L’ Accademia di VII sec. a.C.: dalla Hiera Oikia al ginnasio

Building on the recent volume edited by A. Mazarakis Ainian et alii (2024), which addresses the protohistoric phases of the area conventionally known as the Academy, the present study focuses on the 7th century BC with the aim of examining the forms of occupation at the site before the establishment of the gymnasium in the 6th century. The 7th-century finds, drawn from the aforementioned volume, though fewer in quantity compared to those of the preceding period, nonetheless attest to the presence of a kinship-based group that continued to use the Hiera Oikia as its “headquarters” and asserted its hold over the surrounding area through burials (including those of children). The same community appears to have possessed familiarity with horse management and equestrian culture. Within the broader Athenian context of the 7th century BC the practice of athletics was gaining importance as a medium for the display of status and the negotiation of prestige. It may therefore be suggested that, at the Academy, the horsemanship and engagement in athletic activities by the 7th-century occupants provided the social and cultural preconditions for the institution, between the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC, of a gymnasium with a distinctly aristocratic identity.