Gymnasial Status

The status of the members of the gymnasium is investigated in this chapter, with special attention to the organization of the younger users, to the gymnasial community as a well-defined body, and to their involvement in local administration. Evidence concerning the procedures for admittance in the gymnasium is presented, together with the role of ephebes and other younger users of the gymnasium: it is argued that the ephebate represented a pivotal moment in the life of the gymnasium’s users and their members retained strong institutionalized connections with their fellow ephebes for many years after their youth. The members of the gymnasium, officially called ‘those from the gymnasium’, were a varied but well-defined and conscious group, with a strong sense of community and the ability to act as a body. The higher end of the gymnasial community often occupied a position of importance in the echelons of the Ptolemaic administration, thus showing how ‘those from the gymnasium’ were the prime candidates for the running of the administration and bureaucracy.