(ORDO NEWS) — For more than a hundred years, an artifact was kept in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland, which no one paid attention to, until historians began to study it. It turned out that a list of graduates was carved on the 2000-year-old artifact.
An ancient Greek inscription on a marble slab recorded the names of a group of men in Athens during the reign of Emperor Claudius who joined the ranks of the ephebes. So in ancient Greece a young man was called who had reached puberty and at the age of 18 or 19 years old had gone through two years of military training – ephebate.
Opening details
- A peculiar list of graduates was created in the period from 41 to 54 AD. He is about two thousand years old.
- It is not known where the found list was displayed, but it is assumed that it could have been posted, for example, in the gym where the students trained.
- It lists 31 coefebian names, which roughly translates to “classmates”.
- The top of the plate has a pointed shape and a carved, worn relief believed to depict a small oil amphora similar to those used by the ephebes in their gym.
The translation of the text is as follows: “In the archon of Metrodorus, when Dionysodorus (son of Dionysodorus) from Phlia was the overseer, Atticus, the son of Philip, having entered his fellow ephebes (and) friends, dedicated (to this). The chosen brothers of Atticus in the ephebate were Aeolion, Dionysus, Anf, Heracon, Theogas, Haropain, Tryphon, Dorion, Phidias, Symmachus, Athinion, Antipas, Evodos, Metrobius, Gypsigon, Apollonides, Herma, Theophas, (G?) Alice, Atlas, Zopyros, Euthiktos, Musais, Aneiket, Secundus, Zosima, Primos, Dionysus, Eisigen, Sotas and Androneikos.
Among the Names there are those that never met in the ancient Greek language. It is believed that this is one of the earliest evidence of the participation of citizens of other states in the brotherhood of ephebes.
The fact is that over time, the requirements for candidates were weakened, two-year military training became optional, training was less severe and militarized.
Even before the 2nd century BC, the ephebate was open to foreigners, and literature and philosophy were added to the curriculum.
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