Isthmi a

, sacred games among the Greeks, which received their names from the Isthmus of Corinth, where they were observed. They were celebrated in commemoration of Melicerta, who was changed into a sea deity, when his mother Ino had thrown herself into the sea with him in her arms. The body of Melicerta, according to some traditions, when cast upon the sea-shore, received an honourable burial, in memory of which the Isthmian games were instituted, B.C. 1326. They were interrupted after they had been celebrated with great regularity during some years, and These us at last reinstituted them in honour of Neptune, whom he publicly called his father. These games were observed every third, or rather fifth, year, and held so sacred and inviolable that even a public calamity could not prevent the celebration. When Corinth was destroyed by Mummius the Roman general, they were observed with the usual solemnity, and the Sicyonians were entrusted with the superintendence, which had been before one of the privileges of the ruined Corinthians. Combats of every kind were exhibited, and the victors were rewarded with garlands of pine leaves. Some time after the custom was changed, and the victor received a crown of dry and withered parsley. The years were reckoned by the celebration of the Isthmian games, as among the Romans from the consular government. Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 44 ; bk. 2 , chs. 1 & 2.— Pliny , bk. 4 , ch. 5 .— Plutarch , These us .