OCRĔA (κνημίς), a greave, a leggin. A pair of greaves (κνημῖδες)
was one of the six articles of armour which formed the complete
equipment of a Greek warrior [ARMA], and likewise of a Roman soldier
as fixed by Servius Tullius. They were made of various metals, with
a lining probably of leather, felt, or cloth. Their form is shown in
the accompanying cut. The figure is that of a fallen warrior, and
in consequence of the bending of the knees, the greaves are seen to
project a little above them. This statue also shows the ankle-rings
(ἐπισφύρια), which were used to fasten the greaves immediately above
the feet.
[Illustration: Ocreae, Greaves. (From the Aeginetan Marbles.)]
ŌDĒUM (ᾠδεῖον), a species of public building for contests in vocal
and instrumental music. In its general form and arrangements it was
very similar to the theatre; and it is sometimes called θέατρον.
There were, however, some characteristic differences: the Odeum was
much smaller than the theatre; and it was roofed over, in order to
retain the sound. The earliest building of this kind was that erected
by Pericles at Athens, for the purpose of celebrating the musical
contests at the Panathenaea. Its proximity to the theatre suggested
some of the uses made of it, namely, as a refuge for the audience
when driven out of the theatre by rain, and also as a place in which
the chorus could be prepared. Another Odeum was built at Athens by
Herodes Atticus, and was the most magnificent edifice of the sort in
the whole empire. The length of its largest diameter was 248 feet,
and it is calculated to have furnished accommodation for about 8000
persons. There were also Odea in other Greek towns. The first Odeum,
properly so called, at Rome, was built by Domitian, and the second by
Trajan. There are ruins of such buildings in the villa of Hadrian at
Tivoli, at Pompeii, and at Catana.
ŎLĔA, ŎLĪVA (ἐλαία); ŎLĔUM, OLĪVUM (ἔλαιον). The importance of
the olive was recognised from the most remote period of antiquity
in all civilised countries where the temperature admitted of its
cultivation: and it was widely adopted as an emblem of industry and
peace. Hence the honour paid to it at Athens, and hence the title
of “prima omnium arborum,” bestowed upon it by Columella. The fruit
(_bacca_) of the olive was for the most part employed for one of
two purposes. 1. It was eaten as a fruit, either fresh, pickled, or
preserved in various ways. 2. It was pressed so as to yield the oil
and other juices which it contained. And again, the oil was employed
for a variety of purposes, but chiefly 1. As an article of food.
2. For anointing the body, and in this case was frequently made a
vehicle for perfumes (_unguenta_). 3. For burning in lamps.
OLĬGARCHĬA (ὀλιγαρχια), the government of a few: a term applied to
that perversion (παρέκβασις) of an _Aristocratia_ into which the
latter passed, when, owing to the rise of the _demus_ [DEMOCRATIA],
and the vanishing of those substantial grounds of pre-eminence
which rendered an Aristocratia not unjust, the rule of the dominant
portion of the community became the ascendancy of a faction, whose
efforts were directed chiefly towards their own aggrandisement. The
preservation of power under such circumstances of course depended
chiefly upon the possession of superior wealth and the other
appliances of wealth which were its concomitants. Thus it came to be
regarded as essentially characteristic of an oligarchy, that the main
distinction between the dominant faction and the subject portion of
the community was the possession of greater wealth on the part of the
former. Hence the term _Oligarchia_ would not have been applied, if a
small section of the community, consisting of _poor_ persons, by any
means got the reins of government into their hands.
OLLA (λέβης, χύτρος), a vessel of any material, round and plain, and
having a wide mouth; a pot; a jar.
ŎLYMPĬA (ὀλύμπια), the Olympic games, the greatest of the national
festivals of the Greeks. It was celebrated at Olympia in Elis, the
name given to a small plain to the west of Pisa, which was bounded
on the north and north-east by the mountains Cronius and Olympus,
on the south by the river Alpheus, and on the west by the Cladeus,
which flows into the Alpheus. Olympia does not appear to have been a
town, but rather a collection of temples and public buildings. The
origin of the Olympic games is buried in obscurity, but the festival
was of very great antiquity. The first historical fact connected with
this festival is its revival by Iphitus, king of Elis, who is said
to have accomplished it with the assistance of Lycurgus, the Spartan
lawgiver, and Cleosthenes of Pisa. The date of this event is given
by some writers as B.C. 884, and by others as B.C. 828. The interval
of four years between each celebration of the festival was called
an Olympiad; but the Olympiads were not employed as a chronological
aera till the victory of Coroebus in the foot-race, B.C. 776.
[OLYMPIAS.] The most important point in the renewal of the festival
by Iphitus was the establishment of the _Ececheiria_ (ἐκεχειρία),
or sacred armistice. The proclamation was made by peace-heralds
(σπονδοφόροι), first in Elis and afterwards in the other parts of
Greece; it put a stop to all warfare for the month in which the games
were celebrated, and which was called the _sacred month_ (ἱερομηνία).
The territory of Elis itself was considered especially sacred during
the games, and no armed force could enter it without incurring the
guilt of sacrilege. The Olympic festival was probably confined at
first to the Peloponnesians; but as its celebrity extended, the
other Greeks took part in it, till at length it became a festival
for the whole nation. No one was allowed to contend in the games
but persons of pure Hellenic blood: barbarians might be spectators,
but slaves were entirely excluded. After the conquest of Greece by
the Romans, the latter were permitted to take part in the games. No
women were allowed to be present or even to cross the Alpheus during
the celebration of the games, under penalty of being hurled down
from the Typaean rock, but women could send chariots to the races.
The number of spectators at the festival was very great; and these
were drawn together not merely by the desire of seeing the games,
but partly through the opportunity it afforded them of carrying on
commercial transactions with persons from distant places, as is the
case with the Mohammedan festivals at Mecca and Medina. Many of the
persons present were also deputies (θεωροί) sent to represent the
various states of Greece; and we find that these embassies vied with
one another in the number of their offerings, and the splendour of
their general appearance, in order to support the honour of their
native cities. The Olympic festival was a Pentaëteris (πενταετηρίς),
that is, according to the ancient mode of reckoning, a space of four
years elapsed between each festival, in the same way as there was
only a space of two years between a Trieteris. It was celebrated on
the first full moon after the summer solstice. It lasted, after all
the contests had been introduced, five days, from the 11th to the
15th days of the month inclusive. The fourth day of the festival
was the 14th of the month, which was the day of the full moon, and
which divided the month into two equal parts. The festival was under
the immediate superintendence of the Olympian Zeus, whose temple at
Olympia, adorned with the statue of the god made by Phidias, was one
of the most splendid works of art in Greece. There were also temples
and altars to most of the other gods. The festival itself may be
divided into two parts, the games or contests (ἀγὼν Ολυμπιακός),
and the festive rites (ἑορτή) connected with the sacrifices, with
the processions, and with the public banquets in honour of the
conquerors.--The contests consisted of various trials of strength
and skill, which were increased in number from time to time. There
were in all twenty-four contests, eighteen in which men took part,
and six in which boys engaged, though they were never all exhibited
at one festival, since some were abolished almost immediately after
their institution, and others after they had been in use only a
short time. We subjoin a list of these from Pausanias, with the
date of the introduction of each, commencing from the Olympiad of
Coroebus:--1. The foot-race (δρόμος), which was the only contest
during the first 13 Olympiads. 2. The δίαυλος, or foot-race, in which
the stadium was traversed twice, first introduced in Ol. 14. 3. The
δόλιχος, a still longer foot-race than the δίαυλος, introduced in Ol.
15. For a more particular account of the δίαυλος and δόλιχος, see
STADIUM. 4. Wrestling (πάλη), and, 5. The Pentathlum (πένταθλον),
which consisted of five exercises [PENTATHLUM], both introduced
in Ol. 18. 6. Boxing (πυγμή) introduced in Ol. 23. [PUGILATUS.]
7. The chariot-race, with four full-grown horses (ἵππων τελείων
δρόμος, ἅρμα), introduced in Ol. 25. 8. The Pancratium (παγκράτιον)
[PANCRATIUM], and 9. The horse-race (ἵππος κέλης), both introduced
in Ol. 33. 10 and 11. The foot-race and wrestling for boys, both
introduced in Ol. 37. 12. The Pentathlum for boys, introduced in
Ol. 38., but immediately afterwards abolished. 13. Boxing for boys,
introduced in Ol. 41. 14. The foot-race, in which men ran with the
equipments of heavy-armed soldiers (τῶν ὁπλιτῶν δρόμος), introduced
in Ol. 65., on account of its training men for actual service in war.
15. The chariot-race with mules (ἀπήνη), introduced in Ol. 70.; and
16. The horse-race with mares (κάλπη), introduced in Ol. 71., both
of which were abolished in Ol. 84. 17. The chariot-race with two
full-grown horses (ἵππων τελείων συνωρίς), introduced in Ol. 93. 18,
19. The contest of heralds (κήρυκες) and trumpeters (σαλπιγκταί),
introduced in Ol. 96. 20. The chariot-race with four foals (πώλων
ἅρμασιν), introduced in Ol. 99. 21. The chariot-race with two foals
(πώλων συνωρίς), introduced in Ol. 128. 22. The horse-race with
foals (πῶλος κέλης), introduced in Ol. 131. 23. The Pancratium
for boys, introduced in Ol. 145. 24. There was also a horse-race
(ἵππος κέλης) in which boys rode, but we do not know the time of its
introduction.--The judges in the Olympic Games, called _Hellanodicae_
(Ἑλλανοδίκαι), were appointed by the Eleans, who had the regulation
of the whole festival. It appears to have been originally under the
superintendence of Pisa, in the neighbourhood of which Olympia was
situated, but after the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians
on the return of the Heraclidae, the Aetolians, who had been of
great assistance to the Heraclidae, settled in Elis, and from this
time the Aetolian Eleans obtained the regulation of the festival,
and appointed the presiding officers. The Hellanodicae were chosen
by lot from the whole body of the Eleans. Their number varied at
different periods, but at a later time there were eight Hellanodicae.
Their office probably lasted for only one festival. They had to
see that all the laws relating to the games were observed by the
competitors and others, to determine the prizes, and to give them
to the conquerors. An appeal lay from their decision to the Elean
senate. Under the direction of the Hellanodicae was a certain number
of _Alytae_ (ἀλύται) with an _Alytarches_ (ἀλυτάρχης) at their head,
who formed a kind of police, and carried into execution the commands
of the Hellanodicae. There were also various other minor officers
under the control of the Hellanodicae.--All free Greeks were allowed
to contend in the games, who had complied with the rules prescribed
to candidates. The equestrian contests were necessarily confined to
the wealthy; but the poorest citizens could contend in the athletic
games. This, however, was far from degrading the games in public
opinion; and some of the noblest as well as meanest citizens of the
state took part in these contests. The owners of the chariots and
horses were not obliged to contend in person; and the wealthy vied
with one another in the number and magnificence of the chariots and
horses which they sent to the games. All persons, who were about to
contend, had to prove to the Hellanodicae that they were freemen, and
of pure Hellenic blood, that they had not been branded with atimia,
nor guilty of any sacrilegious act. They further had to prove that
they had undergone the preparatory training (προγυμνάσματα) for ten
months previous. All competitors were obliged, thirty days before
the festival, to undergo certain exercises in the Gymnasium at Elis,
under the superintendence of the Hellanodicae. The competitors took
their places by lot. The herald then proclaimed the name and country
of each competitor. When they were all ready to begin the contest,
the judges exhorted them to acquit themselves nobly, and then gave
the signal to commence.--The only prize given to the conqueror was
a garland of wild olive (κότινος), cut from a sacred olive tree,
which grew in the sacred grove of Altis in Olympia. The victor was
originally crowned upon a tripod covered over with bronze, but
afterwards upon a table made of ivory and gold. Palm branches, the
common tokens of victory on other occasions, were placed in his
hands. The name of the victor, and that of his father and of his
country, were then proclaimed by a herald before the representatives
of assembled Greece. The festival ended with processions and
sacrifices, and with a public banquet given by the Eleans to the
conquerors in the Prytaneium. The most powerful states considered an
Olympic victory, gained by one of their citizens, to confer honour
upon the state to which he belonged; and a conqueror usually had
immunities and privileges conferred upon him by the gratitude of
his fellow-citizens. On his return home the victor entered the city
in a triumphal procession, in which his praises were celebrated,
frequently in the loftiest strains of poetry. [ATHLETAE.] As persons
from all parts of the Hellenic world were assembled together at the
Olympic Games, it was the best opportunity which the artist and the
writer possessed of making their works known. It answered, to some
extent, the same purpose as the press does in modern times. Before
the invention of printing, the reading of an author’s works to as
large an assembly as could be obtained, was one of the easiest and
surest modes of publishing them; and this was a favourite practice of
the Greeks and Romans. Accordingly we find many instances of literary
works thus published at the Olympic festival. Herodotus is said to
have read his history at this festival; but though there are some
reasons for doubting the correctness of this statement, there are
numerous other writers who thus published their works, as the sophist
Hippias, Prodicus of Ceos, Anaximenes, the orator Lysias, Dion
Chrysostom, &c. It must be borne in mind that these recitations were
not contests, and that they formed properly no part of the festival.
In the same way painters and other artists exhibited their works at
Olympia.
OLYMPĬAS (ὀλυμπιάς), an Olympiad, the most celebrated chronological
aera among the Greeks, was the period of four years which elapsed
between each celebration of the Olympic Games. The Olympiads began
to be reckoned from the victory of Coroebus in the foot-race, which
happened in the year B.C. 776. Timaeus of Sicily, however, who
flourished B.C. 264, was the first writer who regularly arranged
events according to the conquerors in each Olympiad. His practice
of recording events by Olympiads was followed by Polybius, Diodorus
Siculus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, &c. The writers who make use of
the aera of the Olympiads, usually give the number of the Olympiad
(the first corresponding to B.C. 776), and then the name of the
conqueror in the foot-race. Some writers also speak of events as
happening in the first, second, third, or fourth year, as the case
may be, of a certain Olympiad; but others do not give the separate
years of each Olympiad. The rules for converting Olympiads into the
year B.C., and _vice versa_, are given under CHRONOLOGIA; but as this
is troublesome, the student will find at the end of the book a list
of the Olympiads, with the years of the Christian aera corresponding
to them from the beginning of the Olympiads to A.D. 301. To save
space, the separate years of each Olympiad, with the corresponding
years B.C., are only given from the 47th to the 126th Olympiad, as
this is the most important period of Grecian history; in the other
Olympiads the first year only is given. In consulting the table it
must be borne in mind that the Olympic Games were celebrated about
midsummer, and that the Attic year commenced at about the same time.
If, therefore, an event happened in the second half of the Attic
year, the year B.C. must be reduced by 1. Thus Socrates was put to
death in the 1st year of the 95th Olympiad, which corresponds in the
table to B.C. 400; but as his death happened in Thargelion, the 11th
month of the Attic year, the year B.C. must be reduced by 1, which
gives us B.C. 399, the true date of his death.
ŎPĀLĬA, a Roman festival in honour of Opis, celebrated on the 19th of
December, being the third day of the Saturnalia. It was believed that
Opis was the wife of Saturnus, and for this reason the festivals were
celebrated at the same time.
OPSŌNĬUM, or OBSŌNĬUM (ὄψον, _dim._ ὀψάριον; ὀψήμα), denoted
everything which was eaten with bread, the principal substance of
every meal. Those numerous articles of diet called _opsonia_ or
_pulmentaria_ were designed to give nutriment, but still more to
add a relish to food. Some of these articles were taken from the
vegetable kingdom, but were much more pungent and savoury than bread,
such as olives, either fresh or pickled, radishes, and sesamum. Of
animal food by much the most common kind was fish, whence the terms
under explanation were in the course of time used in a confined and
special sense to denote fish only, but fish variously prepared, and
more especially salt fish, which was most extensively employed to
give a relish to the vegetable diet. The Athenians were in the habit
of going to markets (εἰς τοῦψον) themselves in order to purchase
their opsonia (ὀψωνεῖν, _opsonare_). But the opulent, Romans had a
slave, called _opsonator_ (ὀψώνης), whose office it was to purchase
for his master.