OLERON—OLYIt has, within the last half century, increasedgreatly both in size and population ; an immensenumber of extensive manufactories have been es-tablished in it, and it also possesses the advan-tages of having an excellent snpply of coal in itsvicinity. Oldham was, in 1831, created a boroughtown, and it now sends two members to the Britishparliament. It has a population of 32,000 persons,and is 183 miles N.W. of London, and seven milesand a half from Manchester.

Olekon. A considerable island on the south-westcoast of France, opposite to the mouth of the Cha-rente. This island is separated from the mainland bya narrow channel called Pertuis de Maubuisson. Itslength is above twenty miles, and its breadth aboutsix, and its inhabitants amount to about 20,000 per-sons. The two principal towns in the island are St.Pierre and Chateau d’Oleron.

Olive nza. A strong town on the frontiers of Por-tugal, in the province of Estremadura. It contains apopulation of about 6000 persons, and is fifteen milesS.E. of Elvas, and forty-two S. of Evora.

Olmutz. A circle in the Austrian province ofMoravia. It has a territorial extent of 2020 squaremiles, and a population of 347,000 persons.

Olmutz. A large town in the Austrian States,and the capital of the above circle. It stands on theriver March, is strongly fortified, and has about 12,000inhabitants. The principal public edifices are thecathedral and the library. Olmutz is 130 miles E. byS. of Prague, and 100 N.N.E. of Vienna.

Olney. A market town in the county of Bucks,which consists of one principal street, with severalsmaller ones branching from it. The inhabitants donot exceed 3000 persons, who are nearly all employedin lace-making. Cowper, the poet, resided about onemile from Olney, and many of his finest descriptionsare drawn from the contiguous scenery. This townis fifty-six miles N. \V. of London, and twelve S.E. ofNorthampton.

Olonetz. A very extensive government in thenorth of European Russia. Its area amounts to87,500 square miles, but its population does notexceed 282,000 persons. This government containsmany large and important rivers, the principal ofwhich are the Onega, the Wug, the Kem, and Svir.The northern part of this province has a continuationof a range of mountains extending southward fromScandinavia; but their height is nowhere very great.The climate is very severe, particularly in the north,where little is produced but moss and a few stuntedshrubs. There are several extensive forests, especi-ally on the southern mountains, and on the island inthe lake of Onega.

Olot. A considerable town in the north-east ofSpain, situated on the banks of the river Fluvia. Itis considered one of the most active manufacturingtowns of Spain, and has a resident population of15,000 persons. Olot is twenty miles W.N.W. ofGerona.

Olympiads. The name of that portion of time.which elapsed between the celebration of the Olym-pic games. These games were celebrated after theexpiration of four complete years, whence some havesaid that they were observed every fifth year. Thisperiod of time was called Olympiad, and becamea 'Celebrated era among the Greeks, who computedtheir time by it. The custom of reckoning time bythe celebration of the Olympic games was not intro-

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duced at the first institution of these festivals, but tospeak accurately only the year in which Chorcebusobtained the prize. This Olympiad, which has alwaysbeen reckoned the first, fell, according to the mostaccurate and learned computations, exactly 776 yearsbefore the Christian era, in the year of the Julianperiod 3938, and twenty-three years before the build-ing of Rome. The games were exhibited at thetime of the full moon, next after the summer solstice ;therefore the Olympiads were of unequal lengths,because the time of the full moon differs eleven daysevery year, and for that reason they sometimesbegan the next day after the solstice, and at othertimes four weeks after. The computation by Olym-piads ceased, as some supposed, after the 364th, inthe year 440 of the Christian era. It was universallyadopted, not only by' the Greeks, but by many of theneighbouring countries, though still the Pythiangames served as an epoch to the people of Delphiand to the Boeotians the Nemsean games to theArgives and Arcadians, and the Isthmian to theCorinthians, and the inhabitants of the Peloponne-sian isthmus. To the Olympiads history is muchindebted : they have served to fix the time of manyimportant events, and indeed before this method ofcomputing time was observed, every page of historyis mostly fabulous, and filled with obscurity and con-tradiction, and no true chronological account can beproperly established and maintained with certainty.The mode of computation which was used after thesuppression of the Olympiads and of the consularfasti of Rome, was more useful as it was more univer-sal ; but while the era of the creation of the world pre-vailed in the east, the western nations in the sixth cen-tury' began to adopt with more propriety the Christianepoch, which was propagated in the eighth century', andat last, in the tenth century, became legal and popular.

Olympic Games. Solemn games held by theancient Greeks. They derive their name from JupiterOlympius to whom they were dedicated, and bywhom they are believed to have been instituted afterhis victory over the sons of Titan. Many, however,ascribe their institution to Hercules, son of Alcmena;while others again believe them to be founded byPelops in honour of Jupiter. Others, again, ascribethem to the Argonauts. One of the dactyli (priestsof Cybele, from Mount Ida, whom Rhea, the wife ofSaturn, had called from Crete to Elis, for the educa-tion of her son Jupiter), named Hercules, is also saidto have founded them when he, with his four brothers(Pseoneus, Ida, Jasius, and Epimedes), proceededfrom Crete to Elis. These four younger brotherscontended with each other for the prize in racing.Hercules crowned the victor with a wreath of olives,which was taken from a peculiarly beautiful olive-tree, transplanted from the land of the Hyperboreansto the holy plain, near Pisa. This was afterwardsalone employed for the victors’ wreaths. Certain itis that, in the earliest times of Greece, games (pro-bably of a religious nature) were celebrated in theneighbourhood of Pisa. They were several timesinterrupted and renewed; the first time by Iphitus,prince of Elis; the second time by Chorcebus,from which time the Olympiads are dated. Atthe commencement, the inhabitants of Pisa hadthe superintendence of the games. But after Pisahad been destroyed by the Eleans, the latter under-took the superintendence, which they retained withfew interruptions. They, also, were the umpires