Rules of participation at Ancient Olympic Games

"Kyniska, victorious at the chariot race... erected her statue. I assert that I am the only woman in all of Greece who won this crown" IVO 160, 396 BC?

In the classical period, all Greeks from various city-states of the Greek mainland and its colonies, spreading from Gibraltar and Magna Graecia (S. Italy and Sicily) to the Black Sea, could participate. Slaves and barbarians were strictly forbidden. In the Hellenistic period the games became international. The Greeks who participated were mostly professional athletes, originated from Antioch to the east up to Alexandria to the south, touring from city to city in order to gain large cash prizes. Later on, in the Roman period, as the athletic spirit declined, the Roman emperors competed at Olympia, whereas slaves were allowed to participate in the contests held in various cities.

According to a very strict rule, married women were also forbidden to enter the Stadium or to attend the games. This lasted only for the period of the games. The only woman allowed to attend was the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, who received this honorary position every 4 years and sat on an altar inside the stadium, opposite to the seats of the judges. In Roman times it was Regilla, Herodes Atticus' wife who took the honorary position. Interestingly enough, there were special running contests for virgin women, held in Olympia in honor of the goddess Hera every four years.

If a woman dared to break the law, the punishment was severe: she would be thrown from the mountain of Typaion, Pausanias records. The only woman who managed to break the law and not be punished was Kallipateira, the daughter, sister and mother of Olympic victors.

Kallipateira showed special care to raise and train her son Peisirodos, so her wish was to see him competing in the games. Dressed in men's clothes, she entered the stadium to attend her son running. Following the victory of her son, she lept over the trainers' enclosure, and in doing so lost her clothes, revealing her sex. The Hellanodikai, however, did not punish her in honour of her family members who were all Olympic victors.

Interestingly enough, the only case in which women were proclaimed victors without competing was that of equestrian events: there it was the owner, than the rider, who was praised; thanks to this institution, many women were crowned as victors.

Women aside, those who had committed crimes or had robbed a temple were also excluded from the games.