
orchards
around
Damascus
form
one
of
the
main
attractions
of
that
'earthly
paradise.'
