Gymnasium Paper (Download File)

The history behind the gymnasium, and how it came to be so important throughout all of ancient Greece, has captured the attention of many scholars and archaeologists throughout the past several hundred years. Today’s cultures and civilizations know of the gymnasium as a place where people exercise, participate in sports, and sometimes socialize with those who are there with you. The aspect of that social norm started with the ancient Greeks. Over two millennia and the couple centuries that have followed it, the social interactions that the Greeks used the gymnasia for has expanded itself into cultures around the world. The ancient Greeks did not just use the gymnasiums has a place of exercise and socializing, but it was also used for educating the citizens of ancient Greece, such as Athens.

It is speculated that the appearance of the first gymnasia in ancient Greek history was around the middle of the 6^th century.¹ The ancient Greek people used the word gymnasion to describe the place where people went to exercise naked.² Eventually the Latin version of the word, gymnasium, would become the name of the institution that the ancient Greeks had developed.³ The gymnasium was a unique and some would say vital part of the ancient Greek culture. Once the gymnasium was established it became the center of life for many who enjoyed athleticism and general exercising. When it first surfaced in the ancient Greek world the gymnasia were thought solely as a place for athleticism, competition, and physical activity.⁴ Because so many people used the gymnasium there had to be order within it. A gymnasiarch was a public official who was charged with overseeing the gymnasium.⁵ These gymnasiarchs were responsible for observing and looking out for the people competing publicly, as well as training individually. These competitions often involved festivals, where the gymnasiarchs would also have to be organize and maintain the gymnasium properly during their appointed time.⁶ The original function of the gymnasium stayed its purpose throughout history, but within time new uses for them became apparent throughout history.⁷

Young men often engaged in physical exercise and activities within the gymnasium regularly, that much is already known. Through the use of the gymnasium by younger and older men alike, eventually the gymnasium gradually evolved into a place where someone could get a higher and adult education as well.⁸ A non-deliberate byproduct of having daily exercise and bathing together brought these men together to form a more sophisticated social intercourse of serious conversations and relaxation.⁹ Through the years eventually the gymnasia developed into learning centers, and soon famous scholars and philosophers would have their own established gymnasiums. Among these philosophers are Plato and Aristotle.

Initially built as a gymnasium, the famous Academy of Plato became an institute for higher learning in Classical Athens.¹⁰ The Academy was one of several gymnasia in Athens where higher learning could be conducted. The Lyceum and Cynosarges were both gymnasia where Athenians could go to learn through the teachings of sophists.¹¹ In these gymnasia sophists, ancient professors in philosophy, music, and mathematics, taught the ancient Greek population. The Classical Age did not stop the gymnasia from flourishing in popularity. The gymnasiums did exceedingly well during the Hellenistic Age of ancient Greece, they were utilized for intellectual and athletic purposes like it was originally intended for.¹²

Outside of the day-to-day activities within the gymnasium, occasionally one could be used for significant military purposes as well. If need be a gymnasium could be held to the same standard as training grounds or barracks for soldiers of an army. Ephesus’ gymnasium was utilized heavily by Agesilaus’s troops around 396 BCE in order to get his troops in shape.¹³ The gymnasiums could be utilized for physical training needs, but never were they solely used for just that. Military tactics were sometimes studied as well in gymnasia, and the Athenians used the Lyceum for military drill during the Peloponnesian War.¹⁴ Their isolated locations outside of the city limits made it easy for enemy forces to take over for their advantage.

Many festivals, Olympic style sporting events, and personal parties were thrown in gymnasiums over the centuries.¹⁵ Over the course of the centuries the gymnasia turned from a social type environment for everyone to more of a “country club” for those who knew who to talk to in order to get in. This type of environment attracted aristocrats and those with great wealth, where their time spent in the gymnasium socializing was under a hot bath with expensive perfumes and other notable expenditures.¹⁶

Throughout history the gymnasium has evolved into many forms, but it always kept its primary function as a place for the populace to exercise, compete, and socialize. The transformation of the gymnasium being an all athletic building into a place for academic learning allowed philosophers such as Plato to construct places like the Academy. Its transformation into such institutions still echo into today’s world as massive universities of higher learning. Military use of the gymnasia has been shown to be relevant, where its structures and set-up allow troops and generals to train and devise strategies all under one roof.

 Bibliography

Forbes, Clarence A., “Expanded Uses of the Greek Gymnasium,” Classical Philology 40. 1

(January 1945) 32-42

 

“Gymnasium (Ancient Greece).” Wikipedia. Accessed October 27, 2014.

http://En.wikipedia.org/wiki/gymnasium_(ancient_greece)

Google: Google Book:

 

Kyle, Donald G. Atheltics in Ancient Athens. 2nd ed. The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1993.

240. Accessed October 27, 2014

 

Google: Google Image:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Palestra,_Pompeii.jpg

1Donald G. Kyle. Atheltics in Ancient Athens. 2nd ed. The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1993.