Spartas distinctive military culture created a vacuum of absent men in the villages, necessitating

the fulfilment of domestic roles like command of the household and kleroi by the women.
Like all Greek states, however, Sparta was patriarchal and believed the primary role of women to be
child bearers. But Lycurguss intense selection reforms like Elder-led infanticide at birth and the
agoge education system magnified the role of women in the formation of their childs physical
development. As Sparta placed huge emphasis on military duty and physical fitness, this role
subsequently increased their visibility in Spartan society. The Lamarckian belief that the parents
physical fitness affected the offspring granted women the opportunity to participate in similar
activities to the men including physical activity. According to Plutarch, vigorous exercise would
prepare them for the pains of childbirth.
This bronze statuette of a running Spartan female reflects the active participation of Spartan women
in athletic pursuits, especially as only the periokoi were legally permitted to craft. Herodotus also
details the act of bibasis where the woman jumped in succession to drum her buttocks with her
heels with merit given to those with highest endurance. Both of these sources reflect the greater
freedom that Spartan women were afforded in regards to physical participation and visibility
outside of the domestic household in comparison to other Greek city-states like Athens where
similar sources have not been found. Furthermore, the bronze statuette is wearing a dress called a
peplos that slit up on both sides for easier movement but was very revealing. Negative commentary
from non-Spartan writers emphasises the irregularity of this freedom in the context of the Greek
states. Poet Ibycus of Rhegium dismisses the peplos as overtly sexual and named the women thighflashers. Furthermore, Aristophanes of Athens presents Spartan women as sexually promiscuous
and immodest through the character of Lampito and her clothing. Euripides derides Spartan women
as immoral, labelling them as thigh bearers.
However, the national athletic presence of Spartan women was proven in the form of Cynisca.
Pausanias, Xenophon and Plutarch among other sources report the first female victor of the Ancient
Olympic Games to be Cynisca of Sparta in 396 and 392 BC. Although she was unable to physically
participate in the four-horse chariot racing (tethrippon), her skill in horse breeding inspired the
construction of a posthumous hero shrine in Sparta. Pausinaus also says a bronze statue of herself, a
chariot and horses and an epigram declaring her victory was placed in the temple of Zeus in
Olympia. At the time, this was only the second epigram of Spartan royalty in all of Greece. This
immense achievement would inspire another Spartan female, Euryleonis, to win the two-horse
chariot race in 368BC. Euryleonis was granted a bronze statue near the Temple of Athena of the
Bronze House with other male heroes. These acknowledgements by the patriarchal state emphasises
their unusual success. It was more than a century later that women outside of Sparta began to
compete.