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The four pan Hellenic games, Olympic, Nemean, Pythian, and Isthmian, were some of the most important festivals in ancient Greece. Not only did they serve a central religious role for the Greeks, each of the games were held in honor of a god, but they also provided great entertainment. They represented the coming together of all Greeks and the excellence of Greek culture. Each of the games had its own separate foundation myth, or myths, which gave each of the games their own character.

The Isthmian games were primarily dedicated to the god Poseidon, but also had associations with Dionysus. These games took place in the city of Corinth on the year before and after the Olympic games. There are three myths which are connected with the founding of the games. One myth is that they were founded, "around 580 BC, to celebrate the death of the tyrant Kyselos" (thefreedictionary.com 1). Another myth, which is far more complicated, is the one involving Poseidon and Dionysus.

It begins with the orphaned Dionysus being given to his aunt and uncle to raise after Hera had tricked Zeus into killing Semele, Dionysus' mother. Hera was so jealous of the affair that Zeus and Semele had been having, that she decided to go after Ino and Athamas, the aunt and uncle, as well as the rest of their family. What is agreed on in all renditions of this myth is that both parents were driven insane by the Furies. Athamas killed his oldest son, Learchus, thinking that he was either a deer, or according to Ovid, a Lion. After this, Ino took the younger son, Melikertes, and jumped into the ocean. Corinth was the traditional place where it was said that a dolphin brought the body of Melikertes to shore. Like in many other myths, the two tragic figures of Ino and Melikertes were turned into gods, Leukothea, and Palaimon. This is probably the oldest of the myths due to the fact that there seems to have been an older festival which held only night-time events. Of course, a simpler reason for the games association with Poseidon could be that Corinth was mainly a port city, and as such, would have been reliant upon the good grace of the sea god. The winners of these games would have been awarded with crowns of pine needles, or later, celery, which had some association with the foundation myths.

Yet, another myth has the hero Theseus, as the founder of the games in Corinth. Some said he started the games when he became king, while others thought that Theseus held the games in honor of a man he had killed.

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