The Rise of the Ancient Female Olympian: Cynisca of Sparta
The ancient Olympic Games were of huge significance to the modern sporting event. Besides being the predecessor to the modern day Olympics, they also laid the foundation for all large sporting events that take place today. The ancient Games were interesting
and had a lot of events that have survived to this day. One of the traditions of the Games that did not survive, even during the life of the ancient Olympics themselves, was the fact that only men were allowed to compete in them. This practice ended when several
women took part in the ancient Games and even won competitions. The most famous of these was Cynisca, who was the first woman to win at the Games. She paved the way for many other women and helped usher in a new era in the ancient world.
The ancient Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions that were held in ancient Greece between city-states in honour of the deity Zeus. Numerous sports from the ancient Games survive to this day such as wrestling, the discus throw, running and
some that do not survive such as the chariot races. The Games were so important at the time that a general truce would be called so that even competitors from warring states could take part. Unlike the modern Olympics, the ancient Games also featured religious
ceremonies and artistic competitions. The Games could be contested only by free men who spoke Greek and so no women were allowed to take part, although as we will see, a few of them defied this tradition and went on to change the culture of the time and write
themselves into the history books.
The first and most famous woman ever to take part and win a competition was the Spartan princess Cynisca. This interesting and progressive woman was born in 440 BC in the ancient city of Sparta and she was the daughter of the king, Archidamus II. She was
also the sister of the future king, Agesilaus II. Cynisca was a keen breeder and trainer of horses and she competed in the ancient Games in the equestrian events. The problem for her was the fact that because at the time women were completely barred from entering
and could not even look at the contests taking place, she had to train horses and employ men to be part of her team and win the event on her behalf. Due to the strict seclusion rule she probably did not even get to see her team win the events. She became the
first woman ever in the history of the Games to win a competition.
Some have said that her brother, Agesilaus, had manipulated the equestrian events so that his sister could compete. There are two sides to why he could have done this; one side says that he did it in order to promote the proper male sports, which according
to him were chariot racing and wrestling and others. He tried to show that the equestrian events were not proper sports because even a woman could take part in them and win. The other side says that he did it in order to promote women and have more female
representation in the Games. Whatever the reason was, it just made equestrian events more popular and Cynisca’s win paved the way for women to enter the ancient Games. Many did after that point such as, Euryleonis who was a famous female chariot racer who
won 2 races during her career.
Cynisca’s victory and courage at competing was socially reforming at the time and is today used as a symbol of female empowerment. She was the most distinguished female athlete of the ancient world and many historians use her as a figure of the social rise
of women and the movement to give them equal rights and opportunities. This one woman’s victory gave way to a separate event for women and has filtered down through the ages till we have women’s sports being just as popular as men’s events in today’s society.
Female athletes owe Cynisca and other ancient female Olympians, a huge debt in helping to pave the way for a future of equality in sports.
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