The Historian's History of the World, Ulrich von Willamowitz-Moellendorff:
"[t]he umpires at the Olympian games are the first to apply the name of Hellenes to the nation - more exactly speaking, to the class. For here it has come to pass that, though politically divided into numberless cantons, though involved in perpetual feuds and irreconcilable local animosities, the members of this class recognise one another, intermarry, call a truce for the festivals, and find a common interest in maintaining their class supremacy against the encroachments of the lower orders [sic]." (1989: 67). See also Schaefer 1963: 283.
The suggestion is arresting: the Olympic Games were originally restricted to a transregional community of aristocrats.
"[t]he umpires at the Olympian games are the first to apply the name of Hellenes to the nation - more exactly speaking, to the class. For here it has come to pass that, though politically divided into numberless cantons, though involved in perpetual feuds and irreconcilable local animosities, the members of this class recognise one another, intermarry, call a truce for the festivals, and find a common interest in maintaining their class supremacy against the encroachments of the lower orders [sic]." (1989: 67). See also Schaefer 1963: 283.
The suggestion is arresting: the Olympic Games were originally restricted to a transregional community of aristocrats.
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