Nicaea Gymnasium
About
Nicaea's public gymnasium had burned down, and the city rebuilt it far larger than before even as the theatre project next door ran badly over budget. Pliny reported the spending to Trajan around 111 CE, and the emperor waved it through, remarking that Greek cities could never resist a gymnasium. No excavation has pinned down the building's footprint beneath modern İznik. This marks an approximate city-center placement for a documented but unlocated project.
In ancient writing
- Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.39
Reports that Nicaea's fire-damaged gymnasium was being rebuilt on a larger scale, with a considerable sum already spent.
- Trajan, Epistulae (replies) 10.40
Approves continuing the gymnasium's reconstruction, remarking that Greek cities are devoted to their gymnasia.
Sources
Nearby
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