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Addenda

P. 104. The sacred precinct of Pelops at Olympia.– It deserves to be noted that just as Pelops, whose legend reflects the origin of the chariot-race, had his sacred precinct and probably his tomb at Olympia, in like manner Endymion, whose legend reflects the origin of the foot-race,⁷⁶³ had his tomb at the end of the Olympic stadium, at the point where the runners started in the race.⁷⁶⁴ This presence at Olympia of the graves of the two early kings, whose names are associated with the origin of the foot-race and of the chariot-race respectively, can hardly be without significance; it indicates the important part played by the dead in the foundation of the Olympic games.

P. 188. A man is literally reborn in the person of his son.– This belief in the possible rebirth of the parent in the child may sometimes explain the seemingly widespread dislike of people to have children like themselves. Examples of such a dislike have met us in a former part of this work.⁷⁶⁵ A similar superstition prevails among the Papuans of Doreh Bay in Dutch New Guinea. When a son resembles his father or a daughter resembles her mother closely in features, these savages fear that the father or mother will soon die.⁷⁶⁶ Again, in the island of Savou, to the south-west of Timor, if a child at birth is thought to be like its father or mother, it may not remain under the parental roof, else the person whom it resembles would soon die.⁷⁶⁷ Such superstitions, it is obvious, might readily suggest the expedient of killing the child in order to save the life of the parent.