Gymnopaedia

The Gymnopaedia, in ancient Sparta, was a yearly celebration during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of war dancing. The custom was introduced in 668 BC, concurrently with the introduction of naked athletics.

Gymnopaedia derives from the ancient Greek Γυμνοπαιδίαι. The word Gymnopaedia is composed of γυμνός (gymnos, "naked" or "unarmed") and παιδιά "game" from παῖς (pais, "child, youth"). In Greek the plural form, Γυμνοπαιδίαι, appears most often.

Apart from "Gymnopaedia", modern transliterations/adaptations include "Gymnopaidiai" (mostly older translations of Greek texts, maintaining a plural form for the word), "Gymnopaidiae" (Latinized plural form), "gymnopedia", "Gymnopaedie" (in German), and "gymnopédie" (in French, or when referring to the Erik Satie compositions).

The term appears in texts of Herodotus, and several authors in the Attic and Koiné periods. While for the earliest of these authors the meaning of Gymnopaedia appears predominantly as a festival (including several dances, sports, etc.), in the later periods of antiquity gymnopaedia is referred to as a particular dance.

The festival, celebrated in the summertime, was dedicated to Apollo (and/or, according to Plutarch, to Athena). Plato praises gymnopaedia-like exercises and performances in The Laws as an excellent medium of education: by dancing strenuously in the summer heat, Spartan youth were trained in both musical grace and warrior grit at the same time.

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