Ĭsth'mi-an, a.

(ĭs'mĭ-an), a. [Lat. Isthmius, Gr. Ἰσθμιος. See infra.] Pertaining to an isthmus; especially to the Isthmus of Corinth, in Greece.

Isthmian games (Gr. Antiq.), one of the four great national festivals of Greece, celebrated on the Isthmus of Corinth in April or May of every alternate year, in the second and fourth years of each Olympiad. They consisted of all kinds of athletic sports, wrestling, boxing, gymnastics of every sort, racing on foot and in chariots, and also contests in music and poetry. The prize was a simple garland of pine leaves.