Dictionary:
pa·les·tra pa·laes·tra (pə-lĕs'trə)  |
A public place in ancient Greece for training and practice in wrestling and other athletics.
[Middle English palestre, from Old French, from Latin palaestra, from Greek palaistra, from palaiein, to wrestle.]
palestral pa·les'tral or pa·les'tri·an adj.| Classical Literature Companion: palaestra |
palaestra (‘wrestling school’), in Greek cities, the place where boys were instructed in wrestling and gymnastics. It was generally in private ownership (in contrast with the municipally owned gymnasium).
| Archaeology Dictionary: palaestra |
1. A Roman building smaller than a gymnasium, often built as a colonnade round a central court, for the training of boxers, wrestlers, and participants in gymnastic contests.
2. Exercise hall of a Roman public bath-house where patrons might amuse themselves with games and sports or work up a sweat before bathing.
| WordNet: palestra |
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a public place in ancient Greece or Rome devoted to the training of wrestlers and other athletes
Synonym: palaestra
| Wikipedia: Palaestra |
The palaestra (παλαίστρα) was the ancient Greek wrestling school. The events that did not require a lot of space, such as boxing and wrestling, were practiced there. The palaestra functioned both independently and as a part of public gymnasia. A palaestra could exist without a gymnasium, but no gymnasium could exist without a palaestra.
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 On Architecture, is an important ancient source about this building type and provides many details about what he calls “palaistra, 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) 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), a punching bag area (coryceum), a room for applying powders (conisterium), a room for cold bathing, and an oil storeroom (elaeothesium).
Good examples of this building type come from two major Greek sites: Olympia and Delphi.
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 | palæstra |
| palestrian |
| apodyterium |
Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Palaestra". Read more |
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