Palaestra - Wikipedia Palaestra From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For the mythological characters, see Palaestra (mythology). For the sports arena in Philadelphia, see Palestra. For the Japanese mixed martial arts and grappling team, see Paraestra. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Palaestra" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Palaestra at Olympia, Greece A palaestra (/pəˈliːstrə/ or /-ˈlaɪ-/;[1] also (chiefly British) palestra; Greek: παλαίστρα)[2] was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both independently and as a part of public gymnasia; a palaestra could exist without a gymnasium, but no gymnasium existed without a palaestra. Contents 1 Etymology 2 Architecture 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Etymology[edit] Look up palaestra in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Compare Ancient Greek palaiein - "to wrestle" and palē - "wrestling" Palaestrophylax or palaistrophylax (Greek: παλαιστροφύλαξ), meaning “palaestra guard”, was the guardian or the director of a Palaestra.[3] Architecture[edit] The architecture of the palaestra, although allowing for some variation, followed a distinct, standard plan. The palaestra essentially consisted of a rectangular court surrounded by colonnades with adjoining rooms. These rooms might house a variety of functions: bathing, ball playing, undressing and storage of clothes, seating for socializing, observation, or instruction, and storage of oil, dust or athletic equipment. Vitruvius, through his text De architectura, is an important ancient source about this building type and provides many details about what he calls "palaestra, Greek-style". Although the specifics of his descriptions do not always correspond to the architectural evidence, probably because he was writing around 27 BC, his account provides insight into the general design and uses of this type of space. As Vitruvius describes, the palaestra was square or rectangular in shape with colonnades along all four sides creating porticoes. The portico on the northern side of the palaestra was of double depth to protect against the weather. Big halls (exedrae, εξέδρες) were built along the single depth sides of the palaestra with seats for those enjoying intellectual pursuits, and the double depth side was divided into an area for youth activities (ephebeum, εφηβαίο), a punching bag area (coryceum, κωρυκείον), a room for applying powders (conisterium, κονιστἠριον), a room for cold bathing (λουτρόν), and an oil storeroom (elaeothesium, ελαιοθέσιον). Good examples of this building type come from two major Greek sites: Olympia and Delphi. During the Roman Imperial period the palaestra was often combined with, or joined to, a bath. When the Arabs and the Turkish adopted the tradition of the Roman baths, they did not continue the tradition of the attached palaestra. See also[edit] Palaestra at Olympia Palaestra at Delphi References[edit] ^ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/palaestra ^ παλαίστρα. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project. ^ Nuttall, P. Austin (1840). A Classical and Archaeological Dictionary of the Manners, Customs, Laws, Institutions, Arts, Etc. of the Celebrated Nations of Antiquity, and of the Middle Ages: To which is Prefixed A Synoptical and Chronological View of Ancient History. Whittaker and Company. p. 358. External links[edit] "Palaestra". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Perseus Digital Library, Olympia Perseus Digital Library, Delphi Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Palaestra&oldid=1026634987" Categories: Architecture of Greece Sports venues Sport in ancient Greece Pankration Hidden categories: Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text Articles needing additional references from April 2017 All articles needing additional references Articles containing Greek-language text Articles with Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy links Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara Français 한국어 Հայերեն Ido Қазақша Latina Lietuvių Magyar 日本語 Polski Português Русский Shqip Simple English Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 3 June 2021, at 11:51 (UTC). 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