Gymnopaedia

(γυμνοπαιδία). A great festival held at Sparta from about the 6th to the 10th of July in honour of Apollo, Artemis, and Leto (Pausan. iii. 11. 7). It was an exhibition of all kinds of accomplishments in gymnastics, music, and dancing, given by boys, youths, and men for the benefit of the citizens and of the numerous strangers who flocked to Sparta for the occasion, and were hospitably entertained there. Old bachelors were excluded from the festivities (Schömann, Antiq. i. 264, Eng. transl.).