Gymnasiarchic law(Beroia)STELLA SKALTSA
The gymnasiarchic law of Beroia, inscribed on
both sides of a marble stele (1.755 m high�0.407–0.468 m wide), contains a set of regula-
tions that pertain to the office of the
gymnasiarchy and the running of the gymna-
sium in this Macedonian city in the
first third of the second century BCE. It system-
atizes information that prior to its discovery
was deduced from honorific decrees and vic-
tors’ lists scattered across the Hellenistic world.
The stele, reused already in antiquity as the
cover slab for an early Christian tomb, was
discovered in 1949 by two farmers in a plot
outside the walls to the south of the city, where
the ancient gymnasium of Beroia is thought to
be located; an ephebic catalogue and the largest
fragment of the edict of the proconsul L.
Memmius Rufus come from the same area
(Gounaropoulou and Hatzopoulos 1998: nos.
135 and 7 respectively). The stele is now
exhibited in the archaeological museum of
Beroia.
The preserved text is 173 lines long (original
text: 217 lines). The text on face A is today
badly damaged and readable only up to line
63 it originally bore 107 lines. The text on
face B is fully preserved (110 lines).
The text consists of three parts: the decree
that contains a motion for a gymnasiarchic
law put forward by the gymnasiarch and two
other officials, and the enactment of the
decree (A 2.1–22); the law proper (A 2.22–B
2.109) with a long list of regulations, under
the heading nomos gymnasiarchikos; and the
final line (B l.110) with the ratification
of the law by the politarchs (civic officials)
with one vote against. As mentioned in the
decree, the stele was to be displayed in
the gymnasium, while a copy of the law
was to be deposited in the public archives.
With the enactment of the law the gymnasium
at Beroia was transformed from a private
association to a civic institution. The date of
the gymnasiarchic law, a contested issue,
now seems to have been resolved in favor of
a pre-167 BCE date (Hatzopoulos 2003–2004).
Prior to the discovery of the gymnasiarchic
law, there were only hints (e.g., Kritolaos’
foundation, IG XII 7.515) of the existence
of a law regulating the gymnasiarch’s duties.
These are clearly outlined in the Beroia law.
They range from financial administration to
the imposition of fines or physical penalties
(flogging) on offenders; and from the obser-
vance of rules to the organization of the
Hermaia, a major gymnasium calendar event.
According to this law, the city annually elects
a gymnasiarch (thirty to sixty years old), who
is assisted by three others in supervising the
young men. Transparency should govern
the gymnasiarch’s actions and the conduct of
his office. The gymnasiarch is accountable
three times a year to civic officials (exetastai)
for the handling of the revenues of the neoi
(young men, twenty to thirty years old). The
law also goes into detail as to the sort of pun-
ishment or the exact amount of fine to
be imposed on offenders (e.g., disobedience to
the gymnasiarch’s instructions), be it the
gymnasiarch himself or any of those frequenting
the gymnasium. Furthermore, information is
provided about the organization of the
Hermaia, the festival in honor ofHermes,mark-
ing the end of the gymnasium’s year with con-
tests, prizes, and a feast; about the selection of
the lampadarchs, responsible for providing oil
to the young men and paides (boys probably
between fourteen and eighteen years old) for
training in the torch race; and about the
appointment of umpires for the torch race and
the long distance race.
The free boys and young men (up to the age
of thirty) are entitled to frequent the gymna-
sium, unlike slaves, freedmen, the physically
unfit (apalaistroi), male prostitutes, trades-
men, drunkards, and madmen, all of whom
are strictly prohibited from entering the gym-
nasium. Perhaps surprisingly, any reference to
intellectual pursuits or education is absent
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 3006–3007.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah13109
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in the law. Instead, the ephebes and those
under twenty-two years old should train daily
in javelin throwing and archery. Likewise, the
contests in euexia (fitness), eutaxia (good
order), and philoponia (endurance), as well as
the torch race and the long distance race, all to
be exercised on the occasion of the Hermaia, all
underline the key role of physical and military
training in the curriculum of the gymnasium.
This character may have been retained after the
dissolution of Antigonid rule, as may be
inferred from the unpublished ephebarchic
law of Amphipolis (Gauthier and Hatzopoulos
1993: 161–3).
SEE ALSO: Age-class (ephebes, neoi); Gymnasium,
Classical and Hellenistic times.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Austin, M. M. (2006) The Hellenistic world from
Alexander to the Roman conquest: a selection of
ancient sources in translation, 2nd ed.: 252–7.
Cambridge.
Gauthier, P. and Hatzopoulos, M. B. (1993) La loi
gymnasiarchique de Beroia. Athens.
Gounaropoulou, L., and Hatzopoulos, M. B. (1998)
Epigra’ές kάto Makedοnίaς: Metaxύ tοuBermίοu όrοuς kai tοuAxiού pοtamού. TeύwοςA.Epigra’ές Bέrοiaς (Inscriptiones Macedoniae
inferioris inter Bermium montem et Axium flumen
repertae: fasciculus primus, Inscriptiones Beroeae).
Athens.
Hatzopoulos, M. B. (2003–2004) “Questiones
Macedonicae: Lois, decrets et epistates
dans les cites macedoniennes” Tekmeria 8: 27–60.
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