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Eusebius: Chronica

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Eusebius: Chronica
    Click to Expand/Collapse Option Complete text
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionIntroduction
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionChaldeans
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionChaldeans
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionLydians
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionPersians
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionHebrews
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionEgyptians
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionGreeks
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About the institution of the Olympic Games 
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It is necessary to say a little about the origin of the games.  Some writers, who trace back the institution of the games to the earliest times, say that they had been held before Heracles, by one of the Idaean Dactyls; and then by Aethlius, as a challenge for his sons (from his name, the competitors were called athletes); and then by his son Epeius; and then Endymion, Alexinus and Oenomaus were each in charge of the sacred festival.  Then Pelops held the games in honour of his father Zeus; and next, Heracles the son of Alcmene.  There were ten generations (or, according to some, only three complete festivals) from Heracles until the time of Iphitus. 
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Iphitus was a citizen of Elis, who was concerned about the condition of Greece, and wished to rid the cities of their wars.  He sent envoys from the whole of the Peloponnese to consult [the god] about release from the wars which gripped them.  The god gave this response to the Peloponnesians: 
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You who dwell in the Peloponnese, gather round the altar; 
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Make sacrifice, and obey the instructions of the prophets. 
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He added these words to the Eleans: 
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Elean servants of the gods, who maintain your ancestral rites, 
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Protect your homeland, and desist from war. 
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Lead the Greeks in mutually just friendship, 
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Until the gathering comes in the year of good will. 
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(193) As a result of this, Iphitus proclaimed the truce [which had been fixed by Heracles at the summer solstice; they no longer fought against each other,] and he organised the games together with Lycurgus, who happened to be his relative because they were both descended from Heracles.  On this occasion, the only contest was the stadion race; later the other contests were added in their turn. 
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Aristodemus of Elis relates that the victors in the athletic contests began to be registered in the 27th Olympiad after Iphitus.  Before then, no-one had thought to record the athletes' names.  In the 28th Olympiad Coroebus of Elis won the stadion race, and he was the first victor to be registered.  This was then established as the first Olympiad, from which the Greeks calculate their dates. 
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Polybius says the same as Aristodemus; but Callimachus says that thirteen Olympiads passed after Iphitus without victors being registered; and Coroebus was the victor in the 14th Olympiad.  Many writers state that the institution of the games by Heracles the son of Alcmene occurred (?) 419 years before what is counted as the first Olympiad.  The Eleans hold the games every fifth year, with a gap of four years in between them. 
 
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