The Ephebeia in the Hellenistic Period

Abstract

The ephebeia or, in its anglicized form, ephebate, was the most widespread institution for training the bodies and shaping the minds of young citizens in the Hellenistic world. Though aimed primarily at producing well-conditioned young citizen warriors to defend the city, ephebates in many places also provided elements of education in the liberal arts. Long dismissed as a decadent shadow of its fourth-century Athenian antecedent, the Hellenistic ephebate has undergone a radical re-evaluation in recent years, leading scholars to a better appreciation of its role in producing citizen warriors and in projecting a particularly powerful vision of Greek civic culture. Ephebates centered on the gymnasium, an institution at the core of Greek civic identity. Although the youths enrolled in ephebates were predominant in the gymnasium, they shared the facilities with two other organized age groups. Ephebic training at Amphipolis in Macedonia retained a marked military character into the Augustan period.

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