Gymnasion
In ancient Greece, a gymnasium was a place of physical, character, and intellectual education for male youth. In the early development of this institution, tightly-knit groups of heavily armed men trained there, whose fighting style required intensive and regular training. However, the gymnasium quickly turned into a social facility, but the focus was still on physical exercise. Adjoining the classrooms was usually a courtyard lined with columned halls ( palaestra ), in Roman times bathing facilities were added in many cases, but these were part of the standard repertoire of the gymnasium and palaestra.
etymology
The term gymnasium ( ancient Greek γυμνάσιον gymnasium , German , public space for physical education; training ground ' ; later the meeting of philosophers, from which the term grammar school was built; plural gymnasia or German now mostly schools ) goes to ancient Greek γυμνός Gymnos , German , naked' back, because the athletes in the changing rooms called Apodyteria undressed and trained naked, the bodies being rubbed with olive oil and then cleaned with the στλεγγίς stlengís , German ` ` strigilis '' ( Latin strigilis ), the scraper . The term “ gymnastics ” originated from the word “gymnasion ”.
The gymnasium as a sports institute
Initially, the real function of the gymnasium was that of a sports facility. Only later did it develop into an educational establishment, probably starting from Athens , whereby the basic athletic function was not lost. A distinction is made between training and competitions.
training
The training took place in the high schools and palaces . In the beginning, since about the 6th century BC The gymnasium was not open to everyone with regard to training, but was only open to the privileged society, the aristocracy . Later, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC BC, the grammar schools became accessible to other classes, slaves and traders were still excluded. However, sport was only practiced by boys and men up to the age of about 30 years. Women generally did not do sports in public. The trainer, the sports teacher and the doctor were involved in the training. The trainer (paidotribe) was responsible for conveying the actual practice, the sports teacher (gymnast) had the same knowledge, but was also able to make the training more specific and even had knowledge of medicine up to a certain point. With this one differentiates him from the doctor in terms of the methods. The sports teacher knew about the diet and the massage, but the doctor also knew about the medicinal potion, the injection and the plaster. Only in "sports traumatology" is the doctor alone responsible. As for the training method, the tetrad system was an option, but it didn't seem to make too much sense. Rather, simple, non-complex exercises to increase strength proved to be a good choice for the respective discipline.
competition
The competitions were held in the stadiums . There were different disciplines here. These were the race called Dromos , the martial arts (wrestling, fistfighting, pankration), the pentathlon (Greek pentathlon ; consisting of discus throwing, long jump, javelin throwing, running and wrestling) as well as horse and chariot races. The first three main disciplines were counted among the “gymnical agons ” among the Greeks , the horse and chariot races were described with the term “hipster”.
race
Round tracks as we know them today did not exist in antiquity. Instead, you ran back and forth, unless it was the stadium run . With this only one track length was covered. This running route was as long as the associated sports facility and “standardized” at 600 feet, but it was a rather imprecise dimension. At the starting point of the athletes there were stone starting thresholds with grooves, so to speak a preliminary form of today's starting block. A certain starting technique was used that looked similar to that of today's medium and long-distance runners. The low start was not yet known at that time. The athletes called themselves to readiness and they started the run with another acoustic signal. In the end, like today, there were judges who determined the winner. From the stadium run, the double run (Diaulos) developed, which was twice as long. Presumably, at the turning point of the double run, a wooden post was set up for each participant in order to prevent complications in the form of bumps and falls. In addition, there was cross-country skiing (Dolichos), the length of which is controversial, with a length of seven to 24 stages being assumed. The last category of the run was the gun run (hoplites). At Olympia, this was over two stages in length. The athletes were initially equipped with full armor, but later they only had a shield.
Martial arts
Wrestling, fistfighting and pankration are counted as " martial arts " in the gymnasium. The wrestling can be associated with the word Palaistra, which actually means ring square. Non-existent weight classes made it possible for the athlete to overeat so much that he was considered a heavyweight type of athlete. The rules of wrestling were simple. The winner was the one who first forced his opponent to the ground three times. Whole body grips were also allowed. The fistfight was relatively similar. For support, three meter long leather straps were wrapped around the hand. It was customary for the fight to end when one of the two opponents was no longer able to fight. Finally the pankration, it combined fistfight and wrestling at the same time. Any means of fighting was allowed here, only biting and drilling into the facial openings were prohibited. However, there was a clear difference to the wrestling match. In the case of pankration, the ground fight usually decided the winner.
Pentathlon
The pentathlon (Pentathlon) was the last of the three disciplines of gymnastic competitions. These included discus throwing, long jump, javelin throwing, running and wrestling, with the latter two also being seen as individual disciplines. In order to win the Pentathlon, there were various requirements that had to be met. The quickest and easiest way to win it was to win the first three exercises (the specialty disciplines; that is, discus throwing, long jump, javelin throwing).
Horse and chariot races
The last major competitive discipline was horse and chariot races. They were actually only accessible to the elite of the population, as a lot of money was needed for maintenance. On the one hand you had to have large meadows, stables for the horses and people who feed the animals and on the other hand you needed horse trainers, vets and charioteers. In addition, the journey to competitions was not easy and required a lot of effort because the owners of such a car with a horse really had a team. These races attracted a large number of spectators, many even came from far away to see the magnificent and very impressive competitions. The enormous speeds, the racehorses, the exciting and daring situations and, in general, the heated atmosphere made it a sensation and worth seeing. However, the owners of the wagons only watched and, unlike the charioteer, they won the day and fame.
The gymnasium as an educational institution
The gymnasium was often reduced to its function as an educational center or cultural center, but this function was not always available, but only developed towards it in the course of time. Although the intellectual education of the younger generation was often preferred to public lessons in the gymnasium through the appointment of private tutors, this was often enough used. When informing the gymnasium was distinguished in age between boys ephebes ie "young citizens" between 18 and 20 and Nei.
Boys, Ephebe and Neoi
At the age of seven, the boy normally had to attend elementary classes. This took place either in a public institution, which could be a gymnasium, or in the form of home lessons. The task of upbringing was now passed on from the parents to the various teachers: This includes writing and gymnastics teachers. You learned to read and write by the age of twelve, after which you had to study epic and lyric poetry and learn the art of recitation. Finally, when one was numbered among the Ephebe, one had to endure some changes in life. In Athens z. For example, the young men now had to visit the Lykeion and the academy regularly, where they received mainly athletic and military training. The time in which one was Ephebe then ended in public military service. In Athens, however, after a while this was only limited to one year and not mandatory, which is why the ephebie, among other things, later developed into a purely intellectual phase. However, this was not the case in other cities, here the military part for the Ephebe was preserved. It was even more likely that the Gymnasiarchen (heads of high schools) did not agree to give them an intellectual education. After the Ephebie, people often went to larger cities (such as Athens, Rhodes, Delphi and Olympia) with corresponding cultural offerings, in order to hear from various scholars and to further their education. So an ever more comprehensive intellectual education (paideia) was sought.
The emergence of public libraries
Book collecting apparently began with philosophers, who thus made an important contribution to the development of libraries. Philosophy was a very special area of education, but a smaller part of the citizenry, who were very interested in education, wanted to be able to read a variety of scrolls. These ranged from early poetry, tragedy, comedy, historiography and rhetoric to medicine, music, mathematics and astronomy. The libraries were usually not very large; a normal room was usually sufficient, often in a gymnasium. Therefore, the stock of books was not very extensive, which is also due to the fact that the development of the libraries was only just beginning. However, there were often financial problems that prevented the establishment of such a collection point for books. Supervision and control probably had a Gymnasiarch.
The Gymnasiarch
The Gymnasiarch has played an obviously significant role , especially since Hellenism , when the gymnasium experienced its heyday, moved from the outskirts to the center and almost became a symbol for a Greek polis . If you look at the library and the education in the gymnasium, he had important tasks. Most of the time, the high school was a prestigious public office, the occupation of which was elected by the people's assembly and limited by certain city laws. In addition, there is equality with other offices. In addition, the gymnasium was an annual office and was usually simply staffed. The Gymnasiarch was seen as the head of a high school, so had to take care of the users and the facility itself and manage the institution's budget. He was superior to the visitors. So the gymnasts had to do what he told them to do. In addition, he was able to issue fines and had to check that the opening times were observed. Otherwise there were a few smaller tasks that were done by the slaves. Although the Gymnasiarch was not viewed as a trainer or teacher, it organized the exams, which were held regularly, to check the progress of the users of a gymnasium. High school students had to accomplish a wide range of tasks that were associated with a lot of effort and time and required daily attendance at the gymnasium.
Well-known high school
Derived terms
Web links
literature
- Wolfgang Decker: Sports in ancient Greece. From the Minoan competition to the Olympic Games, 2nd, completely revised and updated edition, Arete Verlag, Hildesheim 2012, ISBN 978-3-942468-06-0 .
- Philippe Gauthier: Notes on the rôle du gymnase in the cités hellénistiques . In: Michael Wörrle , Paul Zanker (eds.): Cityscape and citizenship in Hellenism . CH Beck, Munich 1995, 1-11.
- Hans-Joachim Gehrke : Stasis and Socialization. Considerations on the function of the gymnastic in the polis . In: Henning Börm , Marco Mattheis, Johannes Wienand (Eds.): Civil War in Ancient Greece and Rome . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2016, pp. 31–52.
- Henner von Hesberg : The Greek gymnasium in the 2nd century BC. In: Michael Wörrle, Paul Zanker (eds.): Cityscape and citizenship in Hellenism. CH Beck, Munich 1995, 13-27.
- Daniel Kah and Peter Scholz (eds.): The Hellenistic Gymnasion Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-05-004370-8 .
- Karin Kreuzpaintner: Olympia. Myth, sport and games in antiquity and the present, Imhof-Kulturgeschichte, Petersberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86568-840-8 .
- Hans-Ulrich Wiemer : From a community school to an aristocratic club? The Athenian Ephebie in the Roman Empire. In: Chiron 41, 2011, pp. 487-537.
- Willy Zschietzschmann : Gymnasion. In: The Little Pauly . 1979, vol. 2, col. 887.
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Baptist Hofmann : Etymological dictionary of the Greek. R. Oldenbourg Verlag , Munich 1950, p. 49 ( digitized version ).
- ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th edition. Edited by Walther Mitzka . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 278.
- ^ Wilhelm Pape , Max Sengebusch (arrangement): Concise dictionary of the Greek language . 3rd edition, 6th impression. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1914 ( zeno.org [accessed on January 9, 2020]).
- ^ Wilhelm Pape , Max Sengebusch (arrangement): Concise dictionary of the Greek language . 3rd edition, 6th impression. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1914 ( zeno.org [accessed on January 9, 2020]).
- ^ Karl Ernst Georges : Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary . 8th, improved and increased edition. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1918 ( zeno.org [accessed January 9, 2020]).
