The Greek _gymnasium_, unlike the palæstra, was intended for ephebes and for grown men who had finished their schooling. It was a state institution maintained at public expense and administered by public magistrates and other functionaries. Structures of this sort began to be built, or, more properly, laid out, as early as the sixth or seventh century before Christ, and by the end of the fifth century B.C. there was probably no important Greek town, at home or in the colonies, that did not possess at least one of them. Almost any open spot would serve the purpose at the start, but, as population increased and civilization advanced, buildings of special design became necessary, and these grew in size and splendor with the addition of new features from time to time. Exact information with regard to the different parts and their arrangement is almost wholly lacking for the period under review. Descriptions which have come down to us, and the remains discovered at Olympia, Delphi, and other places belong to later centuries. The same general plan seems to have been followed, however, but with considerable variation in details. Originally, we may suppose, as in the case of the palæstra, there was only an open space for wrestling, running, and the other exercises, and surrounding or adjoining this covered colonnades, into which various rooms opened. The essential features at a later stage seem to have included, besides this spacious court or course and its colonnades, a room where clothing might be taken off and left, others for the oil with which visitors rubbed the body before exercising, and for the dust or fine sand with which the wrestlers were then sprinkled, and some sort of baths, either basins set on high supports, or running water issuing from outlets under which one might stand, as in a modern shower-bath. Before washing himself the gymnast removed the oil, sand, and dirt from his body with a scraper of metal, bone, or reed, hollowed out somewhat like a spoon and furnished with a handle, but concave along one edge. Some provision was usually made for playing at ball and for running under cover, in addition to the open spaces intended for wrestling, running, and throwing the discus and the javelin. The whole might be enclosed in spacious grounds, as was the case with the three ancient gymnasia outside the walls of Athens, and these were laid out like public parks, shaded with trees and planted with shrubs and flowering plants, watered by streams or fountains, and further adorned with statues of favorite gods, legendary heroes, and eminent citizens.