The facilities dedicated to sport and education in Ancient Greece.

A case study on the island of Delos

The research devoted to sport and education in Antiquity has essentially been based on ancient texts and most often considers the contribution of archaeology as a simple illustration. However, it would benefit from a more thorough analysis of the remains of  gymnasia, namely the monuments that hosted athletic training and intellectual education. The island of Delos, located in the center of the Cyclades archipelago, is a privileged observatory for their study. The excavations conducted by the École française d’Athènes since the end of the 19th century have revealed two gymnasia associated with two running tracks and a long series of inscriptions related to these public facilities.

This project, which will be conducted at the University of Geneva and in cooperation with the École française d’Athènes, aims to ensure the identification of the excavated buildings with those mentioned in the inscriptions, to trace the history of their development, to determine the function and use of their various spaces, to study the functioning of their bathing infrastructure and to restore the location of their running tracks. A geophysical survey, an architectural analysis, an excavation campaign and a study of the archaeological material will be conducted during four years to meet these objectives. The project is thus based on a global approach of the archaeological data and will contribute to our knowledge of the facilities dedicated to sport and education in the ancient Greek world, as well as of the society that developed and used it. The exceptional combination of archaeological and epigraphical data has made the Delian example a key argument for the understanding of many other gymnasia from Italy to present-day Afghanistan. The final goal is to revise their functional interpretation, thus offering the project major repercussions in the field of the study of sport and education in Antiquity.