Part 14

"The character of a national institution, which the Amphictyonic council affected, but never really acquired, more truly belonged to the public festivals, which, though celebrated within certain districts, were not peculiar to any tribe, but were open and common to all who could prove their Hellenic blood. The most important of these festivals was that which was solemnized every fifth year on the banks of the Alpheus, in the territory of Elis; it lasted four days, and, from Olympia, the scene of its celebration, derived the name of the Olympic contest, or games, and the period itself which intervened between its returns was called an olympiad. The origin of this institution is involved in some obscurity, partly by the lapse of time, and partly by the ambition of the Eleans to exaggerate its antiquity and sanctity. … Though, however, the legends fabricated or adopted by the Eleans to magnify the antiquity and glory of the games deserve little attention, there can be no doubt that, from very early times, Olympia had been a site hallowed by religion; and it is highly probable that festivals of a nature similar to that which afterwards became permanent had been occasionally celebrated in the sanctuary of Jupiter. … Olympia, not so much a town as a precinct occupied by a great number of sacred and public buildings, originally lay in the territory of Pisa, which, for two centuries after the beginning of the olympiads, was never completely subject to Elis, and occasionally appeared as her rival, and excluded her from all share in the presidency of the games. {2399} … It is probable that the northern Greeks were not at first either consulted or expected to take any share in the festival; and that, though never expressly confined to certain tribes, in the manner of an Amphictyonic congress, it gradually enlarged the sphere of its fame and attraction till it came to embrace the whole nation. The sacred truce was proclaimed by officers sent round by the Eleans: it put a stop to warfare, from the time of the proclamation, for a period sufficient to enable strangers to return home in safety. During this period the territory of Elis itself was of course regarded as inviolable, and no armed force could traverse it without incurring the penalty of sacrilege. … It [the festival] was very early frequented by spectators, not only from all parts of Greece itself, but from the Greek colonies in Europe, Africa, and Asia; and this assemblage was not brought together by the mere fortuitous impulse of private interest or curiosity, but was in part composed of deputations which were sent by most cities as to a religious solemnity, and were considered as guests of the Olympian god. The immediate object of the meeting was the exhibition of various trials of strength and skill, which, from time to time, were multiplied so as to include almost every mode of displaying bodily activity. They included races on foot and with horses and chariots; contests in leaping, throwing, wrestling, and boxing; and some in which several of the exercises were combined; but no combats with any kind of weapon. The equestrian contests, particularly that of the four-horsed chariots, were, by their nature, confined to the wealthy; and princes and nobles vied with each other in such demonstrations of their opulence. But the greater part were open to the poorest Greek, and were not on that account the lower in public estimation. … In the games described by Homer valuable prizes were proposed, and this practice was once universal; but, after the seventh olympiad, a simple garland, of leaves of the wild olive, was substituted at Olympia, as the only meed of victory. The main spring of emulation was undoubtedly the celebrity of the festival and the presence of so vast a multitude of spectators, who were soon to spread the fame of the successful athletes to the extremity of the Grecian world. … The Altis, as the ground consecrated to the games was called at Olympia, was adorned with numberless statues of the victors, erected, with the permission of the Eleans, by themselves or their families, or at the expense of their fellow citizens. It was also usual to celebrate the joyful event, both at Olympia and at the victor's home, by a triumphal procession, in which his praises were sung, and were commonly associated with the glory of his ancestors and his country. The most eminent poets willingly lent their aid on such occasions, especially to the rich and great. And thus it happened that sports, not essentially different from those of our village greens, gave birth to masterpieces of sculpture, and called forth the sublimest strains of the lyric muse. … Viewed merely as a spectacle designed for public amusement, and indicating the taste of the people, the Olympic games might justly claim to be ranked far above all similar exhibitions of other nations. It could only be for the sake of a contrast, by which their general purity, innocence, and humanity would be placed in the strongest light, that they could be compared with the bloody sports of a Roman or a Spanish amphitheatre, and the tournaments of our chivalrous ancestors, examined by their side, would appear little better than barbarous shows."

_C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 10._

OLYMPIUM AT ATHENS, The.

The building of a great temple to Jupiter Olympius was begun at Athens by Peisistratus as early as 530 B. C. Republican Athens refused to carry on a work which would be associated with the hateful memory of the tyrant, and it stood untouched until B. C. 174, when Antiochus Epiphanes employed a Roman architect to proceed with it. He, in turn, left it still unfinished, to be afterwards resumed by Augustus, and completed at last by Hadrian, 650 years after the foundations were laid.

_W. M. Leake, Topography of Athens, volume 1, appendix 10._

OLYMPUS.

The name Olympus was given by the Greeks to a number of mountains and mountain ranges; but the one Olympus which impressed itself most upon their imaginations, and which seemed to be the home of their gods, was the lofty height that terminates the Cambunian range of mountains at the east and forms part of the boundary between Thessaly and Macedonia. Its elevation is nearly 10,000 feet above the level of the sea and all travelers have seemed to be affected by the peculiar grandeur of its aspect. Other mountains called Olympus were in Elis, near Olympia, where the great games were celebrated, and in Laconia, near Sellasia. There was also an Olympus in the island of Cyprus, and two in Asia Minor, one in Lycia, and a range in Mysia, separating Bithynia from Galatia and Phrygia.

See THESSALY, and DORIANS AND IONIANS.

OLYNTHIAC ORATIONS, The.

See GREECE: B. C. 351-348.

OLYNTHUS: Start--------

OLYNTHUS: B. C. 383-379. The Confederacy overthrown by Sparta.

See GREECE: B. C. 383-379.

OLYNTHUS: B. C. 351-348. War with Philip of Macedon. Destruction of the city.

See GREECE: B. C. 351-348.

OLYNTHUS: End--------

OMAGUAS, The.

See EL DORADO.

OMAHAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY, and SIOUAN FAMILY.

OMAR I., Caliph, A. D. 634-643.

Omar II., Caliph, 717-720.

OMER, OR GOMER, The.

See EPHAH.

OMMIADES, OMEYYADES, The.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 661; 680; 715-750, and 756-1031.

OMNIBUS BILL, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.

ON.

"A solitary obelisk of red granite, set up at least 4,000 years ago, alone marks the site of On, also called the City of the Sun, in Hebrew Beth-shemesh, in Greek Heliopolis. Nothing else can be seen of the splendid shrine and the renowned university which were the former glories of the place. … The university to which the wise men of Greece resorted perished when a new centre of knowledge was founded in the Greek city of Alexandria. … It was during the temporary independence of the country under native kings, after the first Persian rule, that Plato the philosopher and Eudoxus the mathematician studied at Heliopolis. … The civil name of the town was An, the Hebrew On, the sacred name Pe-Ra, the 'Abode of the Sun.'"

_R. S. Poole, Cities of Egypt, chapter 9._

{2400}

The site of On, or Heliopolis, is near Cairo. There was another city in Upper Egypt called An by the Egyptians, but Hermonthis by the Greeks.

ONEIDAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

O'NEILS, The wars and the flight of the.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1559-1603; and 1607-1611.

ONONDAGAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

ONTARIO: The Name.

See OHIO: THE NAME.

ONTARIO, Lake, The Discovery of.

See CANADA: A. D. 1611-1616.

ONTARIO, The province.

The western division of Canada, formerly called Upper Canada, received the name of Ontario when the Confederation of the Dominion of Canada was formed.

See CANADA: A. D. 1867.

ONTARIO SCHOOL SYSTEM.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1844-1876.

OODEYPOOR.

See RAJPOOTS.

OPEQUAN CREEK, OR WINCHESTER, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (AUGUST-OCTOBER: VIRGINIA).

OPHIR, Land of.

The geographical situation of the land called Ophir in the Bible has been the subject of much controversy. Many recent historians accept, as "conclusively demonstrated," the opinion reached by Lassen in his Indische Alterthumskunde, that the true Ophir of antiquity was the country of Abhira, near the mouths of the Indus, not far from the present province of Guzerat. But some who accept Abhira as being the original Ophir conjecture that the name was extended in use to southern Arabia, where the products of the Indian Ophir were marketed.

OPIUM WAR, The.

See CHINA: A. D. 1839-1842.

OPORTO: Start--------

OPORTO: Early history. Its name given to Portugal.

See PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.

OPORTO: A. D. 1832. Siege by Dom Miguel.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1824-1889.

OPORTO: End--------

OPPIAN LAW, The.

A law passed at Rome during the second Punic War (3d century, B. C.), forbidding any woman to wear a gay–colored dress, or more than half an ounce of gold ornament, and prohibiting the use of a car drawn by horses within a mile of any city or town. It was repealed B. C. 194.

_H. G. Liddell, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN: _R. F. Horton, History of the Romans, chapter 16._

OPPIDUM.

Among the Gauls and the Britons a town, or a fortified place, was called an oppidum. As Cæsar explained the term, speaking of the oppidum of Cassivellaunus, in Britain, it signified a "stockade or enclosed space in the midst of a forest, where they took refuge with their flocks and herds in case of an invasion."

_E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, chapter 19, note E (volume 2)._

ALSO IN: _Cæsar, Gallic War, book 5, chapter 21._

OPTIMATES.

"New names came into fashion [in Rome], but it is difficult to say when they were first used. We may probably refer the origin of them to the time of the Gracchi [B. C. 133-121]. One party was designated by the name of Optimates, 'the class of the best.' The name shows that it must have been invented by the 'best,' for the people would certainly not have given it to them. We may easily guess who were the Optimates. They were the rich and powerful, who ruled by intimidation, intrigue, and bribery, who bought the votes of the people and sold their interests. … Opposed to the Optimates were the Populares."

_G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 1, chapter 20._

See ROME: B. C. 159-133.

ORACLES OF THE GREEKS.

"Wherever the worship of Apollo had fixed its roots, there were sibyls and prophets; for Apollo is nowhere conceivable without the beneficent light of prophecy streaming out from his abode. The happy situation and moral significance of leading colleges of priests procured a peculiar authority for individual oracles. Among these are the Lycian Patara, the Thymbræan oracle near Troja (to which belongs Cassandra, the most famed of Apollo's prophetesses), the Gryneum on Lesbos, the Clarian oracle near Colophon, and finally the most important of all the oracles of Asia Minor, the Didymæum near Miletus, where the family of the Branchidæ held the prophetic office as a hereditary honorary right. Delos connects the Apolline stations on the two opposite sides of the water: here, too, was a primitive oracle, where Anius, the son of Apollo, was celebrated as the founder of a priestly family of soothsayers. … The sanctuaries of Ismenian Apollo in Thebes were founded, the Ptoïum on the hill which separates the Hylian plain of the sea from the Copæic, and in Phocis the oracle of Abæ. The reason why the fame of all these celebrated seats of Apollo was obscured by that of Delphi lies in a series of exceptional and extraordinary circumstances by which this place was qualified to become a centre, not only of the lands in its immediate neighbourhood, like the other oracles, but of the whole nation. … With all the more important sanctuaries there was connected a comprehensive financial administration, it being the duty of the priests, by shrewd management, by sharing in profitable undertakings, by advantageous leases, by lending money, to increase the annual revenues. … There were no places of greater security, and they were, therefore, used by States as well as by private persons as places of deposit for their valuable documents, such as wills, compacts, bonds, or ready money. By this means the sanctuary entered into business relations with all parts of the Greek world, which brought it gain and influence. The oracles became money-institutions, which took the place of public banks. … It was by their acquiring, in addition to the authority of religious holiness, and the superior weight of mental culture, that power which was attainable by means of personal relations of the most comprehensive sort, as well as through great pecuniary means and national credit, that it was possible for the oracle-priests to gain so comprehensive an influence upon all Grecian affairs. … With the extension of colonies the priests' knowledge of the world increased, and with this the commanding eminence of the oracle-god. … The oracles were in every respect not only the provident eye, not only the religious conscience, of the Greek nation, but they were also its memory."

_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 2, chapter 4._

{2401}

"The sites selected for these oracles were generally marked by some physical property, which fitted them to be the scenes of such miraculous manifestations. They were in a volcanic region, where gas escaping from a fissure in the earth might be inhaled, and the consequent exhilaration or ecstasy, partly real and partly imaginary, was a divine inspiration. At the Pythian oracle in Delphi there was thought to be such an exhalation. Others have supposed that the priests possessed the secret of manufacturing an exhilarating gas. … In each of the oracular temples of Apollo, the officiating functionary was a woman, probably chosen on account of her nervous temperament;—at first young, but, a love affair having happened, it was decided that no one under fifty should be eligible to the office. The priestess sat upon a tripod, placed over the chasm in the centre of the temple."

_C. C. Felton, Greece, Ancient and Modern, chapter 2, lecture 9._

ORAN: Start--------

ORAN: A. D. 1505. Conquest by Cardinal Ximenes.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1505-1510.

ORAN: A. D. 1563. Siege, and repulse of the Moors.

See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1563-1565:

ORAN: End--------

ORANGE, The Prince of: Assassination.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1581-1584, and 1584-1585.

ORANGE, The Principality.

"The little, but wealthy and delicious, tract of land, of which Orange is the capital, being about four miles in length and as many in breadth, lies in the Comté Venaissin, bordering upon that of Avignon, within a small distance of the Rhone; and made no inconsiderable part of that ancient and famous Kingdom of Arles which was established by Boso towards the end of the 9th century. …"

See BURGUNDY: A. D. 888-1032; and 1032.

"In the beginning of the 9th century, historians tell us of one William, sirnamed Cornet, of uncertain extraction, sovereign of this State, and highly esteemed by the great Emperor Charlemagne, whose vassal he then was. Upon failure of the male descendants of this prince in the person of Rambald IV.; who died in the 13th century, his lands devolved to Tiburga, great aunt to the said Rambald, who brought them in marriage to Bertrand II. of the illustrious house of Baux. These were common ancestors to Raymond V., father to Mary, with whom John IV. of Chalon contracted an alliance in 1386; and it was from them that descended in a direct male line the brave Philibert of Chalon, who, after many signal services rendered the Emperor Charles V., as at the taking of Rome more particularly, had the misfortune to be slain, leaving behind him no issue, in a little skirmish at Pistoya, while he had the command of the siege before Florence. Philibert had one only sister, named Claudia, whose education was at the French court," where, in 1515, she married Henry, of Nassau, whereby the principality passed to that house which was made most illustrious, in the next generation, by William the Silent, Prince of Orange. The Dutch stadtholders retained the title of Princes of Orange until William III. Louis XIV. seized the principality in 1672, but it was restored to the House of Nassau by the Peace of Ryswick.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1697.

On the death of William III. it was declared to be forfeited to the French crown, and was bestowed on the Prince of Conti; but the king of Prussia, who claimed it, was permitted, under the Treaty of Utrecht, to bear the title, without possession of the domain.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

_J. Breval, History of the House of Nassau._

ALSO IN: _E. A. Freeman, Orange (Historical Essays, volume 4)._

See, also, NASSAU.

ORANGE, The town: Roman origin.

See ARAUSIO.

ORANGE FREE STATE.

See SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1806-1881.

ORANGE SOCIETY, The formation of the.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1795-1796.

ORARIANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ESKIMAUAN FAMILY.

ORATIONES, Roman Imperial.

See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS.

ORATORY, Congregation of the.

See CONGREGATION OF THE ORATORY.

ORBITELLO, Siege of (1646).

See ITALY: A. D. 1646-1654.

ORCHA, Battle of.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).

ORCHAN, Ottoman Turkish Sultan, A. D. 1325-1359.

ORCHIAN, FANNIAN, DIDIAN LAWS.

"In the year 181 B. C. [Rome] a law (the Lex Orchia) was designed to restrain extravagance in private banquets, and to limit the number of guests. This law proved ineffectual, and as early as 161 B. C. a far stricter law was introduced by the consul, C. Fannius (the Lex Fannia) which prescribed how much might be spent on festive banquets and common family meals. … The law, moreover, prohibited certain kinds of food and drink. By a law in the year 143 B. C. (the Lex Didia) this regulation was extended over the whole of Italy."

_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 6, chapter 12 (volume 4)._

ORCHOMENOS.

See MINYI, THE.

ORCHOMENOS, Battle of (B. C. 85).

See MITHRIDATIC WARS.

ORCYNIAN FOREST, The.

See HERCYNIAN.

ORDAINERS, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1310-1311.

ORDEAL, The.

"During the full fervor of the belief that the Divine interposition could at all times be had for the asking, almost any form of procedure, conducted under priestly observances, could assume the position and influence of an ordeal. As early as 592, we find Gregory the Great alluding to a simple purgatorial oath, taken by a Bishop on the relics of St. Peter, in terms which convey evidently the idea that the accused, if guilty, had exposed himself to imminent danger, and that by performing the ceremony unharmed he had sufficiently proved his innocence. But such unsubstantial refinements were not sufficient for the vulgar, who craved the evidence of their senses, and desired material proof to rebut material accusations. In ordinary practice, therefore, the principal modes by which the will of Heaven was ascertained were the ordeal of fire, whether administered directly, or through the agency of boiling water or red-hot iron; that of cold water; of bread or cheese; of the Eucharist; of the cross; the lot; and the touching of the body of the victim in cases of murder. {2402} Some of these, it will be seen, required a miraculous interposition to save the accused; others to condemn; some depended altogether on volition, others on the purest chance; while others, again, derived their power from the influence exerted on the mind of the patient. They were all accompanied with solemn religious observances. … The ordeal of boiling water ('æneum,' 'judicium aquæ ferventis,' 'cacabus,' 'caldaria') is probably the oldest form in which the application of fire was judicially administered in Europe as a mode of proof. … A caldron of water was brought to the boiling point, and the accused was obliged with his naked hand to find a small stone or ring thrown into it; sometimes the latter portion was omitted, and the hand was simply inserted, in trivial cases to the wrist, in crimes of magnitude to the elbow, the former being termed the single, the latter the triple ordeal. … The cold-water ordeal ('judicium aquæ frigidæ') differed from most of its congeners in requiring a miracle to convict the accused, as in the natural order of things he escaped. … The basis of this ordeal was the superstitious belief that the pure element would not receive into its bosom anyone stained with the crime of a false oath."

_H. C. Lea, Superstition and Force, chapter 3._

See, also, LAW, CRIMINAL: A. D. 1198-1199.

ORDERS, Monastic.

See AUSTIN CANONS; BENEDICTINE ORDERS; CAPUCHINS; CARMELITE FRIARS; CARTHUSIAN ORDER; CISTERCIAN ORDER; CLAIRVAUX; CLUGNY; MENDICANT ORDERS; RECOLLECTS; SERVITES; THEATINES; TRAPPISTS.

ORDERS IN COUNCIL, Blockade by British.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1806-1810; and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1804-1809.

ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.

See KNIGHTHOOD.

ORDINANCE OF 1787.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1787.

ORDINANCES OF SECESSION.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER); 1861 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY).

ORDINANCES OF 1311.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1310-1311.

ORDOÑO I., King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, A. D. 850-866.

Ordoño II., King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, 914-923.

Ordoño III., King of Leon and the Asturias, or Oviedo, 950-955.

ORDOVICES, The. One of the tribes of ancient Wales.

See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.

OREGON: Start--------

OREGON: The aboriginal inhabitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHINOOKAN FAMILY, and SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

OREGON: A. D: 1803. Was it embraced in the Louisiana Purchase? Grounds of American possession.