Gymnasia and Athletic Culture in Western and Southern Asia Minor During the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
Final Report Abstract
Training and competitions (agones) with naked bodies (gymnós) were already in antiquity considered a characteristic feature of the Greek way of life. Agones are documented since the 8th century BC, but gymnasia as special training grounds only since the 5th century. In the 4th century, Greek cities (poleis) began to develop gymnasia into publicly financed institutions supervised by magistrates. An important motive for this was the introduction of the ephebeia, a period of training for the sons of citizens, who mainly practised for service in the citizen army, but also familiarized themselves with the history, cults and political practices of their polis. As places of training, education, social interaction and internalisation of political values for all age groups, gymnasia became a symbol of civic life and remained an indispensable element of Greek cities even under Roman rule. As “schools of citizens” they were closely interrelated with the long-term developments of the poleis, which they partly reflected and partly promoted. Dealing with them therefore leads to a central question that contemporary political systems must address, too: how civic values can be conveyed in public educational institutions in such a way that political stability and social cohesion are strengthened. The aim of the project was to investigate gymnasia and agones for the first time over their entire history from the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD on the basis of all available epigraphic and archaeological evidence. For this purpose, an area in western and southern Asia Minor with the offshore islands was selected, which offers rich source material and includes regions with different cultural backgrounds. Compared to previous research, a much more differentiated picture emerges, as considerable regional differences in the development rhythms, organisational and architectural complexity, and performance of gymnasia can be observed. The earliest evidence of public gymnasia dates back to around 300 BC in Asia Minor, a chronology similar to mainland Greece. In the 4th/5th century AD, gymnasia and agonistics disappeared in a gradual process, while inscriptional evidence of traditional gymnasial institutions ceased to be produced already during the 3rd century. In order to make the basis for generalising statements transparent, the geographical and chronological distribution of the sources was carefully recorded. The source material was made accessible in a database, which will be further enlarged. Exhibitions in Bordeaux and Munich and an accompanying book with bilingual texts presented the project. The full results of the project will be presented in a monograph which is currently being prepared.
Publications
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Gymnasia and Baths. The Oxford Handbook of Greek Cities in the Roman Empire, 370-385. Oxford University Press.
Bernini, Julie
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Mehr als nur Sport. GymnAsia in der Antike. München 2024. 144 S.
P. Fröhlich – M. Pichler & Chr. Schuler (Hg.)
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Aux origines des Jeux Olympiques. GymnAsia. Concours et culture athlétiques dans l’Antiquité grecque, Bordeaux, Éditions Ausonius 2025. 144 p. (2., korr. Auflage)
P. Fröhlich – M. Pichler & Chr. Schuler (Hg.)
