Kallipáteira (Καλλιπάτειρα, 5 th century BC) is the only married woman to have entered the stadium of Olympia during the ancient Olympic Games, forbidden to women, and not to have been punished.
Born into a family of athletes
Known from the Description of Greece of the Greek geographer and traveler Pausanias, Kallipáteira ("she whose father is beautiful" also called Callipatira, Callipatire / Phereniki, heard sometimes, is probably his sister), born in the 5 th century before our era, would be the daughter of one of the greatest athletes of antiquity. His father, Diagoras, excelled in boxing and won a title at the Olympic Games in 464 BC. AD, as well as titles at the Isthmian Games and the Nemean Games.
His three sons, Kallipáteira's brothers, were also great athletes:Damagetos distinguished himself in the pankration, Akousílaos won pugilism events and Dorieús also won numerous titles. According to Pausanias, the sons of Diagoras celebrate their victory by carrying their father in triumph on their shoulders and walking through the stadium to the cheers of the public.
Women and the Olympics
Kallipáteira also married an athlete, Callianax, and his son Pisidoras is a runner. Unlike the male members of her family, however, she cannot witness the victories and share the triumph:according to the law, women are excluded from the Olympic Games, from the spectacle and from the public. Any married woman discovered on the stadium must be rushed from Mount Typaion. According to Pausanias:
“One finds on the road to Olympia, before crossing the Alpheus, a mountain which, on the side of Scillonte, has very high and very steep rocks; it is called Mount Typaeos. The law among the Eleans requires that women be thrown from the top of this mountain when they are surprised at the Olympic games, or who only dare to cross the Alpheus on days when it is forbidden to them. »
At the stadium
Widowed, Kallipáteira took over the training of her son Pisidoras. Disguised as an athlete trainer, she accompanies him to Olympia to attend his performance. When his son wins, Kallipáteira breaks through the barrier behind which the masters of gymnastics stand and, losing his clothes, reveals his gender.
Pausanias explains that, out of consideration for the great athletes in his family, Kallipáteira is not punished. But that following this incident, a law is promulgated to oblige the teachers of gymnastics to present themselves naked at the stadium...
The story of Pausanias
Callipatira is, they say, the only woman who fell for it; others call her Pherenice, not Callipatira. Her husband having died before her, she took all the adjustment of a master of gymnastics, and took her son to Olympia to fight in the games. Pisirodos (that was the name of the young man) having won the prize, Callipatira, crossing the barrier that keeps the gymnastics masters locked up, allowed his sex to be recognized. She was, however, dismissed without punishment, out of consideration for her father, her brothers and her son, who had all been crowned at the Olympic Games; but a law was passed that henceforth the masters of gymnastics should present themselves only naked at these exercises.