Olympius


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Olympius. - This appellation (says Eckhel, vi. 518). peculiarly appropriated to the king of heathen divinities, was, by an unusual stretch of even Grecian flattery, assigned in common to the Emperor Hadrian and to Jove himself, as appears from a variety of inscriptions both on marbles and on coins, especially Athenian.  The cause of pretext for this adulation was the finishing and dedication by the above Emperor of the great temple of Olympian Jupiter at Athens.  Connected with this fact was the institution of games, called Hadriana Olympia, by various Greek cities. -This application of a celestial cognomen to Hadrian finds no example on any Latin coins; and we find on contorniate coins, the epithet of Olympius degraded so low as to be the designation of an auriga or an athleta.

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