Note 68 — Chapter III · THE RISE OF THE ATHLETIC FESTIVAL

The recent excavations at Sparta prove that the decline of athletics coincided with the decline of art. Mr. R. M. Dawkins, writing in last report of the B.S.A., vol. xiv. p. 2, says: “In every case we have the remarkable result that the finest works belong to the seventh century, and that the sixth already shows the beginning of the decline which is so marked in the very poor character of the finds of the fifth century.”