# Lesche

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'''Lesche'''{{Pronunciation needed|date=February 2024}} ({{langx|grc|λέσχη}}) is an [Ionic Greek](/source/Ionic_Greek) word, signifying ''council'' or ''conversation'', and a place for it<ref name="DGRA">{{Cite book| last = Smith| first = Philip| contribution = Lesche| editor-last = Smith| editor-first = William| title = [Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities](/source/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Antiquities)| volume = 1| pages = 681| publisher = [Little, Brown and Company](/source/Little%2C_Brown_and_Company)| place = Boston| year = 1870| contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0688.html}}</ref>
There is frequent mention of places of public resort, in the Greek cities, by the name of ''leschai'' ({{lang|grc|λέσχαι}}, the Greek plural of ''lesche''), some set apart for the purpose, and others so called because they were so used by loungers; to the latter class belong the [agora](/source/agora) and its [portico](/source/portico)es, the [gymnasia](/source/Gymnasium_(ancient_Greece)), and the shops of various tradesmen, especially those of the [smiths](/source/Smith_(metalwork)), which were frequented in winter on account of their warmth, and in which, for the same reason, the poor sought shelter for the night.<ref>[Homer](/source/Homer), ''[Odyssey](/source/Odyssey)'' xviii. 329</ref><ref>[Hesiod](/source/Hesiod), ''Op.'' 491, 499</ref>

In these passages, however, in which are the earliest examples of the use of the word, it seems to refer to places distinct from the smiths' workshops, though resorted to in the same manner; and we may gather from the [grammarians](/source/Philologist), that there were in the Greek cities numerous small buildings or porticoes, furnished with seats, and exposed to the sun, to which the idle resorted to enjoy conversation, and the poor to obtain warmth and shelter, and which were called ''leschai'': at [Athens](/source/Athens) alone there were 360 such.<ref>[Eustathius of Thessalonica](/source/Eustathius_of_Thessalonica), ''on [Homer](/source/Homer) l.c.''</ref><ref>[Eutychius Proclus](/source/Eutychius_Proclus), ''on [Hesiod](/source/Hesiod) l.c.''</ref><ref>[Hesychius](/source/Hesychius_of_Alexandria), ''Etym. Mag., s.v.''</ref>  The [Suda](/source/Suda), referring to a passage in [Hesiod](/source/Hesiod), explains ''lesche'' ({{lang|grc|λέσχη}}) by means of the word ''kaminos'' ({{lang|grc|κάμινος}}, "oven" or "furnace").<ref>{{cite book  | last = Liddell  | first = Henry  | author-link = Henry Liddell  |author2=Robert Scott |author-link2=Robert Scott (philologist)   | title = [A Greek-English Lexicon](/source/A_Greek-English_Lexicon)  | publisher = [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press)  | year = 1996  | location = Oxford  | pages = 872  | isbn = 0-19-864226-1}}</ref>

By [Aeschylus](/source/Aeschylus)<ref>[Aeschylus](/source/Aeschylus), ''[The Eumenides](/source/Aeschylus)'' 366</ref> and [Sophocles](/source/Sophocles)<ref>[Sophocles](/source/Sophocles), ''[Antigone](/source/Antigone_(Sophocles))'' 160</ref> the word is used for a solemn council; but elsewhere the same writers, as well as [Herodotus](/source/Herodotus), employ it to signify common conversation.

In the [Dorians](/source/Dorians) states the word retained the meaning of a place of meeting for deliberation and intercourse, a council-chamber or club-room.  At [Sparta](/source/Sparta) every [phyle](/source/phyle) had its ''lesche'', in which and in the [gymnasium](/source/Gymnasium_(ancient_Greece)) the elders passed the greater part of the day in serious and sportive conversation, and in which the newborn children were presented for the decision of the elders as to whether they should be brought up or destroyed.<ref>[Plutarch](/source/Plutarch), ''Lyc.''16, 25</ref><ref>Müller, ''Dor.'' iii. 10. § 2, iv. 9. § 1</ref>  Some of these Spartan ''leschae'' seem to have been halls of some architectural pretensions: [Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)) mentions two of them, the ''lesche krotanon'' ({{lang|grc|λέσχη Κροτανῶν}}) and the ''lesche poikile'' ({{lang|grc|λέσχη ποικίλη}}).<ref>[Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)), ''Description of Greece'' iii. 14. § 2, 15. § 8</ref>  They were also used for other purposes.<ref>Ath. iv. p. 138, e.</ref>

There were generally chambers for council and conversation, called by this name, attached to the temples of [Apollo](/source/Apollo), one of whose epithets was '''Apollo Leschenorios''' ({{lang|grc|Λεσχηνόριος}}).<ref>[Harpocration](/source/Harpocration) ''s.v.''</ref><ref>[Plutarch](/source/Plutarch), Plut. ''de El ap. Delph.'' p. 385, b.</ref><ref>Müller, ''Dor.'' ii. 2. § 15, note</ref>  Of such ''leschae'' the chief was the [Lesche of the Knidians](/source/Lesche_of_the_Knidians), which was erected at [Delphi](/source/Delphi) by the [Cnidians](/source/Knidos), and which was celebrated throughout Greece,  less for its own magnificence, than for the paintings with which it was adorned by [Polygnotus](/source/Polygnotus).<ref>[Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)), ''Description of Greece'' x. 25</ref><ref>[Karl Böttiger](/source/Karl_B%C3%B6ttiger), ''Archaeol. d. Malerci'', p. 296, &c.</ref>

==References==
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{{SmithDGRA}}

Category:Greek words and phrases
Category:Ancient Greek leisure
Category:Ionia

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