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The Gymnasium of Virtue: Education and Culture in Ancient Sparta

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... 52 See Spawforth (2012) 129, whence the quotation, further noting that '[i]n Nicocrates we can recognize the type of the first performers of Persian Wars material in the annual logoi at the Leonideia: an event which Nicocrates himself perhaps helped to establish'. 53 Eilers (2002) 195, C7. 54 On this complex episode, see Bowersock (1961) 113;(1965) 59-60;Lindsay (1992); Kennell (1999) 201-04; Balzat (2008) n.4, with further bibliography. 55 On sources for Laco and Spartiaticus, see Rizakis et al. (2004), LACONIA 468 and 509, respectively. ...
... Trzaskoma (2011) 32 n.81 sees him as 'stand [ing] in for all the Ten Thousand in the novel, but especially for Clearchus, himself an exiled Spartan who dies in a foreign land because of a love of war and his inability to reintegrate into peacetime Sparta'; Laplace (1997) Bowersock (1961) 116. On this episode, see further Bowersock (1965) 105; Kennell (1999) historical animosity between the Euryclids and the descendants of Brasidas, in order to hint at a harmonized realignment of the competing claims of Spartan aristocracy (the Euryclids on the one hand, and the descendants of Brasidas on the other). Within the context of my broader argument, this signals a politically resonant message, namely that elite Greeks are stronger united than they are divided. ...
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Characters in the Greek novels comprise a dizzying array of identities, but one group of people who have received barely any attention are Spartans. They appear only in Chariton of Aphrodisias and Xenophon of Ephesus, where analysis of their presence sheds crucial light on the novels’ literary and sociocultural agendas. After an introduction (section I), section II discusses Chaereas’ self-characterization as the Spartan Leonidas in book 7 of Chariton’s Chaereas and Callirhoe in the context of Imperial-period Sparta: its institutions (the Leonideia festival), prosopography (the Euryclid dynasty) and reputation for military greatness. I link these elements to the ‘kinsman of Brasidas’ in book 8, who can be directly connected to an Imperial-period descendant of Brasidas in Plutarch’s Sayings of Kings and Commanders , as well as to Thucydides’ Brasidas. Section III explores the Spartan identity of Aegialeus and Thelxinoe, the protagonists of an inset story told to Habrocomes in book 5 of Xenophon’s Ephesiaca . Details of their lives correspond closely to Spartan cultural phenomena familiar from Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus , especially in connection with marriage customs. This has consequences for the evaluation of Xenophon as a witty and sophisticated novelist, and for his compositional date. Section IV draws out the significant parallels between the depiction of Spartans in Chariton and Xenophon, which form the basis of proposals regarding their literary and chronological relationships.
... 27. Kennell (1995) 98, 147. Cimon 16.5). ...
... 34 The bodies of these young women are strong and athletic but not especially well-developed 31. Pomeroy (2002) 14, n. 41;Kennell (1995). (2002) 33. ...
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This chapter provides a synthesis and analysis of the epigraphic, literary, and artistic evidence of women’s participation in athletic events and venues following the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BCE and during the early Roman Empire. In conjunction with the literary sources, the epigraphic and artistic record makes clear that women participated in athletics, although it appears that their competitions did not always receive the attention that their male counterparts did. Some of them participated in multiple festivals over a period of years in footraces and mousike contests, while others engaged in the more “masculine” competitions of the pyrrhic dance, hunting, and wrestling. These were women whom we should not expect to transition from doing the chores at the mother’s house to winning at Panhellenic games without some kind of regular training, and who regularly attended and became members of the gymnasium and the palaestra.
... No era solo educación, era también socialización y adoctrinamiento (Kyle 2007: 181). Su significación política se ve reforzada por el hecho de que sin haber superado con éxito sus diferentes estadios era imposible alcanzar τὰ καλά, los honores, esto es, la ciudadanía plena 11 ; hasta no haber pasado por este "gimnasio de la virtud" (Kennell 1995), los jóvenes iniciandos permanecen excluidos del cuerpo cívico, sufren una marginación de carácter temporal. Únicamente los futuros reyes estaban exentos de realizarla, según Plutarco (Ages. ...
... Los antiguos creyeron sinceramente que la agoge hundía sus raíces en el kosmos instaurado por el mítico Licurgo y que desde entonces había permanecido inalterable. Frente a esta visión idealizada, la historiografía moderna ha puesto de relieve que, lejos del estancamiento que se le presume, esta importante institución estuvo en mutación permanente, adaptándose a las circunstancias históricas de cada momento (Kennell 1995 y 2013, con las puntualizaciones de Lévy 1997y Ducat 2006. El propio término agoge (literalmente "conducción") no está atestiguado como sinónimo de paideia antes de Plutarco, cuya biografía de Licurgo (caps. ...
... Bu merkezlerde bireysel yeteneklerin geliştirilmesi, kişisel disiplin kazandırılması ve toplumsal değerlerin öğretilmesi, aktarılması, zihinsel niteliklerin ve bedensel becerilerin edinilmesi gibi önemli amaçların yerine getirilmesi hedeflenir (Krş. Forbes, 1945;Kennell, 1995;Yaraş, 1997;Scholz & Kah, 2004;). Gymnasionlar, gençlerin sadece fiziksel aktivite yaptıkları mekânlardan sosyal becerilerin geliştirildiği, erdemli bir yaşam tarzının öğretildiği, rekabetin teşvik edildiği, akademik eğitimin yapıldığı kurumlara dönüşür. ...
Article
Antik Yunan eğitim anlayışı beden eğitimini ve ahlaki gelişimi kapsayan kalokagathia (ἡ καλοκἀγαθία) kavramı etrafında şekillenir. Arkaik Dönemden itibaren (MÖ. 9.-7.yy) iyi bir asker yetiştirilmesi amaçlandığından eğitim sistemi jimnastik (gymnastike), müzik (mousike), kahramanlık destanlarının öğrenilmesi üzerine kurulur. MÖ. 6. yüzyılda Miletos’ta felsefi düşüncenin ortaya çıkmasıyla okuma-yazma, entelektüel gelişim öncelik kazanır ve felsefe ön plana çıkar. MÖ. 5.-4. yüzyılda Atina’nın yönetim tarzının değişmesiyle vatandaşlık bilinci ve demokratik değerlerin önem kazanması sofistik eğitimi popüler hâle getirir. Konuşma ve ikna sanatı (rhetorik), hümanizm, bireysellik, rölativizm ve ücretli eğitim (öğretmenlik mesleği) paideia içindeki yerini alır. Hellenistik Dönem’de ise paideia etik değerler, yaşam tarzı ve entelektüel gelişimi kapsayan bir karaktere bürünür. Roma İmparatorluk Dönemi’nde de eğitim; hukuk, yönetim, rhetorik ve ahlak gibi konuları kapsar ve toplumsal düzeni sürdürmek, geniş sınırlara ulaşan imparatorluğu yönetmek için bir araç olarak kullanılır. Kentlerin eğitim kurumu olarak Klasik Dönem’den itibaren ama özellikle Hellenistik Dönem’de gymnasionlar; Roma İmparatorluk Döneminde ise imparatorlar tarafından kurulan kürsüler ve düşünürlerin açtığı okullar ön plana çıkar. Bu merkezlerde erkekler eğitim görürken kadınlar kamusal alandan dışlandıkları gibi eğitim hayatından da mahrum bırakılırlar. Bu makalede, Arkaik Dönem’den (MÖ. 8-6 yüzyıl) Roma İmparatorluk Dönemi’ne (MÖ. 27-MS. 395) kadar Antik Yunan toplumunun eğitim anlayışının nasıl evirildiği, hangi felsefi düşünce ve kavramlar üzerinde inşa edildiği, eğitim kurumlarının neler olduğu ve kadınların eğitim sistemindeki konumları incelenerek eğitim anlayışının sınırları çizilir. Bu çalışmanın Antik Yunan eğitim anlayışının hangi kavramlar ve kurumlar üzerine inşa edildiğinin ve tarihsel olarak hangi süreçlerden geçildiğinin anlaşılmasına ve günümüz eğitim sistemleriyle karşılaştırma yapılabilmesine katkı sunması amaçlanır.
... Antony Spawforth has also posited the existence of a priestly aristocracy in Classical Sparta (Cartledge & Spawforth 2002: 152), but only in the sense that certain priesthoods were, as in Athens, hereditary within families. Kennell 1995: 14 specifically rejects the existence of a priestly aristocracy of any kind in Sparta. a role at public sacrifices, and four Pythioi (Hdt. ...
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At 9.85 Herodotus states that after the Battle of Plataia, the Lakedaimonians buried their dead in three separate graves: one for the ἱρέες, one for the rest of the Spartiates, and one for helots. Taken together with 9.71, this passage suggests that all of the Spartiates decorated for bravery at Plataia were priests, which seems prima facie improbable. The interpretive challenges presented by 9.85 have been the subject of lively scholarly debate since the eighteenth century because this passage potentially provides important evidence for Spartiates’ funerary, religious, and educational customs. With an eye to facilitating future research, this article offers a detailed conspectus of the extensive collection of relevant scholarship and, in part by drawing upon evidence from the archaeological excavations of the Tomb of the Lakedaimonians in the Kerameikos, identifies one reading, which involves athetizing part of 9.85, as the preferred interpretive approach.
... A virtude guerreira exaltada pela educação espartana revela o caráter agônico de sua ἀρετή (Kennell 1995). No entanto, é valido ressaltar que esse universo virtuoso está restrito à sua antiga aristocracia, que está destinada a seguir os preceitos educacionais exclusivos 11 ἔτι δ' αὐτοὺς τοὺς Λάκωνας ἴσμεν, ἕως μὲν αὐτοὶ προσήδρευον ταῖς φιλοπονίαις, ὑπερέχοντας τῶν ἄλλων, νῦν δὲ κἀν τοῖς γυμνικοῖς ἀγῶσι κἀν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς λειπομένους ἑτέρων· Tradução minha. ...
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O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar a relação entre educação (ἀγωγή) e competição (ἀγών) em Esparta no contexto dos Jogos Olímpicos da antiga Hélade
... However neither the Spartans nor the Stoics, nor any element of Greek culture is so uniform. The Spartans have undergone much change over the centuries from archaic Greece to Imperial Rome (see Kennell 1995). Likewise the Stoics are anything but a uniform and stable philosophical school. ...
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Scholars often speak of ancient Greek masculinity and manhood as if there were a single, monolithic, simple conception. I will show that the ancient Greeks, like us today, had competing models or constructions of gender and that what it meant to be a man was different in different contexts. I will focus on three constructions of the masculine gender in ancient (classical and post-classical) Greece: the Athenian civic model, the Spartan martial model, and the Stoic philosophical model. I will focus on how these share certain commonalities, how they differ in significant ways, how each makes sense in terms of larger ideological contexts and needs, and, finally how constructions of masculinities today draw from all three.
... Τhe origins of these narratives can be found both in their short-term memory (period of hegemony) and their long-term past. All of these promoted the authoritarian status of Sparta (for a detailed discussion of the tradition of the agōgē and its use in shaping Spartan identity, see Kennell, 1995). ...
Thesis
This thesis examines the use of the past as a medium for the articulation of claims of present political power during the early Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic period marks an era of major changes both in the political and geographical landscapes. The polis, which remains the centre of political life, struggles between autonomy and dependence among the emerging political formations (Kingdoms and Koina). In the fluid political environment, the past presents an excellent opportunity: it can be used as a (re)confirmation of a certain identity, be it civic or collective, or can help to construct a new one. In either way, its potential is enormous. In the contemporary world, the connection between the use of the past and politics has been confirmed. However, this relationship was also clearly realised in the ancient world. Due to the workings of memory, the past has a central role in the political life of communities; memory and the use of the past are social and cultural forces, effectively altering the modes of representation and contemporary worldviews. And vice versa, any political decisions are seen in the light of civic or communal traditions – the cultural memory of each society. In the cases of Athens and Sparta, the opposition between contemporary realities and cultural memory is prolific and leads to unprecedented acts. In the absence of such a glorious past, the prolific historian Polybios constructs one for the Achaian League. Samos and Priene, without such hegemonic traditions but with a strong local presence, use the past for direct benefits. The examination of the data allows us to draw some conclusions concerning the agents behind the active manipulation of the past. Within a civic context, the potential of the past and its uses are largely understood by an active and ambitious elite with personal and state expediencies. The extent of their success partly depends on the realisation of the power they held.
... Framed in this way, it is a terribly weak argument. Athletics has been a cornerstone of education from the dawn of civilization (Kennell, 1995;Marrou, 1956), and there are many reasons to embrace its value for health, life lessons, and the enjoyment of diverse forms of physical accomplishment and friendly cooperation and competition. ...
Article
In this essay, ethicists grounded in philosophy (Curren) and law (Blokhuis) argue that the US public schools' sponsorship of tackle football is ethically indefensible and inconsistent with their educational aims. Their argument relies on three ethical principles and a growing body of evidence that many students who play football suffer traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment that undermine their academic success and life prospects, whether or not they suffer concussions. The authors also address educational claims made on behalf of football, the legal principles governing custodial responsibilities of schools and parents, factors that limit the moral and legal significance of children's consent to participate in football programs, and evidence that sponsorship of football programs subjects educational institutions to unsustainable financial risk.
... Entro questo orizzonte la società degli homoioi spartani poteva piacere ai sostenitori di un progetto di politeia limitata alle fasce superiori della cittadinanza ed essere utilizzata come modello di concordia sociale. Non deve stupire pertanto che questa possa essere stata associata alle nozioni di isonomia e demokratia, come fece 6 Per una valutazione complessiva del sistema di valori spartano rimando a Kennell 1995e Figueira 2002 Ho approfondito questi aspetti in Daverio 2007 b e Daverio 2011 cui rimando per una trattazione critica. ...
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Keywords: agóge, spartan mirage, Leonidas, sports onomastics, football clubs, Spartan races, laconophilia in other sports. Abstract. The evidence from the ancient Panhellenic Games proves that Spartan athletes who did not dominate these agónes and they were by no means regarded as outstanding favourites. Nevertheless modern sport refers to ancient Sparta eagerly and freąuently, most spectacularly in the names given to of sports clubs. This is caused by the fact that the most recognizable element of the still living Spartan mirage belongs to the Spartan, military upbringing. Having been idealized, it turned out to coincide, in its suppositions and aims, with the value systems ascribed to sport by the educators, mentors, politicians, sports activist and athletes themselves during the 19th, 20th and 21st century. This phenomenon is not limited only to sports onomastics.
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Cambridge Core - History of Ideas - The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought - edited by Christopher Rowe
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