135 
G Y M 
GY'GES, or Gyes, a fon of Coglus and Terra, re- 
re fented as having a hundred hands. He, with his 
rothers, made war againft the gods, and was afterwards 
punifhed in Tartarus. Ovid. Trifl , 4, el. 7, v. 18.—A 
Lydian, to whom Candaules, king of the country, 
fhowed his wife naked. The queen was fo incenfed at 
this inftance of imprudence and infirmity in her hufband, 
that file ordered Gyges, either to prepare for death him- 
felf, or to murder Candaules. He chofe the latter, 
married the queen, and afcended the vacant throne, 
about 718 years before the Chriftian era. He was the 
firft of the Mermnadae, who reigned in Lydia. He 
reigned thirty-eight years, and diftinguifhed himfelf 
by the immenfe prefents which he made to the oracle 
of Delphi. Herodot. 1, c. 8. According to Plato, Gyges 
defcended into a chafm of the earth, where he found 
a brazen horfe, whofe fides he opened, and favv within 
the body the carcafe of a man of uncommon fize, from 
whofe finger he took a brazen ring. This ring, when 
put on his finger, rendered him invifible; and by 
means of its virtue, he introduced himfelf to the queen, 
murdered her hufband and married her, and ufurped 
the crown of Lydia. Cic. OJfic. 3, 9.—A man killed by 
Turnus, in his wars with tineas. Virg. Ain. 9, v. 762. 
-—A beautiful boy of Cnidus, in the age of Horace. 
Horat. 2, Od. 5, v. 30. 
GYG^E'US, called alfo Colo us ; in ancient geogra¬ 
phy, a lake of Lydia, diftant forty ftadia, or five miles, 
from Sardis. 
GY'KOW, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 
Holftein : ten miles welt of Lutkenborg. 
GYLIP'PUS, a famous Lacedaemonian commander, 
fon of Clearchus, who defeated the Athenians before 
Syracufe. See the article Greece; vol.viii. p.881-5. 
GYL'PUT, f. The name of a cour t held every three 
weeks in the liberty or hundred of Pathbew in the 
county of Warwick, lnquijit. 13Edzu.Hl. 
GYLT'WlTE,yi Anancient compenfation or amends 
for trefpafs, &c, Mul8a pro tranfgrejfione. LL. Edgar. 
Regis, Anno 964. 
GYMNAN'DRA, f. in botany. See Bartsia. 
GYMNAN'THES,/. [Greek; having naked flow¬ 
ers.] In botany, a genus of the clafs monoecia, order 
monadelphia. The generic characters are—I. Male 
flowers. Calyx : ament compound, with pedicels tri- 
artiteor trichotomous, anther-bearing. Corolla: none, 
tamina : filaments naked; or pedicels tripartite or di¬ 
chotomous, fcattered, placed on every fide of the ament, 
very fliort, deciduous; antherae oblong, minute, three- 
celled. II. Female flowers on the fame or a different 
fhrub, folitary or amentaceous. Calyx : perianthium 
none, but one or two fcales at the bafe of the germ. 
Corolla : none. Piftillum : germ roundifh, fuperior ; 
fiyle fcarcelj; any, or very fhort, three-cornered : ftig- 
mas three, linear, acute, channelled, reflex. Pericar- 
pium : capfule tricoccous, three-celled, three-valved. 
Seeds: folitary, roundifh .—EJfential CkaraEler. Male : 
ament, naked ; perianthium and corolla, none; ftamina, 
pedicels three-parted or three-forked, anther-beafing. 
Female: ament or germ, pedicelled ; corolla, none ; 
flyle, trifid ; capfule, tricoccous, three-celled. 
Species. 1. Gymnanthes elliptica, or elliptic gym- 
nanthes : dioicous ; ftamens three-parted ; females 
amentaceous. 2. Gymnanthes lucida, or lucid gym¬ 
nanthes : monoicous ; ftamens trichotomous ; females 
folitary, pedicelled. Thefe fhrubs were found by Swartz 
in the Weft Indies; the firft in Jamaica, the fecond in 
Hifpaniola. 
GYMNA'SIARCH, f. In antiquity, the diredtor of 
the gymnafium. He had two deputies under him; the 
one called xyjiarck, who prefided over the athletae, and 
was the umpire in wreftling ; the other was gymnajies , 
who had the direction of all the other exercifes. 
GYMNA'SIUM, f. In Grecian antiquity, a place fet 
apart for performing exercifes of the body. The word 
GYM 
is Greek, formed of yvpv 0?, naked; becaufe they put 
off their clothes, to practife with the greater agility. 
The gympafia, according to Potter, were firft ufed at 
Lacedaemon, but were afterwards very common in all 
parts of Greece; and very much' augmented and im¬ 
proved at Rome. There were thrqe principal gymnafia 
at Athens ; the Academy, where Plato taught; the 
Lyceum, noted for Ariftotle’s ledtures ; and <the Cyno- 
farges, allotted for the populace. 
Vitruvius fcientifically defcribes the ftrudture and 
form of the ancient gymnafia, lib. v. c. n. They were 
called gymnafia, becaufe feveral of the exercifes were 
performed naked ; and palajirx, from wreftling, which 
was one of the rnoft ufual exercifes there : the Romans 
fometimes alfo called them therm* , becaufe the baths 
and bagnios made a principal part of the building. 
It appears that they did not perform their exercifes 
quite naked fo early as-the time of Homer, but always 
in drawers ; which they did not lay afide before the 
thirty-fecond Olympiad. Orfippusis faid to have been 
the firft w'lio introduced that indecent pradtice : for 
having been worfted by his drawers entangling, him, he 
threw them off, and the reft imitated him. The gymnafia 
were not Angle edifices, but a number of diftindt build¬ 
ings united, and fufticiently capacious to hold many 
thoufands of people at once ; having parts deftined for 
philofophers, rhetoricians, and the profeffors of other 
fciences, to read their ledtures; and for wreftlers, dan¬ 
cers, and all who chofe to enter the lifts for exercife ; 
at the fame time without the leaft difturbance or inter¬ 
ruption. The buildings confifted of a great many parts. 
Vitruvius recites no lefs than twelve, viz. 1. The ex¬ 
terior porticos, where the philofophers, rhetoricians,, 
mathematicians, phyficians, and other virtuofi, read 
public ledtures, and where they alfo difputed and re- 
hearfed their performances. 2. The ephebeum, where 
the youth affembled very early, to learn their exercifes 
in private, without any fpedtators. 3. The coryceum,, 
apodyterion, or gymnafterion, a kind of wardrobe,. 
where they ftripped, either to bathe or exercife.. 4. 
The elaeothefium, alipterion, or.undtuarium, appointed 
for the undtions, which either preceded or followed the 
ufe of the bath, wreftling, pancratia, &c. 5. The co~- 
nifterium or coniftra, in which they covered themfelves 
withfand, to dry up,the oil or fweat. 6. The palasftra, 
properly fo called, where they pradtifed wreftling, the. 
pugillate, pancratia, and other fimilar exercifes. 7. . 
The fphterifterium or tennis-court, referved for exer¬ 
cifes wherein they ufed balls. 8. Large, unpaved 
alleys, which comprehended the fpace between the por¬ 
ticos and the walls wherewith the edifice was furround- 
ed. 9. The xyfti, which were porticos for the wreftlers, 
in winter, or bad weather. 10. Other xyltis or open 
alleys, allotted for fummer and fine weather, fome of 
which were quite open, and others planted with trees-', 
ix. The baths, confiding of feveral different apart¬ 
ments. 12. The ftadium, a large fpace of a femicir- 
cular form, covered with fand, and furrounded t^th. 
feats for the fpedtators. 
For the adminiftration of the gymnafia, there were, 
different officers: the principal were, 1. The gymna- 
fiarch, who was the diredtor and fuperintendant of the 
whole. 2. The xyftarch, who prefided in the xyftus. 
or ftadium. 3. The gymnaftes, or mafter of the exer¬ 
cifes, who underftood their different effedts, and could 
accommodate them to the different complexions of the 
athletae. 4. The paedotriba, whofe bufinefs was to 
teach the exercifes. 
The gymnaftic exercifes may be reduced to two ge¬ 
neral claffes ,* as they depend either on the adtian of 
the body alone, or as they require external agents or 
inftruijients. The latter confifted chiefly in mounting 
the horfe, driving the chariot, and fwi mining. The 
former were chiefly of two kinds; orcheftice, and pa- 
lsftrice. The orcheftice comprehended, 1. Dancing, 
2. Cubiftice, 
