Odysseus claims for himself the honor of being an “all-round” athlete. “Not at all weak am I, in any games men practice. I understand full well handling the polished bow. None except Philoktetes excelled me with the bow at Troy, when we Achæans tried the bow. I send the spear farther than other men an arrow.” Then the benevolent Alkinoös endeavors to soften the stern mood of the visitor. “We are not faultless boxers,” says the king, “no, nor wrestlers; but in the foot-race we run swiftly, and in our ships excel. Dear to us ever is the feast, the harp, the dance, changes of clothes, warm baths, and bed. Come then, Phæacian dancers the best among you make us sport, that so the stranger on returning home may tell his friends how we surpass all other men in sailing, running, in the dance and song.”[A] [A] Palmer’s Translation. The scene that follows is one of exquisite grace. Nine umpires (the mention of whom shows how important athletics have become), clear the ring for the dance: A page brings the “melodious lyre,” Demodokos, the blind bard, steps into the centre of the ring, and is surrounded by youthful men skilled in dancing. “They struck the splendid dance-ground with their feet; Odysseus watched their twinkling feet, and was astonished.” No languid ease was the delight of the Homeric aristocracy, but activity of the most virile type. And, although Homer’s two epics grew into form long after the splendid Achæan civilization of which he wrote existed only in legend, yet he artfully excludes any references to contemporary facts. Only by subtle inferences can information about the Dorian successors be extracted. For instance, although works of art were very common in the Achæan days, yet Homer rarely describes them and when he does so it is with astonishment and admiration. It is therefore held that in this passage the poet has inadvertently made an admission with regard to his own times,--times, which, in fact were characterized by a paucity of works of art. Archæologists have demonstrated, however, that the legends, of which the two Homeric epics are the poetic form, and that attested the vanished Achæan civilization, were in very many details faithful to the facts of the Mycenæan age. There is every reason to believe that the Achæan nobility practiced athletics as Homer represents them. But it must be said in addition that the authors of the Iliad and the Odyssey do not speak as if athletic sports were a spectacle unfamiliar to themselves. It is recorded by Plutarch that Hesiod won a tripod, as prize, in the funeral games in honor of Amphidamos. II. THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN ANCIENT TIMES.