13961

WiSe 20/21: The Gymnasium and Gymnasial Culture in the Graeco-Roman World

Monika Trümper

Information for students

This course will be taught in a digital format with the basic tools of Webex-Videoconferences and Blackboard. Regular and active presence would also be required for a digital version of the seminar. In this case, students must have a stable internet connection, a camera, and a microphone to actively participate in the seminar with presentations, contributions to discussions, and other possible participatory formats. close

Comments

The gymnasium was one of the key institutions of cities in the Greek world. This seminar aims to examine the socio-cultural importance and development of the gymnasium in the entire Mediterranean, from its emergence in the 6th century BC to its decline in the late Roman Imperial period. Focus will be on the archaeological evidence, which includes a broad range of sources: architectural remains in cities and sanctuaries, from Bactria to Spain; imagery related to gymnasial life, which appears on Athenian vases, funerary monuments, mosaics, and other media; and the sculptural decoration and furnishings of gymnasia as well as statues of athletes in gymnasia and beyond. The seminar will be held in English. All class discussions will be in English, and all required work (oral, written) must be presented and submitted in English. The relevant bibliography includes English, French, German, Italian and Modern Greek titles (not all languages must be mastered, but students should master, next to English, one or two other languages). close

Suggested reading

Borlenghi, A., Il Campus. Organizzazione e funzione di uno spazio pubblico in età romana. Le testimonianze in Italia e nelle Province occidentali (Rome 2011); Delorme, J., Gymnasion. Étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire romain), BEFAR 196 (Paris 1960) ; Friend, John L., The Athenian Ephebeia in the Fourth Century BCE (Leiden 2019); Glass, S.L., Palaistra and Gymnasium in Greek Architecture (Unpubl. PhD dissertation UPenn 1968); Henderson, Th. R., The springtime of the People: the Athenian Ephebeia and Citizen Training from Lykourgos to Augustus (Leiden 2020); Kah, D. – P. Scholz (eds.), Das hellenistische Gymnasion (Berlin 2004); Kazakide, N., Eikónes en gymnasío: érga glyptikes sto Hellenistikó gymnásio; Hepeiroti?e Helláda kai nesiá tu Aigaíu (Thessalonike 2015); Kennell, N. M., Ephebeia. A Register of Greek Cities with Citizen Training Systems in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods (Hildesheim 2006); Klauser, F.: Athletenbildnisse des Hellenismus und der römischen Kaiserzeit: Gestaltung, Wahrnehmung und Funktion (Dissertation Würzburg 2018); Mania, U. – M. Trümper (eds.), Development of Gymnasia and Graeco-Roman Cityscapes (Berlin 2018); Mann, C. – S. Remijsen – S. Scharff (eds.), Athletics in the Hellenistic World, Universität Mannheim, 25.–27. Juni 2015 (Stuttgart 2016); Scholz, P. – D. Wiegandt (eds.), Das kaiserzeitliche Gymnasion (Berlin 2015); Trombetti, C., Il ginnasio greco: genesi, topografia e culti dei luoghi della paideia (Oxford 2013); Wacker, C., Das Gymnasion in Olympia. Geschichte und Funktion (Würzburg 1996); Weber, K., Athletendarstellungen in der hellenistischen Grabkunst. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation Frankfurt am Main (2016); Weber, K., Palaistradarstellungen der archaischen und klassischen Zeit auf attischen Vasen. Unpubl. Magisterarbeit Frankfurt am Main (2004). close