chapter 3._

See, also, ARTHUR, KING.

GWYNEDD.

See BRITAIN: 6TH CENTURY.

GYLIPPUS, and the defense of Syracuse.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 415-413.

GYMNASIA, German.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.—PRUSSIA: A. D. 1874.

GYMNASIA, Greek.

"Amongst public buildings [of the ancient Greeks] we mentioned first the gymnasia, which, originating in the requirements of single persons, soon became centre-points of Greek life. Corporeal exercise was of great importance amongst the Greeks, and the games and competitions in the various kinds of bodily skill … formed a chief feature of their religious feasts. This circumstance reacted on both sculpture and architecture, in supplying the former with models of ideal beauty, and in setting the task to the latter of providing suitable places for these games to be celebrated. For purposes of this kind (as far as public exhibition was not concerned) the palæstrai and gymnasia served. In earlier times these two must be distinguished. In the palæstra … young men practised wrestling and boxing. As these arts were gradually developed, larger establishments with separate compartments became necessary. Originally such places were, like the schools of the grammarians, kept by private persons; sometimes they consisted only of open spaces, if possible near a brook and surrounded by trees. Soon, however, regular buildings—gymnasia—became necessary. At first they consisted of an uncovered, court surrounded by colonnades, adjoining which lay covered spaces, the former being used for running and jumping, the latter for wrestling. In the same degree as these exercises became more developed, and as grown-up men began to take an interest in these youthful sports, and spent a great part of their day at the gymnasia, these grew in size and splendour. They soon became a necessary of life, and no town could be without them, larger cities often containing several."

_E. Guhl and W. Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans, section 25._

Of gymnasia "there were many at Athens; though three only, those of the Academy, Lyceum, and Cynosarges, have acquired celebrity: The site of the first of these gymnasia being low and marshy was in ancient times infested with malaria, but having been drained by Cimon and planted with trees it became a favourite promenade and place of exercise. Here, in walks shaded by the sacred olive, might be seen young men with crowns of rushes in flower upon their heads, enjoying the sweet odour of the smilax and the white poplar, while the platanos and the elm mingled their murmurs in the breeze of spring. The meadows of the Academy, according to Aristophanes the grammarian, were planted with the Apragmosune, a sort of flower so called as though it smelt of all kind of fragrance and safety, like our heart's-ease or flower of the Trinity. This place is supposed to have derived its name from Ecadamos, a public-spirited man who bequeathed his property for the purpose of keeping it in order. … The name of the Lyceum, sometimes derived from Lycus, son of Pandion, probably owed its origin to the temenos of Lycian Apollo there situated. It lay near the banks of the Ilissos, and was adorned with stately edifices, fountains and groves. … In this place anciently the Polemarch held his court and the forces of the republic were exercised before they went forth to war. Appended to the name of the Cynosarges, or third gymnasium surrounded with groves, was a legend which related that when Diomos was sacrificing to Hestia, a white dog snatched away a part of the victim from the altar, and running straightway out of the city deposited it on the spot where this gymnasium was afterwards erected."

_J. A. St. John, The Hellenes, book 2, chapter 5._

"The name of that most illustrious of the Athenian gymnasia, the Academy, has been preserved through the dark ages, and exactly in the situation indicated by ancient testimony. We are informed that the Academy was six or eight stades distant from a gate in the wall of the asty named Dipylum, and that the road from thence to the Academy led through that part of the outer Cerameicus, in which it was a custom to bury the Athenian citizens who had fallen in battle on important occasions. Dipylum was the gate from whence began the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis. … It appears also that the Academy lay between the Sacred Way and the Colonus Hippius, a height near the Cephissus, sacred to Neptune, and the scene of the Œdipus Coloneus of Sophocles; for the Academy was not far from Colonus, and the latter was ten stades distant from the city. That part of the plain which is near the olive-groves, on the northeastern side of Athens, and is now called Akadhimia, is entirely in conformity with these data. It is on the lowest level, where some water-courses from the ridges of Lycabettus are consumed in gardens and olive plantations."

_W. M. Leake, Topography of Athens, section 2._

See, also, EDUCATION, ANCIENT: GREECE.

{1620}

GYMNASIARCH.

See LITURGIES.

GYPSIES, The.

"Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy with these people, I have come to the following conclusions respecting them: that wherever they are found, their manners and customs are virtually the same, though somewhat modified by circumstances, and that the language they speak amongst themselves, and of which they are particularly anxious to keep others in ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but has been subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker or fairer according to the temperature of the climate, but invariably darker, at least in Europe, than the natives of the countries in which they dwell, for example, England and Russia, Germany and Spain. The names by which they are known differ with the country, though, with one or two exceptions, not materially; for example, they are styled in Russia, Zigani; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri; and in Germany, Zigeuner; all which words apparently spring from the same etymon, which there is no improbability in supposing to be 'Zincali,' a term by which these people, especially those of Spain, sometimes designate themselves, and the meaning of which is believed to be, 'The black men of Zend or Ind.' In England and Spain they are commonly known as Gypsies and Gitanos, from a general belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two words are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the circumstance that Bohemia was the first country in civilized Europe where they made their appearance; though there is reason for supposing that they had been wandering in the remote regions of Sclavonia for a considerable time previous, as their language abounds with words of Sclavonic origin, which could not have been adopted in a hasty passage through a wild and half populated country. But they generally style themselves and the language which they speak, Rommany. This word … is of Sanscrit origin, and signifies, 'The Husbands,' or that which pertaineth unto them. From whatever motive this appellation may have originated, it is perhaps more applicable than any other to a sect or caste like them, who have no love and no affection beyond their own race; who are capable of making great sacrifices for each other, and who gladly prey upon all the rest of the human species, whom they detest, and by whom they are hated and despised. It will perhaps not be out of place to observe here, that there is no reason for supposing that the word Roma or Rommany is derived from the Arabic word which signifies Greece or Grecians, as some people not much acquainted with the language of the race in question have imagined. … Scholars have asserted that the language which they speak proves them to be of Indian stock, and undoubtedly a great number of their words are Sanscrit. … There is scarcely a part of the habitable world where they are not to be found; their tents are alike pitched on the heaths of Brazil and the ridges of the Himalayan hills, and their language is heard at Moscow and Madrid, in the streets of London and Stamboul."

_G. Borrow, The Zincali, volume 1, pages 2-5._

"One day, 450 years ago, or thereabouts, there knocked at the gates of the city of Lüneburg, on the Elbe, as strange a rabble rout as had ever been seen by German burgher. There were 300 of them, men and women, accompanied by an extraordinary number of children. They were dusky of skin, with jet-black hair and eyes; they wore strange garments; they were unwashed and dirty even beyond the liberal limits tolerated by the cold-water-fearing citizens of Lüneburg; they had with them horses, donkeys, and carts; they were led by two men whom they described as Duke and Count. … All the Lüneburgers turned out to gaze open-mouthed at these pilgrims, while the Duke and the Count told the authorities their tale, which was wild and romantic. … Many years before, they explained, while the tears of penitence stood in the eyes of all but the youngest children, they had been a Christian community, living in orthodoxy, and therefore happiness, in a far-off country known as Egypt. … They were then a happy Christian flock. To their valley came the Saracens, an execrable race, worshipping Mahound. Yielding, in an evil hour, to the threats and persecutions of their conquerors, they—here they turned their faces and wept aloud—they abjured Christ. But thereafter they had no rest or peace, and a remorse so deep fell upon their souls that they were fain to arise, leave their homes, and journey to Rome in hope of getting reconciliation with the Church, They were graciously received by the Pope, who promised to admit them back into the fold after seven years of penitential wandering. They had letters of credit from King Sigismund—would the Lüneburgers kindly look at them?—granting safe conduct and recommending them to the protection of all honest people. The Lüneburg folk were touched at the recital of so much suffering in a cause so good; they granted the request of the strangers. They allowed them to encamp, … The next day the strangers visited the town. In the evening a good many things were missed, especially those unconsidered trifles which a housewife may leave about her doorway. Poultry became suddenly scarce; eggs doubled in price; it was rumoured that purses had been lost while their owners gazed at the strangers; cherished cups of silver were not to be found. … While the Lüneburgers took counsel, in their leisurely way, how to meet a case so uncommon, the pilgrims suddenly decamped, leaving nothing behind them but the ashes of their fires and the picked bones of the purloined poultry. … This was the first historical appearance of Gipsies. It was a curious place to appear in. The mouth of the Elbe is a long way from Egypt, even if you travel by sea, which does not appear to have been the case; and a journey on laud not only would have been infinitely more fatiguing, but would, one would think, have led to some notice on the road before reaching Lüneburg. There, however, the Gipsies certainly are first heard of, and henceforth history has plenty to say about their doings. From Lüneburg they went to Hamburg, Lübeck, Rostock, Griefswald, travelling in an easterly direction. They are mentioned as having appeared in Saxony, where they were driven away, as at Lüneburg, for their thievish propensities. They travelled through Switzerland, headed by their great Duke Michael, and pretending to have been expelled from Egypt by the Turks, Their story in these early years, though it varied in particulars, remained the same in essentials. {1621} In Provence they called themselves Saracens; in Swabia they were Egyptians doomed to everlasting wanderings for having refused hospitality to the Virgin and Joseph; at Bâle, where they exhibited letters of safe conduct from the Pope, they were also Egyptians. Always the Land of the Nile; always the same pretence, or it may be reminiscence, of sojourn in Egypt; always, to soothe the suspicions of priests, faithful and submissive sons of the Church. From the very first their real character was apparent. They lie, cheat, and steal at Lüneburg; they lie and steal everywhere; they tell fortunes and cut purses, they buy and sell horses, they poison pigs, they rob and plunder, they wander and they will not work. They first came to Paris in the year 1427, when more people went to see them, we are told, than ever crowded to the Fair of Laudet. … They remained at St. Denis for a month, when they received peremptory orders to quit for the usual reason. … In the 16th century trouble began for the Roman folk. By this time their character was perfectly well known. They were called Bohemians, Heathen, Gitanos, Pharaohites, Robbers, Tartars, and Zigeuner. They had abandoned the old lying story of the penitential wanderings; they were outcasts; their hand was against every man's hand; their customs were the same then as they are described now by Leland or Borrow."

_Gipsies and their Friends (Temple Bar, volume 47), pages 65-67._

"Since the publication of Pott's book upon the gypsies [_Die Zigeuner in Europa und Asien_]—about 30 years ago—we have come to regard the origin of this singular people with considerable unanimity of opinion. Almost nobody doubts now that they are Indians; and the assumption that all the gypsies scattered throughout Europe are descended from one parent stock meets with little contradiction. Both of these beliefs are the outcome of the investigation of their language. … Pott, in the introduction to his book, and quoting from the 'Shah-Name' of Firdousi, informs us that, during the 5th century of our era, the Persian monarch, Behram Gour, received from an Indian king 12,000 musicians of both sexes, who were known as Luris. Now, as this is the name by which the gypsies of Persia are known even at the present day, and as, moreover, the author of the Persian work 'Modjmal at-tawarikh' emphatically says that the Luris or Lulis of modern Persia are the descendants of these same 12,000 musicians, there is no hazard in the assumption that we have here the first recorded gypsy migration. Confirmation of this is afforded by the Arabian historian, Hamza of Ispahan, who wrote half a century before Firdousi, and who was well versed in the history of the Sassasinides. It is related by this author that Behram Gour caused 12,000 musicians, called Zott, to be sent from India for the benefit of his subjects. And 'Zott' is the name by which the gypsies were known to the Arabs, and which they even bear in Damascus at the present day. In the Arabic dictionary 'al-Kamus' this entry occurs: 'Zott, arabicized from Jatt, a people of Indian origin. The word might be pronounced Zatt with equal correctness.' … For the fatherland of these Zott, or Jatt, we have not long to seek. Istakhri and Ibn-Haukal, the celebrated 10th-century geographers, recount as follows:— 'Between al-Mansura and Mokran the waters of the Indus have formed marshes, the borders of which are inhabited by certain Indian tribes, called Zott; those of them who dwell near the river live in huts, like the huts of the Berbers, and subsist chiefly on fish and water-fowl; while those occupying the level country further inland live like the Kurds, supporting themselves on milk, cheese, and maize.' In these same regions there are yet two more tribes placed by these geographers, namely, the Bodha and the Meid. The former are properly, according to Ibn-Haukal, a subdivision of the Zott. … In course of time the Meds (to adopt the spelling favoured by Sir Henry Elliott) overcame the Zotts, whom they treated with such severity that they had to leave the country. The Zotts then established themselves on the river Pehen, where they soon became skilful sailors"; while those living farther to the north, known as Kikan, became famed as breeders of horses and herders of buffalos. When the Arabs, in their career of conquest, came in contact with the Zotts, the latter joined them, and large colonies of them were removed, for some reason, to western Asia, and settled with their herds on the lower Euphrates and Tigris, and in Syria. The Zotts on the Tigris became strong and troublesome in time, and in 834 the khalif Motacem, after subjugating them by force, removed them from the country, to the number of 27,000, sending them to Ainzarba, on the northern frontier of Syria. In 855, Ainzarba was captured by the Byzantines, who carried off the Zotts, with all their buffalo herds. "Here, then, we have the first band of gypsies brought into the Greek Empire. … As regards the destinies of the Zotts after they had been brought to Asia Minor from Ainzarba, in the year 855, I have been unable—in the course of a hurried search—to discover anything. But, now that we know the year in which they entered Byzantine territory, others may be more successful. Whether the name Zott, or rather its Indian form Jatt (or Jaut), has also been brought with them into Europe, I am, of course, as little able to say."

_M. J. de Goeje, A Contribution to the History of the Gypsies (In "Accounts of the Gypsies of India," edited by D. MacRitchie)._

"Students of the gipsies, and especially those who have interested themselves in the history of the race, will have read with regret the announcement of the death, at Paris, on March 1st, of the veteran 'tsiganologue,' M. Paul Bataillard. For the last half century he had devoted his leisure time to the study of the early notices of the presence of gipsies in Europe. … It was his opinion that there have been gipsies in Eastern Europe since prehistoric times, and that it is to them Europe owes its knowledge of metallurgy. Heterodox although this opinion may be, it has recently been observed by Mr. F. H. Groome that 'Bataillard's theory is gaining favour with foreign archæologists, among whom MM. Mortillet, Chantre, and Burnouf had arrived independently at similar conclusions.'"

_The Athenæum, March 31, 1894._

ALSO IN: _C. G. Leland, English Gipsies, chapters 8-10._

_W. Simson. History of the Gipsies._

GYRWAS.

"Fen-folk"—the name taken by a body of Engle freebooters who occupied the islands in the Fen district of England for a long time before they were able to possess the Roman-British towns and country on its border.

_J. R. Green, The Making of England,