Ephebos

In the time of Aristotle (384–322 BC), Athens engraved the names of the enrolled ephebi on a bronze pillar (formerly on wooden tablets) in front of the council-chamber.

After admission to the college, the ephebus took the oath of allegiance (as recorded in histories by Pollux and Stobaeus—but not in Aristotle) in the temple of Aglaurus and was sent to Munichia or Acte as a member of the garrison.

At the end of the first year of training the ephebi were reviewed; if their performance was satisfactory, the state provided each with a spear and a shield, which, together with the chlamys (cloak) and petasos (broad-brimmed hat), made up their equipment.

Inscriptions attest a continually decreasing number of ephebi, and with the admission of foreigners the college lost its representative national character.

The military element was no longer all-important, and the ephebia became a sort of university for well-to-do young men of good family, whose social position has been compared[by whom?]

The Agrigento Ephebe , a severe style Greek sculpture of the 5th century BCE in the museum of Agrigento , Sicily.
Blond Kouros's Head of the Acropolis museum in Athens .
Bronze head of an ephebe wearing a winners binding. 1st century AD Roman copy.