Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

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The gymnasium in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for male competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The name comes from the Ancient Greek term gymnós meaning "naked". Athletes competed nude, a practice said to encourage aesthetic appreciation of the male body, and to be a tribute to the gods. Gymnasia and palestrae (wrestling schools) were under the protection and patronage of Heracles, Hermes and, in Athens, Theseus.[1]

Many relationships between Greek "boylovers" and their beloved's were either begun, or fostered by, contacts between adult males and peri-pubescent or pubescent youths meeting at the gymnasiums.

References

  1. Pausanias (geographer), Guide to Greece, 4.32.1