22/03/2022- Regards croisés- Athletic Facilities and Bathing
Monika Trümper Respondent : Guy Ackermann Athletic Facilities and Bathing in the Cities of the Western Mediterranean in the 2nd/1st Centuries BC Greek gymnasia in the Eastern Mediterranean have received significant attention in research. Key features of gymnasia are well known and include palaestrae with rooms for athletic and intellectual training, race tracks (paradromis, xystos, stadion), and bathing facilities. The spread and development of gymnasia from the 4th century BC onwards as well as their long popularity until the late Roman Imperial period are also well known. In contrast, gymnasia in the Western Mediterranean have attracted less interest in scholarship and comprehensive studies are still missing. The aim of this contribution is to discuss the current state of research on gymnasia in the Western Mediterranean, focusing on the following questions: were the above-mentioned key features also standard in the West, and did western gymnasia enjoy an equally long life and popularity as in the East. The discussion is based on published literature and excavations projects in Pompeii and Agrigento. Recent excavation in the Stabian Baths of Pompeii (2021) provided evidence of a palaestra with a large laconicum that belong to the original building, constructed after 130/125 BC. The currently known parts of the gymnasium at Agrigento include race tracks and a pool, the date of which is debated (late Hellenistic or Augustan period). Based on a recent geophysical survey (2020) the location and extension of a possible palaestra can be hypothesized. It is argued that these two cases and other examples of athletic facilities testify to a creative-innovative use of the above-mentioned key features and the emergence of new hybrid concepts in the West.
Monika Trümper Respondent : Guy Ackermann Athletic Facilities and Bathing in the Cities of the Western Mediterranean in the 2nd/1st Centuries BC Greek gymnasia in the Eastern Mediterranean have received significant attention in research. Key features of gymnasia are well known and include palaestrae with rooms for athletic and intellectual training, race tracks (paradromis, xystos, stadion), and bathing facilities. The spread and development of gymnasia from the 4th century BC onwards as well as their long popularity until the late Roman Imperial period are also well known. In contrast, gymnasia in the Western Mediterranean have attracted less interest in scholarship and comprehensive studies are still missing. The aim of this contribution is to discuss the current state of research on gymnasia in the Western Mediterranean, focusing on the following questions: were the above-mentioned key features also standard in the West, and did western gymnasia enjoy an equally long life and popularity as in the East. The discussion is based on published literature and excavations projects in Pompeii and Agrigento. Recent excavation in the Stabian Baths of Pompeii (2021) provided evidence of a palaestra with a large laconicum that belong to the original building, constructed after 130/125 BC. The currently known parts of the gymnasium at Agrigento include race tracks and a pool, the date of which is debated (late Hellenistic or Augustan period). Based on a recent geophysical survey (2020) the location and extension of a possible palaestra can be hypothesized. It is argued that these two cases and other examples of athletic facilities testify to a creative-innovative use of the above-mentioned key features and the emergence of new hybrid concepts in the West.