The Olympic Festival--The Gymnastic and Equestrian Contests--The Hippodrome--The Judges--The Preliminary Ceremonies--The Course of the Festival--Honours to the Victors--The Delphic Festival and Pythian Games--The Isthmian and Nemean Games--The Athenian Festivals--The Festivals of Dionysus. In ancient and in modern times alike it has been usual to connect public festivals with some religious observance, even though the actual occasion might be the celebration of the change of the seasons or some regular event connected with agriculture. Greek worship was naturally of a cheerful nature. The sacrifices were usually followed by banquets, which communicated a festive character to an act of worship, and this was often accompanied by singing and dancing, sometimes of a serious and solemn nature, at other times lively and cheerful. As a rule, sacrifices to the heavenly deities were offered early in the day, but the banquet did not take place till the afternoon, and thus opportunity was afforded for devoting the interval to entertainments, among which, along with song and dance, dramatic and gymnastic performances soon began to occupy a place, and gradually to assume the character of regular competitions. Sacrifices to the infernal deities took place in the afternoon or evening, and were, in consequence, followed by a festival at night, which often degenerated into a wild orgy. These festivities, which were partly connected with the worship and partly celebrated for their own sake or connected with ancient national games, were at first a natural consequence of the religious ceremonies and the manner in which a nation of the cheerful disposition of the Greeks would celebrate them. But as these performances and festivities came to be more closely connected with the religious festivals, they gradually became an integral part of them, and were no longer left to the arbitrary disposition of the persons concerned, but were taken in hand by the state or community, and subject to regular arrangement.