Palaistra

In primitive times the palaistras had no architectural character; a meadow and a sandy reach, generally upon the bank of a brook and shaded by trees, sufficed as a training-ground.

Particular Sophists attached themselves to particular gymnasia and palaistrai which they came to regard as their schools.

Where did he train the teams of his fellow-tribesmen? Probably he hired trainers in the private palaistrai.

The Old Oligarch, contradicting his assertions about education above, later claims that although a few rich people have gymnasia and baths of their own, the people builds for its own use many palaistrai and baths (2, 10).

Whether or not Delorme's interpretation of Lykourgos’s activity is correct, it is certainly true that the earliest preserved examples of palaistrai with peristyle courts belong to the last third or so of the fourth century, for instance, the gymnasium at Delphi (figs. 276a–b) and the Timoleonteion at Syracuse in Sicily.

Palaistras and gymnasia were an important aspect of city life, a popular place for men to gather and observe beautiful youths training their bodies and exercising their minds.

Alterations to the palaistras in the later second and particularly in the third century made them more multifunctional, but also less suited for sports.