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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