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Hesiod records his winning a tripod for a victory gained in singing at the games of Amphidamas at Chalkis.103 Tripods were the commonest prizes at all early games and it was not till later that they became connected especially with Apollo’s worship. They were presented for all sorts of contests, for chariot-racing,104 horse-racing,105 the foot-race,106 boxing,107 and wrestling.108 They were presented at various games in honor of different gods and heroes: e. g., those in honor of Apollo at the Triopia109 and Panionia of Mykale;110 of Dionysos at Athens and Rhodes;111 of Herakles at the Herakleia of Thebes and elsewhere;112 of Pelias;113 of Patroklos.114 They were kept in temples dedicated to various gods: e. g., in those of Apollo at Delphi, at Amyklai,115 and on Delos,116 at the Ptoian sanctuary117 and in the Ismenion at Thebes;118 in the temples of Zeus at Olympia and Dodona;119 of Herakles at Thebes;120 at the Hierothesion in Messene,121 etc. Later, because it served the Pythian priestess, the tripod became a part of the Apolline cult and the special attribute of that god.122 Gold and silver vessels and articles of bronze were everywhere used as prizes. In early days bronze was very valuable. Pindar proves this for games held in Achaia and Arkadia;123 and it continued to be used in later times, as, e. g., at the Panathenaia, where a hydria of bronze was a prize in the torch-race.124 At the lesser games all sorts of articles were offered, merely for their value. Thus a shield was offered at the Argive Heraia,125 a bowl at the games in honor of Aiakos on Aegina,126 silver cups at the Marathonian Herakleia127 and at the Sikyonian Pythia,128 a cloak at Pellene,129 apparently a cuirass at Argos,130 and jars of oil from sacred trees at the Panathenaia.131 A kettle is mentioned in the Anthology;132 an inscribed cauldron from Cumae, which was a prize at the games there in honor of Onomastos, is in the British Museum,133 while measures of barley and corn were prizes at the Eleusinia.134 While presents of value continued to be given at the local games,135 a simple wreath of leaves gradually came to be the prize offered the victor at the great national festivals. Pausanias136 says that this was composed of wild olive (κότινος) at Olympia, of laurel (δάφνη) at Delphi, of pine (πίτυς) at the Isthmus, and of celery (σέλινον) at Nemea. Phlegon says that the olive wreath was first used by Iphitos in Ol. 7 ( = 752 B.C.), when it was given to the Messenian runner Daïkles,137 and that for the preceding Olympiads there was no crown.138 Probably before that date tripods and other articles of value were the prizes at Olympia, as we know they were elsewhere. Pausanias says that the wild olive came from the land of the Hyperboreans.139 Pindar calls it merely olive (ἐλαία), and not wild olive.140 The Athenian tradition was that the olive which Herakles planted at Olympia was a shoot of a sacred tree which grew on the banks of the Ilissos in Attica.141 Phlegon also says that the first crown came from Attika. In later days the Olympic wreaths were cut from the “Olive of the Faircrown”;142 its branches were cut with a golden sickle by a boy whose parents must be living;143 it grew at Olympia in a spot near the so-called Pantheion,144 which was probably a grove behind the temple of Zeus.145 The laurel prize at the Pythian games replaced the older articles of value or money in 582 B.C.146 It came from Tempe and was plucked by a boy whose parents must be living.147 The wreath is seen on late Delphian coins of the imperial age.148 Lucian also states that apples were given as prizes at Delphi.149 Wild celery was the prize at the Isthmus in the time of Pindar.150 It was dried or withered to differentiate it from the fresh celery used at Nemea.151 Later writers say that the wreath was of the leaves of the pine,152 which was the tree sacred to Poseidon. Probably pine leaves composed the older wreath, a practice certainly revived again in later Roman imperial days;153 for while on coins of Augustus and Nero celery is represented, those of Antoninus Pius and Lucius Verus show pine.154 A row of pine trees lined the approach to Poseidon’s sanctuary.155 The prize at Nemea was celery and not parsley, as many wrongly interpret the wreath appearing on Selinuntian coins.156 Pausanias also states that at most Greek games a palm wreath was placed in the victor’s right hand.157 The palm as a symbol of victory occurs first toward the end of the fifth century B.C.158