“The women’s Olympics?!” This question is often asked in amazement and disbelief whenever the subject comes up. The phrase itself seems like a contradiction in terms, since sports in classical Greece are usually presented as a strictly male affair. Prevalent stereotypes of ancient Greco-Roman women being confined in a man’s house, oppressed and marginalized, are deeply ingrained.
And yet there is evidence that at one time respectable young women indeed enjoyed the freedom to exercise, to compete in a stadium, to expose their half-naked bodies in public and to be honored for their victories in an important sacred site. To explore this paradox I set out to unravel the mystery of Olympia, searching passionately for secrets of antiquity.
After visiting the temples in the sanctuary of Olympia and the nearby museum, I examined closely the writings of Pausanias the traveler in their original, ancient Greek language. He traveled extensively during the 2nd c. CE, offering a detailed account of local traditions and customs in his Description of Greece. Thus, he is the most significant source about Olympia—in fact, his work is used as a guidebook by present-day archaeologists.
My explorations took me beyond the ancient races, into the realm of myth and religion, of fierce wars and priestess peacemakers, and of erotic fertility symbols and rituals…
From Earth Mother to “Queen of All”
Archaeological research shows that Olympia, located in the northwestern Peloponnese, was inhabited since prehistoric times. The oldest finds, clay pottery and shards, date from the Neolithic Era (4000-3000 BCE). From the beginning of the second millennium we encounter the worship of Gaia (or Ge), the Earth Goddess, and her life-giving powers. As Greek texts reveal, she was regarded as the Mother of deities and of human beings, the nurturer of all living creatures.[1]
She was also credited with the power of divining the future. As Pausanias reports, “close to the so-called Gaion [shrine of the Earth Goddess] there is an altar dedicated to Gaia, built with ashes; in older times, they say, there was also an oracle of Gaia there.” [2] In antiquity, on the southwest foot of the nearby Cronium Hill there was a deep cleft among the rocks. People believed that from such openings emerged forces residing in the depths of the Earth, often in the form of intoxicating vapors; thus, as in Delphi, the place would have been appropriate for the creation of an oracle.
Throughout the history of Olympia goddesses were always important. Archaeologist Dimitrios Lazaridis, in an essay included in the widely acknowledged History of the Greek Nation, offers the following:
The oldest deity of Olympia was Ge. Her cult (...) is connected to the figure of the chthonic Aegean goddess-mother. The cult of the Fertility Goddess during the Mycenaean times is connected to Hera, Demeter and Hippodameia and the companion god of the fertility mysteries can be identified with Zeus, with the Heracles of the Achaeans and with Pelops. The antiquity of the worship of Hera in Altis [the sacred valley of Olympia], the role of the priestess of Demeter Chamyne during the games of the historic era and the altar of the goddess in the stadium all show the old preponderance of female deities in Olympia.[3]
The focus on the Feminine in prehistoric traditions is believed to reflect a kind of culture in which women were held in high esteem. When society changes, religion changes as well, though at least some elements of the past are typically preserved. In Olympia the transition from the Mother Goddess to the Father God, Zeus, was far from simple and painless. Fierce battles occurred for the control of the sacred site, which went on until the 4th century BCE.
The area of the sanctuary originally belonged to the Achaean city of Pisa, located to the east of Olympia. However, in the 12th century BCE, when the Eleans crossed to the north-western Peloponnese during the Doric invasion, they settled in that area. It thus became known as Elis or Elea and many of the previous inhabitants were forced to relocate to neighbouring areas.[4] The sanctuary came into the invaders’ hands, leaving its original Pisatan founders to battle passionately in order to regain it.
Meantime, the Eleans endeavoured to establish and expand their dominion in every possible way. They imposed their own god, Zeus, rededicating to him the old oracle of Gaia. In order to gain complete control of the sanctuary, they began advertising the male Olympics outside the borders of their country. However, within the next hundred years, the sacred site came again into the hands of the earlier Pisatan inhabitants. They re-established their original feminine cult by founding a major temple there, the Heraeum, and dedicating it to the goddess Hera.[5] Dating from somewhere between the late 8th c. and the middle of the 7th c. BCE, it is considered one of the most ancient temples in Greece.
Today Hera is often regarded simply as the jealous and vindictive wife of Zeus. In reality, though, she was another aspect of the Great Mother. She was credited with the ability to conceive children without male help, alluding to a time before paternity had been established as an unequivocal requirement and people believed the Goddess could give life on her own. Hera’s fatherless offspring, according to some myths, were Hephaestus, the patron of metallurgy, Ares, the god of war, and the dragon Typhaon of Delphi.
In certain places Ηera was worshipped as goddess of moonlight and storms, as “Queen of Heaven.” The Orphic hymn 16 calls her “Queen of All, mother of rain, nurse of winds, creator of all.” Her name may be connected with the Ηellenic word era, meaning “earth,” as she was also associated with the fertility of the land.
Stories about Hera talk extensively about her quarrels with her divine husband. These myths may reflect the clashes between early patriarchal and pre-patriarchal religions, since her cult was much older than his. In Olympia he did not even have a temple until the 5th c. BCE, being honored in her own sacred space.
The Races of the “Virgins”
The most striking female tradition in Olympia is none other than the Heraea, the women’s Olympics.Pausanias offers a clear account of them:
...every fourth year foot races where held in honor of Hera. The runners were “virgins” (i.e. unmarried young women), divided into three categories, according to their age: the youngest girls ran first, the older ones next and the oldest last.[6]
This division may represent the three phases of the moon, alluding to the lunar qualities of the goddess.[7] The length of the race was 5/6 of the Stadium, approximately 160 meters. The athletes, hair unbound, ran wearing a short tunic that left bare the right shoulder and breast.[8] This attire is reminiscent of the legendary Amazons, since in ancient artwork they were often depicted wearing a dress that did not cover the left breast and shoulder. The Heraea included many ritual elements: the prize awarded to the winners was a wreath made of oleaster (wild olive) branches. This tree was associated with fertility, while the silver color of its leaves connected it symbolically to the moon.
Professor Francis MacDonald Cornford (1874-1943), scholar of classical studies, offers an invaluable examination of the girls’ races in his essay “The Origin of the Olympic Games.” He also suggests that they were older than the male Olympics, based on the date they were held.[9] The men’s games occurred alternately on Apollonios and Parthenios, the second and third months of the summer according to the Elean calendar; strangely, they were organized sometimes before and sometimes after the Heraea.
The name Parthenios (“virginal”) is not accidental; this month was most probably named after the races of the parthenoi (“virgins”). Actually, Hera was considered a parthenos, too, since according to myth she renewed her virginity every year by bathing in a sacred spring. If the games in her honor were indeed the most ancient, that would explain the change of dates. In case the Olympics honoring Zeus (which were also comprised exclusively of foot races until the year 728 BCE) were permanently held before the Heraea, this would offend the goddess. If the opposite happened, it would diminish the prestige of the god. The alternation was probably the solution to this problem, as Cornford points out.
The likely antiquity of the Heraea is further strengthened by the fact that they were organized by women, who presided over them and acted as judges, with the help of handmaidens.[10] This leads back to a time in the past when the female gender must have had a significant position in society. Tradition said that the games were established by the legendary Queen Hippodameia, out of gratitude towards Hera for her wedding with Pelops, the hero who gave his name to Peloponnese, the southern part of Greece.These mythsrefer to the Mycenaean Era (1600-1200 BCE), whose culture was heavily influenced by Minoan Crete—a place where women enjoyed considerable freedom and goddesses held the main positions in religion.
Hippodameia was said to have gathered sixteen ladies to help her conduct the races. The historical sixteen organizers had religious duties, too. Every four years they wove a new mantle (peplos) for Hera in a building especially made for them in the market.The important role they played is apparent in the following story narrated by Pausanias:
They say that when Damophon was a tyrant of Pisa he did many unpleasant things to the Eleans. When Damophon died, since the Pisatans were not willing to participate in their tyrant’s faults and the Eleans wanted to put an end to the accusations against them, they chose from each of the sixteen cities still inhabited then in Elea one woman, the eldest and most prominent for her dignity and opinion among the others, in order to resolve their differences. (...) Thus, the women who came from these cities reconciled the Pisatans and the Eleans. [11]
This incident is dated in the 580s BCE. It is a significant indication that older, pre-patriarchal traditions must have been strong enough to exert their influence in much later times…
The Sacred Marriage and Demeter
Cornford rejected, with convincing arguments, the predominant viewpoint that the Olympics must have originated from funeral games. He proposed a very different theory: that the races must have originally been yearly, connected to the cycle of vegetation and the notion of fertility. The male winner, he suggested, representing the Year God or King of the Year, was crowned with branches and was offered divine and royal honors, as the rain and the harvest were thought to depend upon him.
This theory is supported, among other things, by the special position held by the priestess of Demeter Chamyne during the male games. Demeter can be regarded as a later version of Gaia—her very name means “Earth Mother.” The title Chamyne derives from the adverb chamae, “on the ground,” which has the same origin as the word chthon, “earth.”[12]
Demeter’s priestess had an honorary seat in the male races, sitting on the stone altar of the Stadium, across the platform where the Hellanodikae, the judges, were. She officially welcomed them, along with the athletes, as they entered the Stadium through its formal entrance.[13] Her very presence there broke a taboo: she was the only married woman allowed to attend these games. This office had once been assigned to Regilla, wife of the famous orator and writer Herodes Atticus.
It is worth asking why the priestess of Demeter had such a significant role in a festival dedicated to Zeus. It seems reasonable to assume that the games must have been initially held to honor the Earth Goddess, whose representative blessed and oversaw them.
One of the most important notions concerning the fertility of the Earth was the Hieros Gamos or Sacred Marriage, a tradition which later became linked with the union between the Moon Goddess and Sun God near the summer solstice. This custom is considered as the most probable background of the Olympics both by Cornford and by Sir James GeorgeFrazer, the famous author of The Golden Bough. They propose that the purpose of the male games must have been to select the man who would personify the husband in a ritual union with the winner of the female races.[14]
Recall that in the beginning of the games lies a marriage, the one between Hippodameia and Pelops, who organized (or re-organized) the male races. He also had to win a chariot-race with Oenomaus, king of Pisa and father of Hippodameia, in order to marry the bride. Another piece of evidence revealing the likely existence of the Sacred Marriage in Olympia is that Hera and Zeus were honored there as a Divine Couple. Their union, which according to Homer caused new growth on the earth,[15] was one of the main elements in their common cult and was celebrated in many places.
The Hieros Gamos was often symbolically linked to animals representing fertility, such as bovines. The bull, an emblem of Zeus, had a prominent position in Olympia, while in a well-known myth the god transforms himself into a such an animal in order to seduce a beautiful maiden, Europa.
Surely it is not a coincidence that the winners of the Heraea were given a part of the cow sacrificed to Zeus’ wife, the “cow-eyed” Hera, as she was frequently addressed. Since this animal was dedicated to her, the athlete received a kind of “holy communion,” as if she was going to become one with the goddess.[16] The young woman was also granted the honor of offering an image of herself to Hera’s temple, further enhancing their identification.[17]
The belief that in the Sacred Marriage lies the origin of the male and female games may seem to contradict Cornford’s theory that the Heraea were the earliest Olympics. However, the girls’ games may have initially been part of an exclusively female cult—Pausanias attests to similar practices.[18] Later, when the divine consort rose in prominence, the custom would have expanded to include men in the rituals, leading to the establishment of the male races.
Death and Rebirth
The female presence has always been powerful in Olympia. Many goddesses and heroines held important roles, such as Gaia, Hera, Demeter Chamyne and Hippodameia. The end of their worship occurred in a violent manner. In 393 CE the Christian Emperor Theodosius I prohibited the games due to their connection with the Pagan religion.
Two years later the masterpieces of Olympia were looted. The magnificent statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was carried to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. There, according to the Byzantine historians Georgios Kedrenos and Ioannis Zonaras, it was burnt in a fire, along with many other works of art.[19] In 426 the temples in the sanctuary were set ablaze, too, after the edict of Emperor Theodosius II, who persecuted the followers of the Hellenic tradition.[20]
Yet today the old religious site is again at the center of attention because of the modern Olympics, however different they may be from the ancient ones. The lighting of the “Sacred Flame,” which is carried around the world every four years, is done by Greek women who play the role of priestesses. It has a special symbolic significance that this ritual is conducted at the altar of Hera, in front of her temple, as she was once the Queen of Olympia…
NOTES
[1] Cf. Homeric Hymn 30, Orphic Hymn 26.
[2] Pausanias 5. 14, 10.
[3] Dimitrios Lazaridis, “Olympia,” History of the Greek Nation, vol. 2 (Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon, 1971), 477. Quotation translated by Harita Meenee.
[4] Cf. Pausanias 5. 1, 1.
[5] See Encyclopedia Dome, s.v. “Olympia,” about the clashes between Eleans and Pisatans.
[6] Pausanias 5. 16, 2-4.
[7] Charlene Spretnak, Lost Goddesses of Early Greece (Boston: Beacon, 1992), 87-8.
[8] Pausanias 5. 16, 2-4.
[9] Francis MacDonald Cornford, “The Origin of the Olympic Games,” in Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion by Jane Ellen Harrison (London: Merlin Press, 1977), 225, 229-30.
[10] Pausanias 5. 16, 3.
[11] Pausanias 5. 16, 5-6, quotation translated by Meenee.
[12] H. G. Liddell and Robert Scott, Great Dictionary of the Greek Language, trans. Xenophon P. Moschos (Athens: Ioannis Sideris), s.v. “chamae.”
[13] Pausanias, 6. 20, 9; Philostratos in Spyros Th. Photinos, Olympia (Athens: Olympiakes Ekdoseis, 1992), 15.
[14] Cornford, “The Origin of the Olympic Games,” 226.
[15] Homer, Iliad 14, 346-351.
[16] Pausanias 5. 16, 3; Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, vol. 2 (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1980), 43.
[17] Pausanias 5. 16, 3.
[18] Pausanias 6. 20, 2-3; 6. 20, 7.
[19] Photinos, Olympia, 46.
[20] Vlassis G. Rassias, Concerning the Greeks’ Disease: “Bring them to the Ground” (Athens: Diipetes, 1994), 45; Photinos, Olympia, 22.
Copyright Harita Meenee, 2010
To contact the author send an email to author @ hmeenee. com.
