Corybantian dance, the type of dance most likely danced on Gymnopedia festivals (image from Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities)

Gymnopaedia derives from the ancient Greek γυμνοπαιδία, a festivity in Sparta, where naked youths would perform war dances. Image File history File links Corybantian dance Woodcut from William Smiths Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, SALTATIO (Dance) article. ... Image File history File links Corybantian dance Woodcut from William Smiths Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, SALTATIO (Dance) article. ... The Korybantes, called the Kurbantes in Phrygia, were the crested dancers who worshipped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. ... Sir William Smith (1813 - 1893), English lexicographer, was born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents. ... Title page A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities is single volume encyclopedia in English language first published in 1842. ... The History of the Greek language Origins There are many theories about the origins of the Greek language. ... Sparta (Σπάρτη) was a city in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Body of a woman - digital painting Starkers redirects here; for the nightclub, see Starkers Nightclub Nudity or nakedness is the state of wearing no clothing. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ...

The term appears in texts of Herodotus, and several authors in the Attic and Koiné periods. While for the earliest of these authors the meaning of gymnopaedia appears predominantly as a festival (including several dances, sports, etc,...), in the later periods of antiquity gymnopaedia is referred to as a particular dance. Bust of Herodotus at Naples Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ήροδοτος, Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... The History of the Greek language Origins There are many theories about the origins of the Greek language. ... The History of the Greek language Origins There are many theories about the origins of the Greek language. ...

Etymology

The word gymnopaedia is composed of γυμνός (gymnos - "naked") and the plural of παιδίον (paidion - "child"). In Greek γυμνοπαιδία is always plural.

Apart from "gymnopaedia", modern transliterations include "Gymnopaidiai" (mostly older translations of Greek texts, maintaining a plural form for the word), "gymnopedia", "gymnopedie" and "gymnopédie" (in French, or when referring to the Erik Satie compositions, see Gymnopédie). Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... The Gymnopédies are three piano compositions by Erik Satie, which were published in Paris from 1888 on. ...

Gymnopaedia in ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ...

The gymnopaedia festival

In ancient Sparta, the Gymnopaedia was, since approximately 650 BC, a yearly celebration during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of dancing. Sparta (Σπάρτη) was a city in ancient Greece, whose territory included, in Classical times, all Laconia and Messenia, and which was the most powerful state of the Peloponnesus. ... Body of a woman - digital painting Starkers redirects here; for the nightclub, see Starkers Nightclub Nudity or nakedness is the state of wearing no clothing. ...

The festival, celebrated in the summertime, was dedicated to Apollo (and/or, according to Plutarch, to Athena). Plato praises gymnopaedia-like exercises and performances in The Laws as an excellent medium of education: by dancing strenuously in the summer heat, Spartan youth were trained in both musical grace and warrior grit at the same time. Statue of Apollo at the British Museum. ... Plutarch Mestrius Plutarchus (c. ... Drawing from a sculpture of Athena at the Louvre. ... Plato Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn) (c. ... The Laws is Platos last and longest dialogue. ...

In ancient Greece, as a general rule, sports were reserved to men, and would be performed naked. Also, men would be the only spectators when such sports were performed publicly. In this sense "gymnos" (naked) is not an exceptional part of a word to indicate sports in those days: gymnastics is derived from the same. See also Gymnasium (ancient Greece). Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness, such as handsprings and handstands. ... The gymnasium of the Greeks originally functioned as the school where competitors in the public games received their training, and was so named from the circumstance that these competitors exercised naked (gymnos). ...

Public performance of such sports would generally be in a ceremonial setting, i.e. for the occasion of a religious feast. If an element of competition between the performers was present (which was not so for all ceremonially performed sports), that could as well mean a competition regarding the beauty of the movements, as a competition, for some sports, in the sense of being the fastest or the strongest. This means that many of the sport categories of those days had rather the aspect of a dance, than of a modern understanding of field and track athletics.

All this applies, e.g., for the ancient Olympic games too. For months before the Olympic Games, runners relay the Olympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. ...

Roman era

Some 8 centuries after the first gymnopaedia had been presented, it still survived in Lacedaemonia. According to Lucian of Samosata (in his dialogue Of Pantomime) there still seems some connection to martial arts, as the youths would engage in gymnopaidia immediately after their daily military training. On the other hand, he describes the gymnopaedia as "yet another dance", neither involving nudity, nor exclusivity for men. The Roman Era is a period in Western history, when ancient Rome was the center of power of the world around the Mediterranean Sea, where Latin was the lingua franca. ... Laconia (Λακωνία), also known as Lacedaemonia, was in ancient Greece the portion of the Peloponnesus of which the most important city was Sparta. ... Lucian of Samosata (c. ... The term dialogue (or dialog) expresses basically reciprocal conversation between two or more persons. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ...

See also

• Hyacinthia
• For the pyrrhic dance, a war dance spread throughout Ancient Greece, see: Korybantes (which were the mythological performers of these war dances in Greek Antiquity).
• Gymnopédie - 19th century music and poetry referring to gymnopaedia.

The Hyacinthia (Ancient Greek Ὑακίνθια / Hyakínthia) were Spartan religious festivities, organized at Amycla every year in early summer. ... The Korybantes, called the Kurbantes in Phrygia, were the crested dancers who worshipped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. ... The Korybantes, called the Kurbantes in Phrygia, were the crested dancers who worshipped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... The Gymnopédies are three piano compositions by Erik Satie, which were published in Paris from 1888 on. ...

References

• Meursius, Johannes (Loozduynen, 1579 - Soroe, 1639): Orchestra, sive de saltationibus veterum, Leiden 1618
  • Reprint of the 1745 Florentine edition + comments, updates (in English) by Frits Naerebout and Alkis Raftis, Joannes Meursius and his "Orchestra, sive de saltationibus veterum" of 1618. Dutch Dance Studies, 3., (Theatre of Greek Dances) Dora Stratou, Athens (distributed by the Pauper Press), 2003, 85 pg., ISBN 960-861505-4
• Muller Jzn., F. and Thiel, J.H., Beknopt Grieks-Nederlands woordenboek, Wolters Groningen, 2nd edition (20th century, after 1919)
• Müller, Otfried, Die Dorier, 1824
  • Abridged English translation, known as The Dorians: The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, 2nd. ed. rev., 2 Vol., trans. from the German by Henry Tufnell, ESQ, and George Cornewall Lewis, ESQ, A. M., publ. John Murray, Albemarle Str., London, 1839.
• Xenophon, Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians, 4th/5th century BC
  • English translation by H. G. Dakyns, E-text version prepared by John Bickers for Project Gutenberg, January 1998, available at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1178
• William Smith - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities:
  • "Gymnopaedia" article in 1890 edition
  • "Saltatio" (= Dance) article in 1875 edition

Johannes Meursius (van Meurs) (1579 - September 20, 1639), Dutch classical scholar and antiquary, was born at Loosduinen, near the Hague. ... Leyden redirects here. ... Events March 8 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). ... Karl Otfried Müller (August 28, 1797–August 1, 1840), was a German scholar and Philodorian. ... Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 2nd Baronet (1806-1863), British statesman and man of letters, was born in London on 21 April 1806. ... Xenophon (In Greek , c. ... Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ... Sir William Smith (1813 - 1893), English lexicographer, was born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents. ... Title page A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities is single volume encyclopedia in English language first published in 1842. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Gymnopaedia

• The 2nd Volume of Works by Lucian of Samosata (translated in English) on the Project Gutenberg Website contains the full text of Of Pantomime
• Webpage on Ancient Greek Dance by Michael Lahanas
• List of Ancient Greek Festivals by Michael Lahanas
• Webpage on the History of Greek Dance by Lena Patsidou - Anna Mavromatis
• Webpage on The Dancing Of Ancient Egypt And Greece - 1924 text