Cynisca

[3] In her childhood, Cynisca may have earned some experience in sporting from Sparta's female physical education carriculum (equivalent to boys' agoge), which she presumably attended.

Unlike other events, where a man's bravery and virtue were the decisive factors, he believed that chariot racing merely demonstrated wealth, as it required no direct involvement from the horses' owner.

They suspect that he was using her victories and wealth to promote his own political career and gain public support through association, rather than providing a moral lesson.

[13] Along with the statues, Cynisca also celebrated her victories with an inscription, declaring that she was the only woman to win the wreath in the chariot events at the Olympic Games.

Pausanias also mentions an epigram to Cynisca of unknown authorship, which he claims was the only poetic composition ever written to commemorate the deeds of the royal houses of the Lacedaemonians.

[19] In terms of competing in the Olympic games, women were only allowed to enter the equestrian events, not by participating themselves, but rather by owning and training the horses.

[20] The existence of these competitions is supported by Pausanias' mention of a number of bronze statues dedicated by victorious female runners (mostly Spartan) at the temple of Hera at Elis,[12] as well as several stone inscriptions that have been uncovered.

[20] Based on archaeological evidence such as the locations of her dedications and hero-cult, as well as the speculation of modern scholars, Cynisca's win at the Olympics likely had a great impact on women across the Greek world, not only her fellow Lacedaemonians.

After Cynisca's victory, several other Greek women went on to achieve varying levels of success in the sport of chariot racing, including Euryleonis, Belistiche, Zeuxo, Encrateia and Hermione, Timareta, Theodota, and Cassia.

[8] When Berenike of Egypt won in the four-horse chariot race at the Olympics in the early third century BC, she commissioned an epigram by the poet Posidippus in which she explicitly claimed to have "stolen" the fame (κῦδος) of Cynisca.

[22] Some scholars have suggested that Cynisca's Olympic victories and heroic qualities were likely also honored by men, based on the fact that her heroön was placed in a prominent location near the Platanistas, the exercise grounds for Spartan youths.

Cynisca is included in Judy Chicago's 1979 feminist art exhibit commemorating historically famous women throughout civilization, The Dinner Party.