The Greeks were building gymnasia everywhere in Judea during the period immediately leading up to the Maccabean Revolt. Gyms were a core part of Hellenistic city infrastructure.

Greek leaders at the time encouraged elite Jewish youth to participate in Greek athletics, adopt Greek names, and reverse their circumcision. Maccabees notes that Jewish youth eagerly participated in Greek games, even deserting Temple duties for sports.

Many scholars point out that the Greek gymnasium was a from of “socio-cultural conquest” more threatening than outright military occupation, as it redefined manhood, prestige, and education.

Athletic participation in the nude excluded Torah observant Jews and humiliated those marked by circumcision. Jewish elites who did participate, did so by effacing their Jewishness, creating an internal Jewish class and identity conflict.

The epispasm (surgical reversal of circumcision) was especially humiliating and symbolic of being "mogged"...i.e., pressured to conform to Greek ideals out of shame or social exclusion.

The Jewish reaction to gymnasia became overwhelmingly hostile. The Jews passed a new law in the Torah saying “It is forbidden for a Jew to enter a stadium or gymnasium, for they are places of idolatry and immorality.” Participation in the gym was seen as abandoning Torah.

The Torah says "the wicked [Greeks] try to undo the mark of the covenant."

Many scholars find it interesting that the penetration of nude athletic gym culture into Jewish society, particularly Jerusalem, occurred roughly 10–15 years before the Maccabean Revolt.

https://x.com/Alkibiades_/status/1964839202396463394

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5775204&forum_id=2...#49271303)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5775204&forum_id=2...#49271440)