Do you enjoy the Olympics?
Did you know that during the Ancient Olympics, which were held over 2,000 years ago, the competitors took part naked! Even more, in the long jump, they were not only naked, they had to hold weights in both hands to the rhythm of the music!
The BBC would never have been able to show them!
There is even more. Married women were not even allowed in to watch but unmarried girls could. I wonder why?
So, why couldn’t adult women watch?
This is true men, boys and unmarried girls were allowed to attend, while the male athletes competed nude but married women were not allowed to attend. They faced severe punishment if they were caught. They said, the gods had decreed it. A likely story, I believe it was to improve the stock!
One married lady, called Callipateira, was caught at the men’s Olympics. She had disguised herself as a gymnastic trainer. In the end, she was allowed to go unpunished because her father, her brothers and her son had all been victorious at Olympia. However, a law was then passed which compelled all trainers to strip before entering the arena!
We tell the story in our musicals The Ancient Olympics – The Story of Callipateira which you can download at https://www.history-portal.com/index.php/product/the-ancient-olympics/
The reason why adult women not allowed to attend was because Olympia was a sacred area dedicated to Zeus and was therefore sacred for men. However, some events, like the chariot races were in later Olympics held outside of the sacred area so women could watch them.
Female Olympics in Ancient Greece
Therefore women actually had their own festival, which was also held once every four years. It was called the Heraia in honour of Zeus’ wife, Hera. The Heraean Games were held in the Olympic stadium, as the first athletic competition for women.
The Heraean Games
The Heraean Games, dedicated to goddess Hera, the queen of the Olympian gods and Zeus’ wife, was the first official women’s athletic competition to be held in the Olympic stadium at Elis. The games, which occurred in the 6th century BC, were probably held in the Olympic year itself, prior to the men’s games.
The Prizes in the Heraean Games
Initially, the Heraean Games only consisted of foot races. The champions of the events were rewarded with:
- olive crowns
- meat from the animal sacrificed to Hera.
- The right to dedicate statues or portraits to Hera – winners would inscribe their names on the columns of Hera’s temple.
The only recorded victor of the foot races is the mythical Chloris, Pelops’ niece who was also said to be Zeus’ granddaughter.
Participation in the Heraean Games was restricted to young, unmarried women. As explained men competed nude in the Olympics but in the Heraean Games women wore a chiton, usually worn by men for heavy physical work. Pausanius described it as “their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast.”
The Origin of the Heraean Games
Nobody really knows, Pausanias, a Greek traveller and geographer of the second century AD, provides us with two separate theories. The first he suggests that Queen Hippodameia was grateful to Hera for her marriage to Pelops and selected 16 women to compete in footraces in Hera’s honour. Then he also suggests that it was the result of diplomatic efforts to resolve tensions between the cities of Elis and Pisa in western Greece.
It appears that the sixteen wise, elderly women were chosen from each of the 16 Peloponnese city-states. Their job was to weave a robe for Hera every four years and to organise the games as symbols of peace. Pausanius wrote:“Every fourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen Women, and the same also hold games called Heraea.”
Nobody knows why the Greeks set up a separate games for women or whether they were only a temporary easing of restrictions on women. However, as in Rome, the daughters of wealthy families freely participated in men’s festivals and athletic competitions. As the Roman Empire was slowly growing and influencing the whole of the modern word the Greeks may have wanted to show they could change. That may be me thinking it through too deeply.
However, it leads to the question, was a legacy of the Roman times, women Olympians?
Isn’t History fun?
Some questions for your students to ask:
- How did the Ancient Olympics differ from the modern games, particularly in terms of gender participation?
- Why were married women prohibited from attending the Ancient Olympics, while unmarried girls could?
- What were the Heraean Games, and how did they differ from the main Olympic events?
- Who was Chloris, and what was her significance in the context of the Heraean Games?
- What was the attire worn by women participants in the Heraean Games, and how did it differ from men’s attire in the Ancient Olympics?
- What are the possible origins of the Heraean Games, according to Pausanias?
- How did the Heraean Games contribute to diplomatic efforts between cities in ancient Greece?
- Why do you think the Greeks established separate games for women, and were these games a temporary easing of restrictions on women?
- In what ways did the participation of wealthy families’ daughters in men’s festivals and athletic competitions in Rome influence Greek attitudes towards women’s participation in sports?
- Do you believe the legacy of women’s participation in sports in Ancient Greece during Roman times paved the way for women Olympians in modern times?
Learn more about this at