The Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus about 1100 B.C., eighty years after the fall of Troy, marked a new era in the history of Olympia. The Heracleids (whose shipbuilding for the voyage across the narrow straits of the Gulf is still commemorated in the name of the port _Naupactus_, on the northern side of the Gulf) are said to have rewarded the Ætolian exile Oxylus, who acted as their guide (answering to the oracular description of “a man with three eyes,” whom they were to find--being one-eyed and riding on a horse with two eyes), by confirming him in the possession of Elis, which in older times was known as Epeia, and is so referred to by Homer. For a long time the Eleans and the Pisatans seem to have superintended the games [Illustration: OLYMPIA. THE PALÆSTRA AND REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS This view is taken from the western side of the Palæstra, and the standing columns in the foreground are part of the southern colonnade of that building. The platform (Krepidoma) of the great Temple (which was raised upon a mound and occupied the highest point of the _Altis_ or sacred enclosure) is in the centre of the drawing. Many of the colossal drums and other architectural members of the Temple lie scattered about on the platform. Across the valley of the Alpheios are seen the Phellon Mountains, topped by splendid masses of cloud. This drawing is a record of a lovely spring day in the Western Peloponnesus.] jointly, with the support of the Dorian settlement at Sparta, whose great lawgiver, Lycurgus, was said to have put the institution on a new footing in concert with Iphitus, the king of Pisatis, the names of both being inscribed on a famous quoit of which Aristotle speaks. Pausanias tells us that the towns of Elis and Pisatis appointed sixteen women--eight from each state--to weave the festal robe (_peplos_) for the image of the Olympian Hera. The Pisatans, however, were afterwards displaced, and in 570 B.C. their city was destroyed, and Elis obtained the whole right of administration. The first historic game was a foot-race, and it was only by degrees that other contests were at various times added. The _pentathlon_, during which the Pythian air was played on the flutes in honour of Apollo, consisted of running, jumping, throwing the disc or quoit, throwing the javelin, and wrestling. Finally came chariot-racing (in a hippodrome adjoining the Altis), which, though necessarily confined to men of wealth, added much to the spectacular attractions of the games.