Heraea Games

The ancient Heraea Games, dedicated to the goddess Hera (also spelled Heraia) is the first sanctioned (and recorded) women's athletic competition to be held in the stadium at Olympia.^[1] Girls were not encouraged to be athletes. Those raised in Sparta were the exception, where they were trained in the same athletic events as boys, because Spartans believed that strong women would produce strong future warriors. These girl athletes were unmarried and competed nude or wearing short dresses. Boys were allowed to watch the athletes, in the hopes of creating marriages and offspring. A race dedicated to Dionysus (god of wine and pleasure) may have also been a community rite of passage.^[2]

Heraea could have been an indication of changing social conditions and an easing in restrictions on women. Or it could have been a temporary change. Greek women were allowed to compete in the same festivals as men after the classical period. The dearth of references is evidence that these changes may have been unwelcomed Roman influence. In Rome, girls from wealthy families were allowed to participate in men's festivals. The Heraea Games were started because the Olympic Games got very popular. Those on record were chariot owners, not drivers. A Delphi 1st century AD inscription tells that two young women competed in races (not the Olympics), possibly in women's races at the Sebasta festival in Naples (during the imperial period) and in Domitian's races for women at the Capitoline Games in Rome, 86 AD.^[2]

The Heraea games started in 470 BC

References

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