Despite numerous inscriptions related to gymnasia and their magistracies in Sicily, our knowledge of their architecture is still fragmentary because safe identification of gymnasia is difficult and often debated. This exemplarily regards the Hellenistic city of Segesta, where excavations of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa since the 1990s have exposed epigraphic evidence relating to a gymnasion and a peristyle building, next to the bouleuterion, that has been attributed to a gymnasion. This paper critically reviews this epigraphic and archaeological evidence and investigates what the sources really reveal and whether they can rightly be correlated. It is argued that currently only one single inscription testifies to the existence of the gymnasiarchy in Segesta, and that the peristyle building did not belong to a gymnasion, but to a coherently planned and built complex of political-administrative buildings.

A gymnasion at Segesta? A Review of the Archaeological and Epigraphic Evidence

Olivito, Riccardo
;
Cannistraci, ORIANA SILIA
2018

Abstract

Despite numerous inscriptions related to gymnasia and their magistracies in Sicily, our knowledge of their architecture is still fragmentary because safe identification of gymnasia is difficult and often debated. This exemplarily regards the Hellenistic city of Segesta, where excavations of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa since the 1990s have exposed epigraphic evidence relating to a gymnasion and a peristyle building, next to the bouleuterion, that has been attributed to a gymnasion. This paper critically reviews this epigraphic and archaeological evidence and investigates what the sources really reveal and whether they can rightly be correlated. It is argued that currently only one single inscription testifies to the existence of the gymnasiarchy in Segesta, and that the peristyle building did not belong to a gymnasion, but to a coherently planned and built complex of political-administrative buildings.
2018
Settore L-ANT/07 - Archeologia Classica
Development of Gymnasia and Graeco-Roman Cityscapes (4th century Bc – 4th century Ad)
Development of Gymnasia and Graeco-Roman Cityscapes
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11384/68039
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