Heraean Games

The Heraea was an ancient Greek festival in which young girls competed in a footrace, possibly as a puberty or pre-nuptial initiation ritual.

The games were organised by a group of sixteen women, who were also responsible for weaving a peplos for Hera and arranging choral dances.

To settle the dispute, the Eleans selected a wise elderly woman from each of sixteen polites in Elis.

This second story might suggest that the games were begun or reorganised in the early sixth century, as happened with other Panhellenic festivals at this time.

[11] A Laconian statuette found in Epirus and now in the British Museum, dating to c. 560 BC, depicts a girl in the costume associated with the Heraean Games; this possibly suggests that unlike other ancient Greek races for girls, the Heraean Games were Panhellenic as early as the sixth century BC.

[3] The festival of the Heraea was presided over by a group of sixteen women, who as well as conducting the games were responsible for weaving a peplos for Hera and arranging choral dances in honour of Hippodameia and Physcoa.