1.
Palestra
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The Palestra has been called the most important building in the history of college basketball and changed the entire history of the sport for which it was built. The arena originally seated about 10,000, but now seats 8,725 for basketball, the Palestra is famed for its close-to-the-court seating with the bleachers ending at the floor with no barrier to separate the fans from the game. At the time of its construction, the Palestra was one of the worlds largest arenas and it was one of the first steel-and-concrete arenas in the United States and also one of the first to be constructed without interior pillars blocking the view. Since its inception, the Palestra has hosted games, more visiting teams. Penns Palestra was built adjacent to and today is connected to Hutchinson Gymnasium, the Palestra hosted its first basketball game on January 1,1927. Pennsylvania defeated Yale 26-15 before a capacity crowd of 10,000, for many years, the building shared the same management as Madison Square Garden in New York City. Teams wishing to play at the Manhattan venue were often required to schedule a game at the Palestra, many professional games were played at the Palestra before the completion of the Spectrum in 1967. The Palestras 50th Anniversary was celebrated on February 10,1977, the arena hosted the 1968 Intercontinental Cup basketball tournament. Team Philly won the game 131-122 in front of 8,725 attendees, the Palestra has hosted more regular season or post-season NCAA mens basketball games, more visiting teams, and more NCAA tournaments than any other U. S. arena. It is often called the birthplace of college basketball and it has hosted the East regionals six times, and the sub-regionals ten times. In total,52 NCAA Tournament games have been played at the gym since it first came to Penns campus in 1939, the Philadelphia Big 5 originally played all of its games at the Palestra. Today, the intra-city conference still plays about half of its games there. St. Josephs hosts its Big 5 games at the gym, which is larger than its own, during the 2008-09 basketball season Saint Josephs played their home games at the Palestra while the then Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse was undergoing an extensive renovation to become the Hagan Arena. The annual Battle of 33rd Street was also held at the Palestra until 2013, in 2015, the series resumed, however, it became a home-and-home series alternating between The Palestra and Daskalakis Athletic Center every year. The gym has also served as the site of many Philadelphia, the Palestra hosted a Big Ten Conference game between Michigan State and Penn State on January 7,2017, with the home-standing Nittany Lions prevailing 72-63. In 2000, a $2 million renovation to the gym added a museum celebrating the history of Philadelphia basketball in the main concourse. Near the main entrance to the gym is a section recognizing the St. Josephs acclaimed Hawk mascot who made its first appearance at the Palestra on Jan. At the other end of the concourse, by the ramp to sections 211 and 210, each decade, from the 1950s onward, has its own exhibit in the concourse
2.
Paraestra
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Paraestra is a mixed martial arts fighting team and gym headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple gyms throughout Japan, as well as one in Newmarket, Canada. The gym was founded by former Shooto welterweight champion, and Vale Tudo Japan competitor Yuki Nakai, today, Paraestra endorses both Shooto, and Jiu-Jitsu and contains many gyms throughout Japan. In addition to training fighters, the gym offers classes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, in 2007 and 2008, Yusuke Honma of Paraestra earned a silver medal in the Black Belt Roosterweight Division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, the most famous Jiu-Jitsu tournament in the world. The events were held in Long Beach, CA
3.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
4.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
5.
Boxing
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Boxing is a combat sport in which two people wearing protective gloves throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring. Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport and is a fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, in the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw. In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to choose the most deserving winner of the bout. While people have fought in combat since before the dawn of history. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete, in Ancient Greece boxing was a well developed sport and enjoyed consistent popularity. In Olympic terms, it was first introduced in the 23rd Olympiad,688 B. C, the boxers would wind leather thongs around their hands in order to protect them. There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them acknowledged defeat or could not continue, weight categories were not used, which meant heavyweights had a tendency to dominate. It was the head of the opponent which was primarily targeted, Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists, eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which then led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex, Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events, however, especially in later times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor and this is where the term ring came from. In AD393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality and it was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again, however, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Kulachniy Boy or Fist Fighting, as the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury
6.
Amateur wrestling
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Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of United World Wrestling, Greco-Roman, Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style. A similar style, commonly called collegiate, is practiced in colleges and universities, secondary schools, middle schools, where the style is not specified, this article refers to the international styles of competition on a mat. In February 2013, the IOC voted to remove the sport from the 2020 Summer Olympics onwards, on 8 September 2013, the IOC announced that wrestling would return to the Summer Olympics in 2020. The rapid rise in the popularity of the combat sport Mixed martial arts has increased interest in wrestling due to its effectiveness in the sport. Greco-Roman and freestyle differ in what holds are permitted, in Greco-Roman, in both Greco-Roman and freestyle, points can be scored in the following ways, Takedown, A wrestler gaining control over their opponent from a neutral position. Reversal, A wrestler gaining control over their opponent from a defensive position, exposure or the Danger Position, A wrestler exposing their opponents back to the mat, also awarded if ones back is to the mat but the wrestler is not pinned. Any wrestler stepping out of bounds while standing in the position during a match is penalized by giving their opponent a point. As in the styles, collegiate wrestling awards points for takedowns. Penalty points are awarded in collegiate wrestling according to the current rules, however, the manner in which infractions are penalized and points awarded to the offended wrestler differ in some aspects from the international styles. Collegiate wrestling also awards points for, Near Fall, This is similar to the points given in Greco-Roman. A wrestler scores points for holding their opponents shoulders or scapulae to the mat for several seconds while their opponent is not pinned. Escape, A wrestler getting from a position to a neutral position. This is no longer a way to score in freestyle or Greco-Roman, in the international styles, the format is now two three-minute periods. A wrestler wins the match when they were able to get more points than their opponent or 10 points lead in two rounds, for example, if one competitor get 10-0 lead in first the period, they will win by superiority of points. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match and this format replaced the old format of three two-minute periods played best two out of three. One side effect of the old format was that it was possible for the wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to a score of 4–6
7.
Gymnasium (ancient Greece)
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The gymnasium in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits, the name comes from the Ancient Greek term gymnós meaning naked. Athletes competed nude, a practice which was said to encourage appreciation of the male body. Gymnasia and palestrae were under the protection and patronage of Heracles, Hermes and, in Athens, the word gymnasium is the latinisation of the Greek noun γυμνάσιον, gymnastic school, in pl. The verb had this meaning because one undressed for exercise, historically, the gymnasium was used for exercise, communal bathing, and scholarly and philosophical pursuits. The English noun gymnast, first recorded in 1594, is formed from the Greek γυμναστής, the palaistra was the part of the gymnasium devoted to wrestling, boxing and ball games. The gymnasium was formed as an institution where young men over 18 received training in physical exercises. The gymnastai were the teachers, coaches, and trainers of the athletes, the Greek gymnasiums also held lectures and discussions on philosophy, literature, and music, and public libraries were nearby. The athletic contests for which the gymnasium supplied the means of training, the contests took place in honour of heroes and gods, sometimes forming part of a periodic festival or the funeral rites of a deceased chief. The free and active Greek lifestyle reinforced the attachment to such sports, the victor in religious athletic contests, though he gained no material prize other than a wreath, was rewarded with the honour and respect of his fellow citizens. Training of competitors for the contests was a huge matter of public concern and special buildings were provided by the state for such use. A victory in the religious festivals was counted an honour for the whole state. The regulation of the Athenian gymnasium is attributed by Pausanias to Theseus, solon made several laws on the subject, according to Galen these were reduced to a workable system of management in the time of Cleisthenes. While the origins of physical exercise regimes cannot be pinpointed, the practice of exercising in the nude had its beginnings in the 7th century BC. The same purpose is frequently attributed to the tradition of oiling the body, the ancient Greek gymnasium soon became a place for more than exercise. This development arose through recognition by the Greeks of the relation between athletics, education and health. Accordingly, the gymnasium became connected with education on the one hand, physical training and maintenance of health and strength were the chief parts of childrens earlier education. As pupils grew older, informal conversation and other forms of activity took the place of institutional
8.
Ancient Greek architecture
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Ancient Greek architecture is best known from its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, mostly as ruins but many substantially intact. The second important type of building that all over the Hellenic world is the open-air theatre. Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalised characteristics, both of structure and decoration, nikolaus Pevsner refers to the plastic shape of the temple. placed before us with a physical presence more intense, more alive than that of any later building. The architecture of ancient Rome grew out of that of Greece, the successive styles of Neoclassical architecture and Greek Revival architecture followed and adapted Ancient Greek styles closely. The mainland and islands of Greece are rocky, with deeply indented coastline, the most freely available building material is stone. Limestone was readily available and easily worked, there is an abundance of high quality white marble both on the mainland and islands, particularly Paros and Naxos. This finely grained material was a contributing factor to precision of detail. Deposits of high quality potters clay were found throughout Greece and the Islands and it was used not only for pottery vessels, but also roof tiles and architectural decoration. The climate of Greece is maritime, with both the coldness of winter and the heat of summer tempered by sea breezes and this led to a lifestyle where many activities took place outdoors. Colonnades encircling buildings, or surrounding courtyards provided shelter from the sun, the light of Greece may be another important factor in the development of the particular character of ancient Greek architecture. The light is extremely bright, with both the sky and the sea vividly blue. The clear light and sharp shadows give a precision to the details of landscape, pale rocky outcrops and this clarity is alternated with periods of haze that varies in colour to the light on it. In this characteristic environment, the ancient Greek architects constructed buildings that were marked by precision of detail, the gleaming marble surfaces were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast graded shadows and change in colour with the ever-changing light of day. Historians divide ancient Greek civilization into two eras, the Hellenic period, and the Hellenistic period, during the earlier Hellenic period, substantial works of architecture began to appear around 600 BC. Before the Hellenic era, two cultures had dominated the region, the Minoan, and the Mycenaean. The Mycenaean culture, which flourished on the Peloponnesus, was different in character. Its people built citadels, fortifications and tombs rather than palaces, following these events, there was a period from which few signs of culture remain. This period is often referred to as a Dark Age
9.
Vitruvius
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His discussion of perfect proportion in architecture and the human body, led to the famous Renaissance drawing by Da Vinci of Vitruvian Man. By his own description Vitruvius served as an artilleryman, the class of arms in the military offices. He probably served as a officer of artillery in charge of doctores ballistarum. Little is known about Vitruvius life, most inferences about him are extracted from his only surviving work De Architectura. Even his first name Marcus and his cognomen Pollio are uncertain. Cetius Faventinus writes of Vitruvius Polio aliique auctores, this can be read as Vitruvius Polio, and others or, less likely, as Vitruvius, Polio, Vitruvius was a military engineer, or a praefect architectus armamentarius of the apparitor status group. He is mentioned in Pliny the Elders table of contents for Naturalis Historia, frontinus refers to Vitruvius the architect in his late 1st-century work De aquaeductu. Likely born a free Roman citizen, by his own account, Vitruvius served the Roman army under Caesar with the otherwise poorly identified Marcus Aurelius, Publius Minidius and these names vary depending on the edition of De architectura. Publius Minidius is also written as Publius Numidicus and Publius Numidius, as an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges. It is speculated that Vitruvius served with Caesars chief engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the locations where he served can be reconstructed from, for example, descriptions of the building methods of various foreign tribes. Although he describes places throughout De Architectura, he not say he was present. His service likely included north Africa, Hispania, Gaul and Pontus, the position of the camp, the direction of the entrenchments, the inspection of the tents or huts of the soldiers and the baggage were comprehended in his province. His authority extended over the sick, and the physicians who had the care of them and he had the charge of providing carriages, bathhouses and the proper tools for sawing and cutting wood, digging trenches, raising parapets, sinking wells and bringing water into the camp. He likewise had the care of furnishing the troops with wood and straw, as well as the rams, onagri, balistae, at various locations described by Vitruvius, battles and sieges occurred. He is the source for the siege of Larignum in 56 BC. The broken siege at Gergovia in 52 BC, and the siege of Uxellodunum in 51 BC. These are all sieges of large Gallic oppida, a legion that fits the same sequence of locations is the Legio VI Ferrata, of which ballista would be an auxiliary unit. Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect, frontinus mentions him in connection with the standard sizes of pipes
