Gymnasium

An area in ancient Greek used as a sports ground. It could be within or outside the city and normally had a palaestra, running track, dressing rooms, bathrooms, and other rooms for exercise and ball games. It was for men only, except at Sparta, and was also a center of education (philosophy, literature, and music). The Academy of Plato and the Lyceum of Aristotle were both gymnasia. The combination of health for the body and education for the mind might represented an ideal to the Greeks. The literal meaning of the word 'gymnasion' was "school for naked exercise" and every important city had one.

[Greek gymnos\ ‘naked’]. A classical Greek institution that combined athletics training and practice (for men only, except at Sparta) with open house for philosophers and teachers. The Academy of Plato and the Lyceum of Aristotle were both gymnasia. The sports training related to preparation for the various periodic games, and would have a whole group of indoor and outdoor facilities available, ranging from running tracks to an area set aside for wrestling and boxing (see palaestra). This combination of health for the body and education for the mind might have seemed to some Greeks to represent an ideal of perfection. One or two Roman writers however had their doubts: worried perhaps at such a concentration of undressed young men and immature young minds, they saw only the chance for moral licence and seditious trouble-making.