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Were the Ancient Olympics Just for Men? Along with the athletic contests held at ancient Olympia, there was a separate festival in honor of Hera (the wife of Zeus). This festival included foot races for unmarried girls. Little is known about this festival other than what Pausanias, a 2nd century AD Greek traveller, tells us. He mentions it in his description of the Temple of Hera in the Sanctuary of Zeus, and says that it was organized and supervised by a committee of 16 women from the cities of Elis. The festival took place every four years, when a new peplos was woven and presented to Hera inside her temple. During the Hera festival, unmarried girls competed in three age groups in a foot race that was a single length of the racecourse (approximately five-sixths the length of the men's dromos, but held in the same stadion used for the men's and boys' contests). Girl victors in this foot race could dedicate images (probably paintings) in the altis to commemorate their victories, and they could take part in the sacrifice of the cows in honor of Hera.

Plan of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in the 5th century BC showing the Temple of Hera, the Hera Altar, and the stadion

Bronze Statuette of a girl runner, probably from Sparta, ca. 500 BC

Pausanias gives us a description of a girl's clothing for the Hera games of the 2nd century AD. The girls wore their hair free down their back and a tunic hanging almost as low as the knees covering only the left shoulder and breast. The costume that Pausanias describes may have been the traditional costume at Olympia and possibly elsewhere for centuries. Unmarried girls had a number of advantages at Olympia. They not only had their own athletic contests of the Hera festival in which to participate, but they were also allowed to watch the men's and boys' contests of the festival of Zeus. Married women, on the other hand, were not allowed to participate in the athletic contests of the Hera festival, and were barred on penalty of death from the Sanctuary of Zeus on the days of the athletic competition for boys and men. We don't know whether or not the women allowed the men to watch the girls' contests!

* * TODAY'S OLYMPIC QUESTION * * "Do you think there will ever be a day when women and men compete against each other in the same event? What event would it be?"     US Women's Hockey makes history in the 1998 Nagano Games winning the first gold medal in the first year of women's Olympic hockey

Christa Williams, USA Softball made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. It's an Olympic event for women only. Top-notch softball pitchers throw the ball just over 70 mph, which is the equivalent of facing a 105-mph fastball in baseball because the softball mound is 20 feet, 6 inches closer to home plate.