It's called "Samnite" because the construction, as  evidenced by an dedicated inscription, dates back  to pre-Roman times, when Pompeii was inhabited  by people belonging to the Samnite people (2nd  century BC). The original colonnade of tuff columns,  turned around the central courtyard but during the  renovation works of the nearby temple of Isis, the  east side was demolished. There is the pedestal at  the centre of a short side where they carried out the  award-ceremonies and events.
According to the Greek model, the palaestra was  used for men and boys to train; not by chance, a  door connects the courtyard of the palaestra to  the Triangular Forum, where a track was found for  racing. To emphasise the athletic-military aspect  of the building, the people of Pompeii placed a  marble statue in the courtyard, now at the National  Archaeological Museum of Naples, a faithful copy  of a very famous work of art, Doryphoros ("spearbearer"), made by one of the most famous Greek  sculptors in the 5th century BC, Polykleitos.

Date of excavation: 1768; 1796-1798.