philosophers and men of science down to the time of Cicero, who listened there to the lectures of Antiochus. These gymnasia were intimately connected with the life of the epheboi in whose training philosophy and literature were rapidly taking the place formerly occupied by athletics and military science. From this ephebic training grew up what has been aptly called the University of Athens, to which the young Romans of the time of Cicero resorted to study philosophy. Our knowledge of the training given to the epheboi is mostly derived from inscriptions of this period or later. The Athenian inscriptions date from the year 334 B.C. to the third century A.D.[217] These inscriptions contain lists of the epheboi and decrees in honour of the epheboi themselves and of their officers. The physical training of the epheboi was largely military in character, and particular attention was paid to those exercises which were likely to be of service in war. This training was under the general supervision of the Kosmetes, one of whose duties was to provide the necessary oil for use in the gymnasium. Under him were subordinate officials, the hoplomachos, a sort of fencing instructor; the akontistes, toxotes, and katapaltaphetes or aphetes, who taught the use of the javelin, bow, and catapult respectively. At the local festivals competitions were held to test the proficiency of men and youths in these and other more purely athletic accomplishments. Many of these competitions, especially those for the younger, were confined to local competitors. Sometimes they took the form of squad competitions between companies representing local tribes and divisions. Torch-races between individuals or teams on foot or on horseback figure frequently on the programme. At Athens cavalry parades formed an important feature of these festivals. The most splendid of these local festivals, the Panathenaea, must be reserved for fuller discussion, but a few examples of the inscriptions dealing with the less-known festivals, will illustrate the character of the festivals and of the physical training of the young in the period.