Ἄργεος Ἀμφιλόχου τε, καὶ ὁππόσα ῥαίσατο κύκλῳ
ἄστε’ ἐπιθρώσκων δουρομανὴς πόλεμος,
εἵσατο Νικόπολιν, θείην πόλιν· ἀντὶ δὲ νίκης
φοῖβος ἄναξ ταύτην δέχνυται Ἀκτιάδος.
Anthol. Gr. ix. 553.
[192] When Tacitus, Ann. v. 10, names Nicopolis a colonia Romana, the statement is one liable to be misunderstood, but not exactly incorrect; but that of Pliny (H. N. iv. 1, 5), colonia Augusti Actium cum … civitate libera Nicopolitana, is erroneous, as Actium was as little a town as Olympia.
[193] Ὁ ἀγὼν Ὀλύμπιος τὰ Ἄκτια, Strabo, vii. 7, 6, p. 325; Ἀκτιάς Josephus, Bell. Jud. i. 20, 4; Ἀκτιονίκης oftener. As the four great Greek national festivals are, as is well known, termed ἡ περίοδος, and the victor crowned in all four περιοδονίκης, so in C. I. Gr. 4472 τῆς περιόδου is appended also to the games of Nicopolis, and the former περιόδος is designated as the ancient (ἀρχαία). As competitive games are frequently called ἰσολύμπια, so we find also ἀγὼν ἰσάκτιος (C. I. Gr. 4472), or certamen ad exemplar Actiacae religionis (Tacitus, Ann. xv. 23).
[194] Thus a Nicopolite terms himself ἄρχων τῆς ἱερᾶς Ἀκτιακῆς βουλῆς (Delphi, Rhein. Mus. N. F. ii. 111), as in Elis the expression is used: ἡ πόλις Ἠλείων καὶ ἡ Ὀλυμπικὴ βουλή (Arch. Zeit. 1876, p. 57; similarly ibid. 1877, pp. 40, 41 elsewhere). Moreover the Spartans, as the only Hellenes that took part in the victory at Actium, obtained the conduct (ἐπιμέλεια) of the Actian games (Strabo, vii. 7, 6 p. 325): their relation to the βουλὴ Ἀκτιακή of Nicopolis we do not know.
[195] The description of its decay in the time of Constantius (Paneg. 11, 9) is an evidence to the opposite effect for the earlier times of the empire.
[196] The excavations at Dodona have confirmed this; all the articles found belong to the pre–Roman period except some coins. Certainly a restoration of the building took place, the time of which cannot be determined; perhaps it was quite late. When Hadrian, who is named Ζεὺς Δωδοναῖος (C. I. Gr. 1822), visited Dodona (Dürr, Reisen Hadrians, p. 56) he did so as an archaeologist. A consultation of the oracle during the imperial period is only reported—and that not after the most trustworthy manner—in the case of the emperor Julian (Theodoretus, Hist. Eccl. iii. 21).