Excerpt from A Dictionary of Mythology: Containing Short and Interesting Sketches of Characters Found in Grecian and Roman Mythology With All Proper Names Carefully Pronounced Festivals and Games. - Imposing festivals, some held annually others, more or less frequently, were celebrated in honor Of the various deities. These were mostly Of a religious character, but sometimes they degenerated into shameless orgies. These festivals were considered so im portant that during the time Of their celebration, even wars were suspended, and persons were permitted to pass unmolested through hostile territory. The most celebrated of the ancient games were the Olympian, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian. The Olympian games, which were held on the plain of Olympia, and occurred every four years, were so important that time was reckoned by Olympiads as we reckon it by years. The Pythian games were held at Delphi, in honor Of Apollo, and occurred every four years. The N emean games occurred once in two years, and were celebrated in honor Of Hercules, In the forest Of N emea, near the place where he slew the Nemean lion. The Isthmian games were held in honor of Neptune, on the Isthmus Of Corinth every two years. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.