We have seen that the olive crowns were probably presented to the victors at once. These crowns were made of branches cut from the sacred olive-tree, “the olive of fair crowns” which stood behind the temple of Zeus. They were cut with a golden sickle by a boy of pure Greek birth whose parents were both living, and were placed on a tripod. At the time of which we are speaking, the old iron tripod had been already replaced by the ivory and gold table made by Colotes, which was kept in the temple of Hera.[326] The table was probably set beside the seats of the Hellanodicae. There, when the herald had proclaimed his name, the victor advanced, having bound his head with fillets of wool, and the chief Hellanodicas set on his head the olive crown, and in later times put in his hand the palm of victory; while the spectators cheered and showered upon him garlands, flowers, and presents of all sorts. The crowning of the victor and the showering him with flowers (φυλλοβολία) are depicted on the interiors of two kylices, in Figs. 25, 26.[327] In the case of a tie or dead-heat the crown was not awarded, but was dedicated to the god; hence the phrases ἱερὸν ποιεῖν, ἱερὸν γενέσθαι, _hieram facere_, are used to express a dead-heat or draw.[328]
[Illustration: Fig. 25. R.-f. kylix. Bibliothèque Nationale, 532.]
[Illustration: Fig. 26. R.-f. kylix. Canino Coll.]
Then in the evening, beneath the brightness of the mid-month moon, the precinct rang with revelry and song. The victors and their friends in festal attire, with garlands on their heads, went in glad procession round the Altis, while crowds of fellow-citizens chanted to the accompaniment of the flute the old triumphal refrain of Archilochus,[329] or some new hymn of victory written for the occasion by Pindar or Bacchylides. The victors wore the crowns which they had won, but there is no ground for the statement that they dedicated them to Zeus; rather it seems that they took them home and dedicated them in the temples of their own cities. The processionals followed by banquets given by the victors.[330] Alcibiades after his victory in the chariot-race entertained the whole assembly at a feast, and borrowed for the occasion all the plate and vessels belonging to the Athenian theoroi. Anaxilas of Rhegium and his son Leophron celebrated their victories in like manner. Empedocles of Aetna being a Pythagorean, and therefore a vegetarian, had an ox made of costly spices, which he distributed to the spectators. The banquets often lasted all night long, and in the morning the victors paid their vows and offered sacrifices to the gods to whom they owed their victories.