The Gymnesians ( ca, Illes Gimnèsies , es, Gimnesias ), or Gymnesic Islands ( ca, Illes Gimnèsiques), is a collective name given to the two largest (and easternmost)

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

and

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

, distinguishing them from the Pityuses ( ca, Illes Pitiüses; es, Pitiusas), or Pine Islands,

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

and

Formentera Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area of ...

Etymology

The word ''Gymnesian'' (from the gr, γυμνήτες ') means "naked". The Greeks called the islands Gymnesiae ( grc, Γυμνήσιαι). According to

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

the Greeks called the islands like this because the inhabitants were naked during the summer time.Diodorus Siculus, Library, §5.17.1
/ref> The

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...

recruited the local inhabitants of these islands, the

Talaiotics The Talaiotic Culture or Talaiotic Period is the name used to describe the society that existed on the Gymnesian Islands (the easternmost Balearic Islands) during the Iron Age. Its origins date from the end of the second millennium BC, when the i ...

, as

sling sling may refer to: Places *Sling, Anglesey, Wales *Sling, Gloucestershire, England, a small village in the Forest of Dean People with the name * Otto Šling (1912–1952), repressed Czech communist functionary Arts, entertainment, and media * ...

ers. According to some researchers, this does not mean that they fought naked, but that they used much lighter armament than the

hoplites Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The fo ...

Name usage

Later the

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...

referred to both Mallorca and Menorca as the ''Baliarides''. After the whole

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

(the ''Pityuses'' and ''Gymnesians'') came under

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

rule, the islands gained the overall

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name ''Insulae Baliares'' or ''Baleares Insulae''; the collective concept has continued in use in modern languages, hence ultimately the English name "

References

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

''Geography'' Book III, Chapter 2 * Belenguer, E. ''Història de les illes Balears''. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2004. 525 p. (volume I) Islands of the Balearic Islands {{Balearics-geo-stub