I.a sacred region in Elis Pisatis, with an olive wood, where the Olympian games were held; there, too, were the famous temple and statue of Juppiter Olympius: “cum Olympiam venisset, maximā illā quinquennali celebritate ludorum,” Cic. de Or. 3, 32, 127; id. N. D. 2, 2, 6: “cum uno die duo suos filios victores Olympiae vidisset,” id. Tusc. 1, 46, 111; 2, 20, 46; Auct. Her. 4, 3, 4; Liv. 26, 24, 14.—Hence,
A. Ŏlympĭăcus , a, um, adj., = Ὀλυμπιακος, Olympic: “cursus,” Auct. Her. 4, 3, 4: “palma,” Verg. G. 3, 49: “corona,” Suet. Ner. 25: “rami, i. e. oleaster,” Stat. Th. 6, 554: “palaestra,” Luc. 4, 614.—
C. Ŏlympĭcus , a, um (gen. plur. Olympicūm for Olympicarum, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 23), adj., = Ὀλυμπικός, Olympic (poet. and in post-class. prose): “pulvis,” Hor. C. 1, 1, 3: “certamen,” Just. 12, 16, 6; 13, 5, 3.—
D. Ŏlympĭus , a, um, adj., = Ὀλυμπιος, Olympic (class.): “certamina,” the Olympic games, Plaut. Men. 2, 3, 59: “ludi,” id. Stich. 2, 1, 34: “delubrum Olympii Jovis,” Mel. 2, 3, 4; Vulg. 2 Macc. 6, 2; Plin. 4, 5, 6, § 14. There was also a temple of Juppiter Olympius in Athens, Suet. Aug. 60; “and in Syracuse,” Liv. 24, 21: “equa,” that had run in the Olympic races, Plin. 28, 11, 49, § 181.—
2. Subst.
a. Ŏlympĭus , ĭi, m., an appellation bestowed on distinguished men by the Greeks and Romans; of Pericles, Plin. 34, 8, 19, § 74; Val. Max. 5, 10, 1 ext.; on coins, also of the Roman emperors, Hadrian and Commodus, Eckhel. D. N. t. 6, p. 518.—
b. Ŏlympĭum , ĭi, n., the temple of the Olympic Jupiter, Liv. 24, 33, 3.—
c. Ŏlympia , ōrum, n., Gr. τὰ Ὀλύμπια (sc. ἱερά), the Olympic games held every four years at Olympia: sic ut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe supremo Vicit Olympia, in the Olympic games (Gr. Ὀλύμπια νικᾶν), Enn. ap. Cic. Sen. 5, 14 (Ann. v. 442 Vahl.): “ad Olympia proficisci,” Cic. Div. 2, 70, 144: magna coronari Olympia (Gr. Ὀλύμπια τὰ μεγάλα; “opp. to the games held elsewhere),” Hor. Ep. 1, 1, 50: “Olympiorum solenne ludicrum,” Liv. 28, 7: “Olympiorum victoria,” the victory in the Olympic games, Cic. Tusc. 2, 17, 41.—
E. Ŏlympĭas , ădis, f., = Ὀλυμπιάς, an Olympiad, the period of four years that elapsed between the Olympic games, and which the Greeks usually employed in the computation of time: centum et octo annis, postquam Lycurgus leges scribere instituit, prima posita est Olympias, Cic. Rep. 2, 10, 18: “si Roma condita est secundo anno Olympiadis septumae,” id. ib. 2, 10, 18; “2, 15, 28: ante primam Olympiadem condita,” id. ib. 2, 23, 42: “sextā Olympiade,” Vell. 1, 8, 1.—In the poets sometimes for lustrum, i. e. a period of five years: “quinquennis Olympias,” Ov. P. 4, 6, 5: “ter senas vidit Olympiadas,” Mart. 7, 40, 6.—