Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

The gymnasium in ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The name comes from the Greek term gymnos meaning naked. Athletes competed in the nude, a practice said to encourage aesthetic appreciation of the male or female body and a tribute to the Gods. Some early tyrants feared gymnasia facilitated politically subversive erotic attachments between competitors. Gymnasia and palestrae were under the protection and patronage of Heracles, Hermes and, in Athens, Theseus.
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