AMPHIKTYOXIES. 243 in their comparative maturity. But the habk of common sacri- fice, on a small scale, and between near neighbors, is a part of the earliest habits of Greece. The sentiment of fraternity, between two tribes or villages, first manifested itself by sending a sacred legation, or Theoria, 1 to offer sacrifice at each other's fes- tivals, and to partake in the recreations which followed ; thus establishing a truce with solemn guarantee, and bringing them- selves into direct connection each with the god of the other under his appropriate local surname. The pacific communion so fostered, and the increased assurance of intercourse, as Greece gradually emerged from the turbulence and pugnacity of the heroic age, operated especially in extending the range of this ancient habit : the village festivals became town festivals, largely frequented by the citizens of other towns, and sometimes with special invitations sent round to attract Theors from every Hellenic community, and thus these once humble assemblages gradually swelled into the pomp and immense confluence of the Olympic and Pythian games. The city administering such holy ceremonies enjoyed inviolability of territory during the month of their occurrence, being itself under obligation at that time to refrain from all aggression, as well as to notify by heralds' 2 the commencement of the truce to all other cities not in avowed hostility with it. Elis imposed heavy fines upon other towns even on the powerful Lacedasmon for violation of the Olympic truce, on pain of exclusion from the festival in case of non- payment. Sometimes this tendency to religious fraternity took a form called an Amphiktyony, different from the common festival. A 1 In many Grecian states (as at ^Egina, Mantineia, Troezen, Thasos, etc.) these Theors formed a permanent college, and seem to hare been invested with extensive functions in reference to religious ceremonies : at Athens, they were chosen for the special occasion (see Thucyd. v. 47; Aristotel. Polit. v. 8, 3 ; 0. Mailer, ^Eginetica, p. 135 ; Demosthen. de Fals. Leg. p. 380).
- About the sacred truce, Olympian, Isthmian, etc., formally announced
by two heralds crowned with garlands sent from the administering city, and with respect to which many tricks were played, see Thucyd. v. 49 ; Xenophon, Hellen. ir. 7, 1-7; Plutarch, Lycurg. 23; Pindar, Isthm. ii. 35, <77roi><J6po- poi KapvKe? updv Thucyd. viii. 9-10, is also peculiarly instructive is ng&rd to the practice and the feeling.
