"the Greek noun γυμνάσιον (""gymnasion""), ""gymnastic school"", in pl. ""bodily exercises"" and generally ""school"" which in turn is derived from the common Greek adjective (""gymnos"") meaning ""naked"", by way of the related verb γυμνάζω (""gymnazo""), whose meaning is ""to train naked"", ""train in gymnastic exercise"", generally ""to train, to exercise"". The verb had this meaning because one undressed for exercise. Historically, the gymnasium was used for exercise, communal bathing, and scholarly and philosophical pursuits. The English noun ""gymnast"", first recorded in 1594, is formed from the Greek γυμναστής (""gymnastēs""), but in Greek this word means ""trainer"" not ""gymnast"". The ""palaistra"""
"the Greek ""Nike of Samothrace"". Nudity in sport was very common, with almost all sports performed naked. As a tradition it was probably first introduced in the city-state of Sparta, during the late archaic period. The civilization of ancient Greece (Hellas), during the Archaic period, had an athletic and cultic aesthetic of nudity which typically included adult and teenage males, but at times also boys, women and girls. The love for beauty had also included the human body, beyond the love for nature, philosophy, and the arts. The Greek word ""gymnasium"" means 'a place to train naked'. Male athletes competed"
"philosophers"". (""Gr ""gymnos"": naked; ""sophist"": knowledge""). The philosopher Onesicritus investigated their beliefs and lifestyle. Pyrrho the Sceptic was impressed and incorporated nudity into his philosophy. The Gymnosophists were Hindus, but Jain and Ajivika monks practiced nudity as a statement that they had given up all worldly goods. Nudity was not a new concept to the Greeks as the Olympic Games (founded in 776 BC) were exclusively male and nude events. Historically, the Adamites, a Gnostic sect, practiced religious nudism. A religious sect in Canada that immigrated from Russia, the Sons of Freedom, went so far in the 1900s (1903-1950s) as"
"Nudity in sport Nudity in sport is the custom of taking part in sporting activity while nude. Being clothed is a matter of modesty and in some instances protection for the athlete. It was a norm in Ancient Greece for athletes to exercise and compete in the nude. Today, it is a social custom in most parts of the world for athletes to wear some clothing, normally covering the athletes' crotch, and for women their breasts, but there are also some cultures in the tropics in which sports are played in the nude or partially nude. It was a norm"
"loin cloth during the stadion-race of the 15th Olympic Games in 720 BC which gives him an advantage and he wins. Other athletes then emulate him and the fashion is born. Nudity in sport spread to the whole of Greece, Greater Greece and even its furthest colonies, and the athletes from all its parts, coming together for the Olympic Games and the other Panhellenic Games, competed naked in almost all disciplines, such as boxing, wrestling, pankration (a free-style mix of boxing and wrestling, serious physical harm was allowed) – in such martial arts equal chances in terms of grip and"
"gymnasts at varying levels of skill, and world-class athletes. The word gymnastics derives from the common Greek adjective γυμνός (), by way of the related verb γυμνάζω (""gymnazo""), whose meaning is to ""train naked"", ""train in gymnastic exercise"", generally ""to train, to exercise"". The verb had this meaning, because athletes in ancient times exercised and competed without clothing. It came into use in the 1570s, from Latin gymnasticus, from Greek gymnastikos ""fond of or skilled in bodily exercise,"" from gymnazein ""to exercise or train"" (see gymnasium). Gymnastics developed in ancient Greece, in Sparta and Athens, and was used as method"
"Pankration Pankration (; ) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and was an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques, but also others, such as kicking and holds, locks and chokes on the ground. The only things not acceptable were biting and gouging out the opponent's eyes. The term comes from the Greek , literally meaning ""all of power"" from (""pan"") ""all"" and (""kratos"") ""strength, might, power"". In Greek mythology, it was said that the heroes Heracles and Theseus invented pankration as a result of using"
"Greece, Greater Greece and even its furthest colonies, and the athletes from all its parts, coming together for the Olympic Games and the other Panhellenic Games, competed naked in almost all disciplines, with the exception of chariot races, although there are depictions of naked chariot racers too. It is believed to root in the religious notion that athletic excellence was an ""aesthetical"" offering to the gods (nearly all games fitted in religious festivals), and indeed at many games it was the privilege of the winner to be represented naked as a votive statue offered in a temple, or even to"
"associated with the custom of athletic nudity, Megara was home to the runner Orsippus who was famed as the first to run the footrace naked at the Olympic Games and ""first of all Greeks to be crowned victor naked"". In one poem, the Megaran poet Theognis saw athletic nudity as a prelude to pederasty: ""Happy is the lover who works out naked / And then goes home to sleep all day with a beautiful boy."" In Athens, as elsewhere, ""pederastia"" appears to have been a characteristic of the aristocracy. Attic pottery is a major source for modern scholars attempting to"
"emulate. Nudity in sport was first documented in the city-state of Sparta, during the late archaic period. The custom of exercising naked was closely associated with pedagogic pederasty and with the practice of anointing the body with olive oil to accentuate its beauty. Unlike other Greeks, Spartans also sometimes went naked casually, such as in the public city area. They were also the only city-state where women and girls also competed in the nude; the other states banned females both as participants and as spectators from any sporting event where male nudity was visible. It spread to the whole of"
"Gymnasium (ancient Greece) The gymnasium () in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public game(s). It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The name comes from the Ancient Greek term ""gymnós"" meaning ""naked"". Only grown men were allowed to use the gymnasia. Athletes competed nude, a practice which was said to encourage aesthetic appreciation of the male body, and to be a tribute to the gods. Gymnasia and palestrae (wrestling schools) were under the protection and patronage of Heracles, Hermes and, in Athens, Theseus. The word ""gymnasium"" is the latinisation of"
"that anybody would have run naked. This view could be ascribed to Victorian morality applied anachronistically to ancient times. Other cultures in antiquity did not practice athletic nudity and condemned the Greek practice. Their rejection of naked sports was in turn condemned by the Greeks as a token of tyranny and political repression. The word ""gymnasium"" (Latin; from Greek ""gymnasion"", being derived from Greek ""gymnos,"" meaning ""naked""), originally denoting a place for the intellectual, sensual, moral and physical education of young men as future soldiers and (certainly in democracies) citizens (compare ephebos), is another testimony of the nudity in physical"
"a loincloth, a skirt-like garment, or the earliest form of ""shorts"" for athletics. Romans who competed in the Olympic Games presumably followed the Greek custom of nudity, but athletic nudity at Rome has been dated variously, possibly as early as the introduction of Greek-style games in the 2nd century BC but perhaps not regularly till the time of Nero around 60 AD. Public nudity might be offensive or distasteful even in traditional settings; Cicero derides Mark Antony as undignified for appearing near-naked as a participant in the Lupercalia, even though it was ritually required. Nudity is one of the themes"
"Gymnopaedia The Gymnopaedia, in ancient Sparta, was a yearly celebration during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of war dancing. The custom was introduced in 668 BC, concurrently with the introduction of naked athletics. The word ""Gymnopaedia"" derives from the ancient Greek , composed of the words (""gymnos"", ""naked"" or ""unarmed"") and ""game"" from (""pais"", ""child"" or ""youth""). In Greek the plural form, , appears most often. In addition to ""gymnopaedia"", modern transliterations and adaptations include ""gymnopaidiai"" (mostly older translations of Greek texts, maintaining a plural form for the word), ""gymnopaidiae"" (Latinized plural form),"
"in Ancient Greece for athletes to exercise and compete in the nude. In ancient Sparta, the Gymnopaedia was a yearly celebration during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of dancing. In antiquity even before the Classical era, e.g. on Minoan Crete, athletic exercise played an important part in daily life. The Greek practice to compete and exercise was strongly inspired by their gods and heroes. For the gods and heroes nudity was a part of their identity and a way to display their physical energy and power which the athletes attempted to honour and"
"and compete in sport competitions naked. Nuba peoples in South Sudan and Xingu tribes in the Amazon basin region in Brazil, for example, wrestle naked, whereas Dinka, Surma and Mursi in South Sudan and Ethiopia, arrange stick fights. Indian monks Digambara practice yoga naked (or sky-clad, as they prefer to call it). Nudity in sport Nudity in sport is the custom of taking part in sporting activity while nude. Being clothed is a matter of modesty and in some instances protection for the athlete. It was a norm in Ancient Greece for athletes to exercise and compete in the nude."
"340-330 B.C.) is only one of many examples. In Classical Greece and Rome, public nakedness was accepted in the context of public bathing or athletics. The Greek word gymnasium means ""a place to be naked."" Athletes commonly competed nude, but many city-states allowed no female participants at those events, Sparta being a notable exception. The mythological themes were often used as the painter’s subjects not only in the antiquity but they remained an archetypal topic during the centuries and a genre of painting with mythological subjects developed were these themes were used and reused as subjects of the artists. One"
"to be so, though athletes and warriors in combat were often depicted nude. In Ancient Greece, where the mild climate was conducive to being lightly-clothed or nude whenever convenient, and male athletes competed at religious festivals entirely nude, and celebrated the human body, it was perfectly natural for the Greeks to associate the male nude form with triumph, glory, and even moral excellence. The Greek goddess Aphrodite was a deity whom the Greeks preferred to see clothed. In the mid-fourth century BC, the sculptor Praxiteles made a nude Aphrodite, called the Knidian, which established a new tradition for the female"
"of (mid-summer) 765 BC for the first year of the first Olympiad. Nevertheless, there is disagreement among scholars as to when the games began. The only competition held then was, according to the later Greek traveller Pausanias who wrote in AD175, the ""stadion"" race, a race over about , measured after the feet of Hercules. The word ""stadium"" is derived from this foot race. The Greek tradition of athletic nudity (gymnos) was introduced in 720 BC, either by the Spartans or by the Megarian Orsippus, and this was adopted early in the Olympics as well. Several groups fought over control"
"Doping at the Olympic Games This article is about the history of competitors at the Olympic Games using banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs. The use of performance-enhancing tactics or more formally known as PEDs, and more broadly, the use of any external device to nefariously influence the outcome of a sporting event has been a part of the Olympics since its inception in Ancient Greece. One speculation as to why men were required to compete naked was to prevent the use of extra accoutrements and to keep women from competing in events specifically designed for men. Athletes were also known to"
"Matt Hume, is the founder and head trainer at AMC Pankration in Kirkland, WA. Pancrase, a Japanese MMA organization, is named in reference to pankration. Pankration Pankration (; ) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and was an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques, but also others, such as kicking and holds, locks and chokes on the ground. The only things not acceptable were biting and gouging out the opponent's eyes. The term comes from the Greek , literally meaning ""all of power"" from (""pan"")"
"in Africa and Australia. Polybius asserts that Celts typically fought naked, ""The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life."" In antiquity even before the Classical era, e.g., on Minoan Crete, athletic exercise was an important part of daily life. The Greeks credited several mythological figures with athletic accomplishments, and male gods (especially Apollo and Heracles, patrons of sport) were commonly depicted as athletes. While Greek sculpture often showed males completely nude, a new concept for females, ""Venus Pudica"" (or partially nude) appeared, for example,"
"person to be punished by being partially or completely stripped and lashed in public; in some legal systems judicial corporal punishments on the bare buttocks persisted up to or even beyond the feudal age, either only for minors or also for adults, even until today but rarely still in public. In Biblical accounts of the Roman Imperial era, prisoners were often stripped naked, as a form of humiliation. The origins of nudity in ancient Greek sport are the subject of a legend about the athlete, Orsippus of Megara. There are various myths regarding these origins; in one Orsippus loses his"
"daily military training. On the other hand, he describes the gymnopaedia as ""yet another dance"", neither involving nudity nor exclusivity for men. Gymnopaedia The Gymnopaedia, in ancient Sparta, was a yearly celebration during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of war dancing. The custom was introduced in 668 BC, concurrently with the introduction of naked athletics. The word ""Gymnopaedia"" derives from the ancient Greek , composed of the words (""gymnos"", ""naked"" or ""unarmed"") and ""game"" from (""pais"", ""child"" or ""youth""). In Greek the plural form, , appears most often. In addition to ""gymnopaedia"", modern"
"match surrounded by crowds. Prehistoric cave-paintings in Japan show a sport similar to sumo wrestling. In Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Libya, a Neolithic rock painting in the cave of swimmers shows evidence of swimming and archery being practiced around 6000 BC. The term ""athlete"", according to mythology, derives from the name of Aethlius, the mythological first King of Elis (the location of Olympia) in Greece. The practice of young athletes carrying flaming torches is also traced to the King of Elis, under whose supervision the games took place; some historians regard this as the first record of Olympic"
"The pancration was a popular athletic event in Ancient Greece and was introduced in 648 BCE to the Olympic Games. The word pancration can be broken down into ""pan"" meaning all and ""kratos"" meaning strength or power and it was a form of ancient martial arts that combined both wrestling and boxing. In Onesimos' depiction of the pancration there are two young boys wrestling, their youth evident from their lack of facial hair, and there are two trainers, one on either side of the them. One trainer is standing and the other is sitting next to a column that is"
"to more complex signification of the male body shown nude, partially nude, or costumed in a muscle cuirass. Romans who competed in the Olympic Games presumably followed the Greek custom of nudity, but athletic nudity at Rome has been dated variously, possibly as early as the introduction of Greek-style games in the 2nd century BC but perhaps not regularly until the time of Nero around 60 AD. At the same time, the phallus was depicted ubiquitously. The phallic amulet known as the ""fascinum"" (from which the English word ""fascinate"" ultimately derives) was supposed to have powers to ward off the"
"in throwing the javelin. It was predictably in Greece that sports were first instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in Olympia, where they were celebrated until 393 CE. These games took place every four years, or ""Olympiad"", which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. Initially a single sprinting event, the Olympics gradually expanded to include several footraces, run in the nude or in armor, boxing, wrestling, ""pankration"", chariot racing, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw. During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from"
"scholastic and collegiate wrestling. Pankration, from the Greek words ""pan"" and ""kratos"" meaning ""the one who controls everything"", is a world heritage martial art with the distinction of being the only martial sport in the ancient Olympic Games from 648 BC to 393 AD. Modern amateur pankration is a form of mixed martial arts (MMA) that incorporates techniques from multiple systems. Matches are fought with both grappling holds and by striking techniques. UWW, then known as FILA, codified the form of beach wrestling in 2004. Beach wrestling is standing wrestling done by wrestlers, male or female, inside a sand-filled circle"
"but had a shelter for the visitors. They did not wear any clothes and thus compared themselves to the Olympian athletes. They shared their vegetarian meal with him. Gymnosophists Gymnosophists (Greek , ""gymnosophistai"", i.e. ""naked philosophers"" or ""naked wise men"") is the name given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought. They were noted to have been vegetarian by several Greek authors. There were also gymnosophists in upper Egypt who were called Ethiopean Gymnosophists by Apollonius of Tyana. In Greek literature they"
"pentathlon. The name derives from the Greek ""péntathlon"" ""contest of five events"". The addition of ""modern"" to the name distinguishes it from the original pentathlon of the ancient Olympic Games, which consisted of the ""stadion"" foot race, wrestling, long jump, javelin, and discus. As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier to defend a castle of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th-century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight enemies with pistol and sword, swim, and run to return to"
"from the 5th to 3rd century BCE. As worn by soldiers, it could be wrapped around the arm and used as a light shield in combat. The basic outer garment during winter was the himation, a larger cloak worn over the peplos or chlamys. The himation has been most influential perhaps on later fashion. During Classical times in Greece, male nudity received a religious sanction following profound changes in the culture. After that time, male athletes participated in ritualized athletic competitions such as the classical version of the ancient Olympic Games, in the nude as women became barred from the"
"education pertained in the word 'gym'. The Greek word ""gymnasium"" means ""school for naked exercise"" and was used to designate a locality for the education of young men, including physical education (""gymnastics"", i.e. exercise) which was customarily performed naked, as well as bathing, and studies. For the Greeks, physical education was considered as important as cognitive learning. Most Greek ""gymnasia"" had libraries that could be utilized after relaxing in the baths. The first recorded gymnasiums date back to over 3000 years ago in ancient Persia, where they were known as ""zurkhaneh"", areas that encouraged physical fitness. The larger Roman Baths"