Calipatira: The Woman Who Disguised Herself As A Man At The Olympic Games
Ancient Greece was a bad place to live if you were a woman. Classical Hellenic society was eminently misogynistic, and it was common for Greek women to live secluded in their homes (specifically, in the part known as the gynoecium) and only go out to attend religious festivals, an activity that was otherwise quite restricted. In most of the Greek polis of the time it was like this, with the exception of Sparta, which offered considerable freedoms and rights to women. In fact, the few women who participated in the Olympic Games were Spartan; Those who came from other polis not only could not participate in the games, but were strictly prohibited from going to see them if they were already married. The penalty for disobeying the law was death. Today we talk about a unique woman. In the sources she is called the same Calipatira and Fereniceand it is not clear what the origin of both names is or if it is simply a confusion (it may be that there were two sisters and that the testimonies are not clear about which of them starred in the episode of the games). In any case, Calipatira/Ferenice of Rhodes was the only married woman who managed to watch the Games; yes, properly disguised as a man. In today’s article we tell you the story of the woman who posed as a man to watch her son compete.
Brief biography of Calipatira, the woman who disguised herself as a man to watch the Games
Its history is so unique that many scholars identify it with a mere legend. However, we find several sources that attest to its existence; among them, Pausanias (110-180 AD), the famous Greek geographer and historian. The truth may be in the middle; that Calipatira is a real character, but that, over the years, nuances were added to the original story. In any case, what we tell here is what we know according to ancient sources.
Calipatira’s connection with sport and competition is deeper than it may seem at first glance. She was the daughter of Diagoras of Rhodes, a very famous boxer who won the Olympic Games twice and who was the coach of the young woman’s brothers. Damagetos (whose specialty was pankration, a mixture of boxing and wrestling), Akousilaos (a great boxer, like his father) and Dorieus. Everything indicates that, despite her status as a woman, Calipatira was also trained by her father, as well as her sisters. This supposed training would be the result of her paternal love and trust, since it was clear that, as a woman, Calipatira would never be able to compete in the Olympic Games. A real shame, because she, surely, would have reaped more than one victory (not in vain, her original name, Ferenice, means “she who brings victory”).
Maybe the name Calipatira It was simply a later nickname, which has been translated as “the good father.” Then, as we delve deeper into the life of this extraordinary woman, we will better understand what the epithet may refer to.
“Married women do not go to the Games”
In Ancient Greece, the usual age of a girl at the time of marriage was around thirteen-fourteen years old. So, The ban on attending the Olympic Games practically extended to a woman’s entire life.
Only the virgin girls, the parthenoi (that is, unmarried women, at that time, girls and adolescents) were allowed to contemplate the evolution of the athletes; Yes, properly separated from the male audience and at a considerable distance. This fact is still curious, since we know that the athletes practiced their sports completely naked (around the year 720 BC, according to the historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, he took off the loincloth that they usually wore during the games), a nudity that, without a doubt, , had to impress some pubescent girls who had barely left their homes.
Why, then, at parthenoi (virgin women, let us remember) were allowed to contemplate the bodies of athletes with impunity, and not the married ones? Some historians (such as Robin Waterfield) maintain that, precisely, the games were a perfect place to find a husband, so parents would bring their unmarried daughters with them and try to find some marriage pact for them (in which, obviously, they had no neither voice nor vote). In short: the presence of virgin girls in the games could simply be a showcase for choosing a wife.
Athlete and coach of her son
We have, therefore, that married women were absolutely prohibited from accessing men’s games. They could not even participate as athletes in the women’s games, the so-called Herean Games, called in honor of Hera, the wife of Zeus, and which took place just before the Olympic Games. And the participants in the Games in honor of the goddess had to be (again!) young single women.
Thus, when the Herean Games ended, the married women discreetly retired to their homes, and only the male athletes and spectators remained in the stadium, as well as some virgin girls looking for a husband. Only through this brief exposition of the social context of the time can we understand why Calipatira could not be in the Olympic Games. As a married woman and mother, she was absolutely prohibited from entering under penalty of death. However, The intrepid woman wanted to attend, since one of her sons, Peisirodos (a boxer, of course, like the entire family) was participating in the tests.
Some sources claim that Calipatira not only had the training that her father had given her when she was young, but that she had also served as her own son’s coach when her husband died. Be that as it may, on the day of the competition she was among the spectators, dressed in men’s clothes to go unnoticed. She wasn’t going to miss her son’s triumph for anything in the world.
Forgiven for her love of sport
Considering that the attendance of married women at the games was paid for with capital punishment, Calipatira’s courage and courage are more than notable. Apparently, no one noticed her deception. But when Peisirodos, the son, was the winner, her mother’s pride prevailed over her prudence, and Calipatira ran to hug him, with such bad luck that her clothes got caught and fell off, so that everyone could see, astonished, her condition. feminine.
The long line of athletes to which Calipatira belonged and the victories that its members had achieved over the years earned him the court’s forgiveness. as well as the nickname by which we know her, Calipatira“that of a good father.” However, the woman’s cunning deception had its consequences: from then on, not only athletes, but also coaches, had to attend the games naked. To avoid misunderstandings, of course.
