The ancient Athenian institution in which young men trained for citizenship was called ephebeia.
Ephebeia was a period of civic and military preparation for young Athenian males, generally beginning around the age of eighteen. Participants, known as ephebes, received training connected with weapons, physical fitness, defense, and civic identity. The institution helped mark the movement from adolescence toward adult membership in the polis.
The system changed over time. In Classical Athens, military preparation was especially important, while later Hellenistic and Roman-period ephebeia could place greater emphasis on education, festivals, and cultural training. Exact arrangements therefore depended on the period being discussed.
Ephebeia was not simply a single one-day ceremony. It was an organized institution and period of service. It is also different from Sparta’s agoge, the training and education system through which Spartan boys were prepared for their society’s military way of life.