What is Palaestra at Olympia?
[[File:Palestra (Olímpia).JPG|thumb|300px|Palaestra]] The '''palaestra''' at [[Olympia, Greece]] is an [[ancient history|ancient]] structure, now in [[ruins]]. There were many palaestra throughout Greece. A palaestra was the place where [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[athletics (sport)|athletes]] trained for and practiced [[Greek wrestling|wrestling]], the [[pankration]], and sometimes [[boxing]]. The palaestra at Olympia was [[wikt:build#Verb|built]] sometime in the third [[century]] BC. It is north of the [[gymnasium|gymnasion]]. It is [[Square (geometry)|square]]. Its sides are each about 66 [[meter]]s long. Its door is in the [[northwest]] corner. The lower part of the outer walls were made of stone and the upper part of brick. Inside was a sand-covered yard open to the sky. This yard was surrounded on all four sides with [[wikt:colonnade|colonnades]] of [[Doric order|Doric]] [[column]]s. In bad weather, the athletes practiced under these colonnades. Off these colonnades were rooms where the athletes dressed and undressed, rubbed [[wikt:themselves|themselves]] with [[olive oil]], [[dust]]ed themselves with powder or sand, and met friends. There was a [[Bathtub|tub]] (1.5 meters deep) in the corner of the yard that was used for cold baths. There were rooms for the storage of oil and equipment. In 1955{{ndash}}56, the German Archaeological Institute partly [[wikt:restore|restored]] the palaestra. Complete restoration is not possible because many of the columns have been completely [[wikt:destroy|destroyed]]. == Palaestra == <gallery> File:Palestra a Olímpia.JPG|Palaestra File:Palestra d'Olímpia, columnes.JPG|Columns of the Palaestra File:Palestra d'Olímpia.JPG|Colonnade, court (left) and rooms (right) File:Plan Olympia sanctuary-en.svg|Palaestra is No. 21 on left File:Base d'una columna, palestra d'Olímpia.JPG|Base of a column </gallery> == References == * {{citation |last=Photinos |first=Sypros |year=1982 |title=Olympia |place=Athens, Greece |publisher=Pan. & Theo. Agridiotis |series=Olympic Publications |p