In 396 BC, Cynisca (also spelled Kyniska) entered her horses in the four-horse chariot race. Like other racehorse owners, she employed a jockey to race her horses at the Olympics. The owners and trainers of the horses were considered the Olympic victors, not the jockeys. So when Cynisca’s horses won, she was considered the winner.
Feminism in Ancient Greece?
Although we would like to think that Cynisca’s victory marked a spark of feminism and female empowerment in the ancient world, there are several theories held by ancient historians regarding Cynisca’s entrance in the ancient Olympics which oppose this idea. In Spartan Women, Sarah Pomeroy suggests that Cynisca’s brother Agesilaus, the king of Sparta at the time of her victory, encouraged Cynisca to enter her horses. Pomeroy says he might have done this to show that the horse and chariot events at the Olympics were merely a function of wealth. If a woman won, it was not a truly virtuous sport. Agesilaus hoped Cynisca’s win would insult Sparta’s war rivals – the Athenians.
Another theory, suggested by Paul Cartledge in The Spartans, is that Cynisca entered her horses in the Olympics without her brother’s consent. It angered Agesilaus that he did not give his official approval for her to do this, so he and his publicist concocted the above story – that anyone with wealth can win the chariot races – to make his sister’s win seem less prestigious. Cartledge suggests Agesilaus does this out of spite and jealousy of Cynisca’s feats.
Olympic Prizes for Women
Despite any attempts Agesilaus made to diminish Cynisca’s victory, Cynisca was still recognized as a victorious Olympic athlete and she won the four-horse chariot race two years in a row – in 396 BC and again in 392 BC. Except for attendance at the awards ceremony for Olympic victors – from which Cynisca was banned because she was a woman – she received the same honors as other Olympic victors. This included a sculpture of herself erected in the Olympic sanctuary. The dedication on the base of the statue read:
My ancestors and brothers were kings of Sparta.
I, Cynisca, victorious with a chariot of swift-footed horses,
Erected this statue. I declare that I am the only woman
In all of Greece to have won this crown.
After her death, there was also a statue of Cynisca erected in Sparta along with the other Spartan war heroes and Olympic winners.
References:
Cartledge, Paul. The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse. University of Virginia: Overlook Press, 2003.
Kyle, Donald G. Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. Malden: Blackwell Press, 2007.
Pomeroy, Sarah B. Spartan Women. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
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