Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία

1. Introduction

The gymnasium, just like the theatre, was considered an integral part of life in the Greek cities of Antiquity.¹ It was intended for the physical and theoretical education of the young and consisted of separate spaces for special purposes.

2. The Separate Spaces of the Gymnasium and their Purposes

2.1. The Palaestra Building

The palaestra building² consisted of a central rectangular (square or oblong) colonnaded courtyard, surrounded by porticoes. Behind the porticoes there were rooms for various uses, perimetrically arranged. Thanks to written sources, including ancient literature and preserved inscriptions as well as remains brought to light by excavations, the names of the separate spaces of the palaestra and their functions are today known: subsidiary rooms for body care and bathing. The apodyterium,³ where the young undressed and left their clothes before working out, was usually one of the largest rooms of the palaestra. It also served as a room for relaxation, association and conversation. Before the physical exercises the young anointed their body with oil in the aleipterion ("anointing room").⁴ Oil vessels were kept in a special depository, the elaeothesium,⁵ while the powdery dust or sand the athletes applied onto their sweaty body was in the conisterium.⁶ The accumulated oil and dust were scraped off the body after the exercises with the strigil, a metal implement with a curved blade. The bath, a room with proper water-supply and sewage system and basins along the walls, was necessary for the operation of the gymnasium.⁷

2.2. Athletic Halls

There were special spaces for different sports. The coryceum was the room with the corykoi – leather bags filled with wheat, bran or sand, hanging from the ceiling and used for practising boxing.⁸ There was also the sphaeristerion,whose exact purpose has not been determined yet. It presumably was either a room intended for practicing boxing⁹or an open-air space for playing ball or sphere.¹⁰ There was also the plethron,reported by Pausanias,¹¹ for practicing wrestling as well as special spaces in the palaestra yard intended for jumping.¹²

2.3. Classrooms and Libraries

A typical room of gymnasia was the exedra (or exedrion). On its front side, directed to the central courtyard, there was a colonnade instead of an uninterrupted wall. Those rooms, opening into the courtyard, had several uses. Archaeologists found that stone desks for the adolescents to sit were often along the walls of such rooms. The ephebeum looked like an exedra and, according to Vitruvius (5.11.2), was the largest and most important room of the palaestra, intended for meetings and theoretical instruction of the adolescents.¹³It is also known that the gymnasia were often followed by organised libraries in the Hellenistic years.¹⁴

2.4. Xystus and Paradromis

The xystus or ‘katastegos’was a colonnaded building, originally separate from the palaestra, 1 stadion long (600 feet, 192.28 m) and 32 feet wide (about 9 m). It was used for running in harsh weather conditions.¹⁵ One of the porticoes in the palaestra courtyard could be used as a xystus as well. The outer track (gr.: παραδρομίς, paradromis, lat.: hypaethrae ambulationes), an open-air track of similar dimensions to the xystus for the event of running in fair weather, ran parallel to the xystus. The xystus and the open-air running track had starting line mechanisms, similar to those of the stadium.¹⁶

2.5. Places of Worship

Gods and heroes were patrons of the gymnasia. The largest of them sometimes had a temple to worship their gods,¹⁷ while smaller places of worship, the small temples, are evidenced as well.¹⁸ Small stone altars for bloodless sacrifices and offering tables were often used.

3. The Greek Palaestra according to Vitruvius

A remarkable amount of knowledge about Greek and Roman architecture comes from the work of the Roman architect Vitruvius. Vitruvius (De Architectura, V, XI, I) describes the Greek palaestra as a rectangular building with a central colonnaded courtyard and a perimeter of 2 stadia (diaulos). On the one side of the courtyard, the architect says, was a second portico (xystus), 1 stadion long and 32 feet wide, where the athletic events were held in case of bad weather. Similar open-air corridors are the running tracks (gr. παραδρομίς, lat. hypaethrae ambulationes). According to Vitruvius, in the centre of the northern side of the palaestra is the largest and most important room, the ephebeum; on the left was the elaeothesium, while on the right was the coryceum and next was the conisterium. In either corner of the northern side was a washroom. The rest of the porticoes accommodate exedrae with seats.

Although Vitruvius gives a detailed description of the position of the separate spaces in the Greek palaestra, archaeologists have found that the architectural designs and general ground plans of the preserved gymnasia are different, which prove that there never existed an established and particular way the rooms were arranged around the central courtyard. That is why it is often difficult to determine the function of palaestra’s rooms and identify them with the spaces reported by ancient literature and inscriptions. It is much easier to identify the exedrae and the baths, thanks to their particular features (colonnade in front of the exedrae and plumbing in the bath), when they are well preserved.

4. Gymnasia in Asia Minor Cities

There is little evidence about the gymnasia of Classical years in Asia Minor. The earliest information from written sources concerns a gymnasium in Ephesus and a palaestra in Aezani in the early 4^th century BC. The small Asian Minor cities of Iassos and Mylasa also are reported to have had gymnasia in Classical years. However, remains of those early gymnasia have not been positively identified yet.¹⁹

On the other hand, thanks to evidence from written sources and archaeological findings, there is information about the gymnasia in most Asia Minor cities in Hellenistic years. The preserved architectural remains of the Upper Gymnasium in Priene date from the 3^rd century BC. Gymnasia were also built in the same century in other cities, such as Miletus, Teos, Laodicea and Abydus. Sometimes the gymnasia were honorarily named after a benefactor, ruler, a wealthy citizen that financed their foundation (or in honour of whom the city had built the gymnasium) or other great historical figures, such as Philip II or Homer. The Antiocheion gymnasium, named after Antiochus III the Great (223-187 BC),²⁰ and the Ptolemaion²¹ gymnasium operated in the 3^rd century in Iassos of Caria, while a Philippeion gymnasium and a palaestra for young children operated in Halicarnassus. According to Strabo (ΧΙV, 446), in Smyrna operated the Homereion gymnasium.²²

A gymnasium was built in the Agora of Miletus²³ in the early 2^nd century BC, financed by some Eudaemon, while a few decades later Eumenes II Soter, the sovereign of Pergamon, donated cereals and timber to the same city for the collection of money intended for the building of a second gymnasium.²⁴ The same sovereign founded in Pergamon, the capital of his kingdom, the largest and noblest known Hellenistic gymnasium, the so-called Upper Gymnasium, whose impressive remains have been preserved in good condition. It is known that in the middle of the century there was a palaestra in Magnesia ad Maeandrum, while the so-called Low Gymnasium of Priene, whose remains were found on the southern edge of the city and have been preserved in good condition, was built towards the end of the same century. There is evidence from the 2^nd century BC that gymnasia operated in other cities as well, such as Aegai, Apamea, Aphrodisias and Assos. A wealth of similar information comes from the 1^st century BC about Cnidus, Cyme, Cyzicus, Stratonicea, Tarsus, Tralles and other cities.²⁵

In the early Imperial years (around the mid-1^st century AD) thermae were annexed to the Hellenistic gymnasia (as it happened in Pergamon, Ephesus, Miletus and Priene) or new gymnasia with large hot baths were built (such as the ‘Harbour Gymnasium’ in Ephesus), in order to serve the new habits imported from the West. These buildings are characterised as baths-gymnasia in modern bibliography.

5. Architectural Style and Development of the Greek Gymnasium

The adolescents originally practiced the different sports in open-air spaces, usually outside the city. It is known that in the 6^th century BC the gymnasia of Athens (Academy, Cynosarges and Lykeion) were groves or enclosed afforested areas with a "dromos" (running track) and they may have had some subsidiary temporary buildings. The preserved building remains of athletic facilities in Greece (Delphi), as described above, date from just the 4^th century BC. From the end of the same century on, the gymnasium evolved into a complex of independent facilities for special purposes. The palaestra was the original nucleus of the complex. The rest of the facilities, such as the xystus and the open-air running track, were usually gradually built around the palaestra. The way the complexes of gymnasia developed in Classical and early Hellenistic years appears in the gradual development of sanctuaries and agoras at that time as well. Throughout the 3^rd century BC and mainly in the 2^nd century BC the development of the gymnasium was influenced by the tendency towards normality and originally unified design, as indicated in large complexes of eastern Greece, such as sanctuaries (Kos, Lindos or Athena Polias in Pergamon) and agoras (North and South Agora of Miletus). This tendency appears in the unification of all the necessary spaces of the gymnasium, which used to be separate parts (palaestra, xystus, open-air running track) under a single architectural design (such as the Low Gymnasium of Priene and the Upper Gymnasium of Pergamon).²⁶

In the early Imperial years hot baths are annexed to the former Hellenistic gymnasia, following the example of thermae of the Roman capital, while the new buildings were designed in accordance with the principles of the Roman baths in the West.²⁷

6. Decoration

Written sources and findings brought to light by excavations revealed that sculptures representing gods and mortals, paintings and various other dedications adorned the rooms, the porticoes and the open spaces of the gymnasia. The two patron gods of the gymnasium, Hermes Enagonios (of the Games) and Heracles, who were the patrons of physical exercise and athletic games and, thus, the model gods of the adolescents of the gymnasium, were mainly worshipped. The statues of winners also acted as athletic models. The gymnasium was also connected with the honorary statues of the gymnasiarchs and the trainers, who were responsible for the operation of the place. The honorary and dedicative statues of gymnasiarchs and benefactors of the city as well as of various sovereigns increased in number, particularly from the late 2^nd century BC onward. The statues were erected in central, foremost places, on pedestals or in niches in the gymnasium halls (usually in the exedrae or ephebeia). Statues were also put up in porticoes or between the columns of the peristyle. A propylon, an entrance or even the front side of a gymnasium was often adorned with statues. Herms were often used as signs at the entrances of the gymnasia or at the starting point of the event of running on the xystus or on the open-air running track.²⁸

7. The Institution of the Ancient Greek Gymnasium and its Operation

The gymnasiarch, an archon responsible for the supervision of both the young and the adolescents being trained there, was the director of the gymnasium and the palaestra.²⁹ His post, widely spread in all the cities of the ancient Greek world, was a public office usually held by the most notable and wealthiest citizens, for it demanded high expenses. The public archon (ephebarchus) was the general supervisor of the adolescents.³⁰

The trainer was responsible for the physical and athletic education of the young. In the palaestra the young practiced wrestling; they stood and fought bare-fisted until their opponent fell three times. They also practiced boxing by covering their fists with simple ox-hide thongs, which protected the contestants and enabled them to give heavier blows.³¹ The third sport they practiced was pankration, which combined wrestling and boxing. Jumping must have been practiced in the palaestra yard as well, while during the event the Ancient Greeks used to hold barbells. The pentathlon was a combination of heavy and light sports including jumping, running, javelin throw, discus throw and wrestling.

The young competed in running on the xystus and – in adverse weather – on the open-air running track; they would run a distance of 600 feet, which equals 1 stadion. This distance gave the name to the stadium, the structure needed for the event of running to be held.

The gymnasium was one of the most important centres of public life in Greek cities. The institution of the gymnasium, directly connected with the development of Greek cities,³² aimed to create virtuous citizens and gallant warriors. As educational institutions of public character, the gymnasia were originally intended for the physical education of the young and the practice of sports. Already from the late 5^th century and mainly in the 4^th century BC the important gymnasia of Athens (Academy, Cynosarges and Lykeion) changed the orientation of their education and became centres for general education and philosophical studies: two of the newly founded philosophical schools of the 4^th century BC, the Academy of Plato and the Peripatetic School of Aristotle and Theophrastus, were accommodated in the important gymnasia of the city, the Academy and the Lykeion respectively. The Greek gymnasia in the Hellenistic years operated in accordance with the gymnasia of Attica.³³

The new instructional task of the gymnasium seems to have caused or been in line with a topographic change of its position, which was transferred in the late 4^th century from the suburbs or the outskirts –where they used to be in Classical times– to the centre of the city and often near the agora.³⁴ This diversity in educational operation is also evidenced by architecture: sports facilities coexist with classrooms and assembly rooms (exedrae or ephebeia), porticoes, walks and libraries. Thus, the gymnasium in the Hellenistic years became an important centre for the city’s social life, a place where the citizens met and held their banquets and celebrations, while the gymnasia of the East and Egypt became centres of Greek culture as well.³⁵ In the Imperial years the gymnasium continued being the most important centre for education.

1. The objectives of the study of ancient Greek gymnasium are shaped until the present day within two central thematic units: the function of the gymnasium as an institution and its architectural form and its development. Regarding the architecture of gymnasia, an essential work remains the monograph by Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), with criticism by Riemann, H. in Gnomon 35 (1963), pp. 383-392. A series of specialized articles deal with problems relevant to the understanding of ancient architectural terms that have to do with gymnasia and are encountered in written sources. We mention for example those of Roux, G., “A propos des Gymnases de Delphes et de Délos”, BCH 104 (1980), pp. 127-149 and Glass, S.L., “The Greek gymnasium, some problems”, in Raschke, W.J. (ed.), The archaeology of the Olympics, Los Angeles 1984 (Los Angeles 1988), pp. 155-173, while issues relevant to its function were discussed in the scientific meeting, on Hellenistic gymnasium, that was organized in Frankfurt in 2004 [Kah, D. – Scholz, P. (ed.), Das hellenistische Gymnasion (Frankfurt 2004)]. From a large series of studies regarding the institution and the function of gymnasia in the Greek world we should also mention the important work by Nilsson, M., Die hellenistische Schule (München 1955), and the more recent article by Gauthier, Ph., “Notes sur le rôle du gymnase dans les cités hellénistiques”, in Wörrle, M. – Zanker, P. (ed.), Standbild und Bürgerbild im Hellenismus. Kolloquium, München 24. bis 26. Juni 1993 (München 1995), pp. 1-12, where we can find the older bibliography. More specifically, about the gymnasia of Asia Minor of particular importance are the publications about the buildings themselves, mainly of Pergamum, Priene, Ephesus and Miletus.

2. In the ancient sources there is a distinction between the terms gymnasium and palaestra, but without defining the character of this distinction. For several years research had understood the distinction between these two terms based on three differences: a) the gymnasium was a public building contrary to the private status of the palaestra , b) the gymnasium was destined for the "young", while the palaestra for "children" and c) the gymnasium necessarily included the palaestra building, while the palaestra could be an independent building. The relevant ancient testimonies and the modern views on this issue were collected lastly by Glass, S.L., “The Greek gymnasium, some problems”, in Raschke, W.J. (ed.), The archaeology of the Olympics, Los Angeles 1984 (Los Angeles 1988), p. 162 onwards. See Glass, S.L., Palaistra and Gymnasium in Greek Architecture (Αnn Arbor 1981), p. 69 onwards, who demonstrated that the first two criteria were valid only on occasion and are not universal, while the distinction has to do rather with the architectural form, which was dictated by an initial different function (from where comes the etymology of every term, gymnasium> γυμνάζω (train), palaestra> παλαίω (wrestle)· see Isidorus, Etym. 8.6.17, 15.2.30 and 18.23-24). So, we ascertain –at least regarding the etymology of the terms and the initial use of the respective facilities– a more general function of the gymnasium, in contrast to the more specific function of the palaestra.

3. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 296.

4. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 301.

5. With the elaeothesium is related the psykterios oikos (cold room), whose exact use remains unknown. About the term see Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 304· Ginouvès, R., Dictionnaire Méthodique de l’architecture greque et romaine, vol. 3, Espaces architecturaux, bâtiments et ensembles (Roma 1998), p.127 onwards, entry “élaiothésium”.

6. The conisterium is probably identified with the conistra, a term that appears in ancient sources in relation to the gymnasium, see Ginouvès, R., Dictionnaire Méthodique de l’ architecture greque et romaine, vol. 3, Espaces architecturaux, bâtiments et ensembles (Roma 1998), p. 128, entry “konistérion”.

7. The bath was an essential area for the operation of the Greek gymnasium. At the Greek bath water was not heated, like it happened later in Roman baths. At an excellent condition, and with part of its equipment, is preserved the bath at the Lower Gymnasium of Priene, where we can study the water-supply system. Ruins from baths are also preserved in Pergamon and in Greece in Delphi, Olympia, Delos, Eretria, Amphipolis et al. About the function and importance of baths in the ancient world see Weber, M., Antike Badekultur (München 1996).

8. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain), (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 280 onwards.

9. Delorme, J., “Sphairistèrion et Gymnase à Delphes, à Délos et ailleurs (des origines à l’Empire romain)”, ΒCH 106 (1982), pp. 53-73.

10. Roux, G., “Á propos des Gymnases de Delphes et de Délos. Le site du Damatrion de Delphes et le sens du mot sphairisteria”, BCH 104 (1980), pp. 127-149.

11. Pausania 6.23.1-2· Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 71.

12. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 292.

13. Analytically about the origin and understanding of the terms exedrion and ephebeum see Nilsson, M., Die hellenistische Schule (München 1955), pp. 30, 32· Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain), (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), pp. 325-329· Ginouvès, R., Dictionnaire Méthodique de l’architecture greque et romaine, vol. 3, Espaces architecturaux, bâtiments et ensembles (Roma 1998), p. 127, at the entry “éphébeion”. See also Hesberg, H. von, “Das griechische Gymnasion im 2. Jh. v. Chr.”, in Wörrle, M. – Zanker, P. (ed.), Standbild und Bürgerbild im Hellenismus. Kolloquium, München 24. bis 26. Juni 1993 (München 1995), p. 19 onwards.

14. More specifically, about the cities of Asia Minor we know, from inscriptions that have been preserved, that libraries operated in the gymnasium of Pergamon, Smyrna and Halicarnassus. Regarding the libraries in gymnasia see Nilsson, M., Die hellenistische Schule (München 1955), p. 49 onwards.· Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 331 onwards.· Höpfner, W. (ed.), Αntike Bibliotheken (Mainz am Rhein 2002).

15. The term is encountered for the first time in the 4th century BC. Xystoi have been unearthed in the gymnasia of Priene and Pergamon, as well as in those of Delphi, Olympia, Kos, Nemea, Delos, Amphipolis et al, see Gieré, Α., Hippodromos und Xystus (Zürich 1986).

16. The term "paradromis" is not encountered frequently. The oldest testimony comes from Delphi and dates from the 3rd century BC, see Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 288. "Paradromides" which still preserve the starting line mechanism have been identified in Delphi and Amphipolis.

17. As it happened, for example, in the so called Upper Gymnasium in Pergamon.

18. Sch. Aischines, Against Timarchus 1.10.

19. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 88 onwards.

20. SEG XLV, p. 1517.

21. Filimonos, Μ. – Kontorini, V., “Ένα νέο Γυμνάσιο στη Ρόδο και η μαρτυρία του Διοδώρου ΧΧ.100, 3-4”, AntCl 58 (1989), p. 152, note 86.

22. This is a peristyle building, which probably included a library see Delorme, J., Gymnasion 134· Höpfner, W., “Pergamon, Rhodos, Nysa, Athen. Bibliotheken in Gymnasien und anderen Lehr-und Forschungsstätten”, in Höpfner, W. (ed.), Αntike Bibliotheken (Mainz am Rhein 2002), p. 67, note 6.

23. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 126 onwards, fig. 31· Kleiner, G., Die Ruinen von Milet (Berlin 1968), p. 89 onwards,· Yegül, F. , Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity (New York 1992) fig. 301.

24. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 126 onwards.· Kleiner, G., Die Ruinen von Milet (Berlin 1968), p. 89 onwards. Part of the yet undug gymnasium was discovered recently between the western Agora and the Stadium.

25. All the testimonies regarding the gymnasia of the Classical and Hellenistic Periods in Asia Minor can be found in Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960).

26. Analytically about the development presented by the architectural form of the gymnasia through the centuries see Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 374 onwards.· Hesberg, H. von, “Das griechische Gymnasion im 2. Jh. v. Chr.”, in Wörrle, M. – Zanker, P. (ed.), Standbild und Bürgerbild im Hellenismus. Kolloquium, München 24. bis 26. Juni 1993 (München 1995), pp. 13-28.

27. These buildings are characterized in bibliography as baths-gymnasia.

28. Regarding the sculptural decoration in gymnasia see Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 362 onwards.· Hoff, R. von den, “Ornamenta γυμνασιώδη? Delos und Pergamon als Beispielfälle der Skulpturenausstattung hellenistischer Gymnasien”, in Kah, D. – Scholz, P. (ed.), Das hellenistische Gymnasion (Frankfurt 2004), pp. 373-405.

29. The youth of the city was trained and educated at the gymnasiums. In Antiquity there were 3 categories of ages: children, adolescents and young. The age limits defined by the ancient "παις" (child), "έφηβος" (adolescent) and "νέος" (young) vary depending on the city and the period. Glass, S.L., “The Greek gymnasium, some problems”, in Raschke, W.J. (ed.), The archaeology of the Olympics, Los Angeles 1984 (Los Angeles 1988), p. 163, note 69· Gauthier, Ph., “Bienfaiteurs du Gymnase au Letoon de Xanthos”, REG 109 (1996), p. 1. A special palaestra for the training of children was operational already from the 3rd century BC in Halicarnassus. We know that the gymnasium that was created with the expenses of Eudaimon in Miletus in the beginning of the 2nd century BC (200/199 BC) was destined for small children. They have argued that in Priene the teaching of the adolescents took place in Upper Gumnasium, while at the Lower Gymnasium the young, It is also believed that the three terraces of the Upper Gymnasium in Pergamum were destined respectively the lower for the children, the middle one for adolescents and the higher for the young. Of course, it is not unlikely that children and adolescents used simultaneously areas of the higher terrace. Analytically about this subject see Glass, S.L., Palaistra and gymnasium in greek architecture (Diss. Univ. of Pennsylvania 1967, 1981) p. 174.

30. The institution of ephebeia assumed legal status in the Athenian state with the law "On Epheboi" in 334/333 BC. The office of the ephebarch existed before this period, however it seems that it became widespread during the Hellenistic Period.

31. Regarding the boxers' equipment see Philostratus, Γυμναστικός (On Athletic Training) 9-16.

32. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 9 onwards,· Gauthier, Ph., “Notes sur le rôle du gymnase dans les cités hellénistiques”, στο Wörrle, M. – Zanker, P. (ed.), Stadtbild und Bürgerbild im Hellenismus. Kolloquium, München 24. bis 26. Juni 1993 (München 1995), p. 1.

33. Regarding the function of gymnasium and how it changed through time, but also how it is differentiated from city to city, see mainly Robert, L., REA 62 (1960), pp. 296-298. Theoretical lessons took place in gymnasiums, as testified by inscriptions in most of the gymnasia, for example those of Delphi, Pergamon and Priene (Gauthier, Ph., “Notes sur le rôle du gymnase dans les cités hellénistiques”, in Wörrle, M. – Zanker, P. (ed.), Stadtbild und Bürgerbild im Hellenismus. Kolloquium, München 24. bis 26. Juni 1993 (München 1995), p. 5, note 31 et al.

34. Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’ Empire romain) (BEFAR 196, Paris 1960), p. 144 onwards,· Hesberg, H. von, “Das griechische Gymnasion im 2. Jh. v. Chr.”, in Wörrle, M. – Zanker, P. (ed.), Standbild und Bürgerbild im Hellenismus. Kolloquium, München 24. bis 26. Juni 1993 (München 1995), p. 14 onwards.

35. Regarding the organization and the importance of local celebrations and the role of the victor in the Greek societies of the Eastern provinces, mainly during the ealry Imperial Years see Nijf, O. Van, “Local heroes: athletics, festivals and elite self-fashioning in the Roman East”, in Goldhill, S. (ed.), Being Greek under Rome (Cambridge 2001), pp. 306-334.