agonistae

Updated: May 2, 2025

All the sports of the gymnasia were either games, or special exercises for the contests of the public festivals. And here a distinction must be made between amateur and professional gymnasts. The former were styled agonistae, and exercised in the public gymnasium; the latter athletae, and were trained fighters, whose school was the palaestra.

Various - The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859