AREQUIPA, Peru – Approximately 2,400 years ago in Greece, Cinisca achieved a remarkable feat by winning laurels in two Olympic Games consecutively, in 396 and 392 BC. This achievement is impressive, especially considering that at that time, women were not allowed to compete or attend such events.
Despite being a Spartan princess in her 50s, daughter and sister of powerful kings, Cynisca defied the restrictions of her time and became a pioneer in the field of sport, when married women were even prohibited from attending games as spectators, under threat of death.
A report of BBC World review that for women in ancient Greece there was a festival in honor of Hera, the wife of Zeus, described by the historian Pausanias in the 2nd century AD
These games, organised by a committee of 16 women from Elis, were held every four years and included races by young, unmarried girls, dressed in a tunic hanging from the left shoulder and with their hair loose.
However, Cinisca could not participate in these games due to his age and marital status. To overcome these obstacles, he used cunning and a legal loophole that he detected in the regulations of the time.
He then participated in chariot races drawn by four horses, without having to drive them or be present at Olympia. Victories in equestrian races were awarded to the owners of the horses, not to the riders.
This exception to the rules could be due to the fact that most women in Ancient Greece would not have been able to compete. In Athens, sumptuary laws and measures to reduce the visibility of women In public, their opportunities to ride in carriages or on horses were limited. Even in Rome, the Lex Oppia prohibited women from riding in chariots except for religious purposes.
However, Cynisca was a Spartan, and as such, she enjoyed freedoms inconceivable to other women of her time.
Spartan culture believed that strong sons came from strong fathers, so they encouraged women to train their minds and bodies. Unlike the rest of ancient Greek society, Spartan women were allowed to inherit, own and manage property, and also drive chariots or ride horses. This gave them a unique autonomy in the Greek world.
Cynisca, daughter of King Archidamus II and sister of the famous warrior King Agesilaus II, loved horses and lived a privileged lifeHe had a large estate dedicated to breeding and training horses.
So he prepared his team and, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, when the ban on Sparta’s participation in the Olympian festival was lifted, he entered his horses in the Olympic chariot race without setting foot on the forbidden sacred grounds.
“Cinisca was very eager for glory at the Olympic Games and was the first woman to breed horses and the first to achieve an Olympic victory,” wrote Pausanias.
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