[Illustration: HERMES AND DIONYSUS (Museum of Olympia) An original statue by the great sculptor, Praxiteles. It was found in 1877 A.D. at Olympia. Hermes is represented carrying the child Dionysus, whom Zeus had intrusted to his care. The symmetrical body of Hermes is faultlessly modeled; the poise of his head is full of dignity; his expression is refined and thoughtful. Manly strength and beauty have never been better embodied than in this work.] [Illustration: ATHLETE USING THE STRIGIL (APOXYOMENUS) (Vatican Gallery, Rome) Marble copy of the bronze original by Lysippus, a sculptor of the fourth century B.C. The statue represents an athlete rubbing his arm with a flesh scraper to remove the oil and sand of the palestra, or exercising ground. His slender form suggests quickness and agility rather than great strength.] SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GAMES There were few Greeks who at least once in their lives did not attend the festival. The crowds that gathered before and after the games turned the camp into a great fair, at which merchants set up their shops and money changers their tables. Poets recited their lines before admiring audiences and artists exhibited their masterpieces to intending purchasers. Heralds read treaties recently formed between Greek cities, in order to have them widely known. Orators addressed the multitude on subjects of general interest. The games thus helped to preserve a sense of fellowship among Greek communities. 26. THE GREEK CITY-STATE NATURE OF THE CITY STATE The Greeks in Homeric times had already begun to live in towns and cities. A Greek city, being independent and self-governing, is properly called a city-state. Just as a modern nation, it could declare war, arrange treaties, and make alliances with its neighbors. Such a city-state included not only the territory within its walls, but also the surrounding district where many of the citizens lived. THE CITIZENS The members of a Greek city-state were very closely associated. The citizens believed themselves to be descended from a common ancestor and so to be all related. They were united, also, in the worship of the patron god or hero who had them under his protection. These ties of supposed kinship and common religion were of the utmost importance. They made citizenship a privilege which came to a person only by birth, a privilege which he lost by removal to another city. Elsewhere he was only a foreigner without legal rights--a man without a country. GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY-STATE