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The Heraea was an ancient Greek festival in which young girls competed in a footrace. The race was held every four years at Olympia, and probably took place around the same time as the ancient Olympic Games.
Not much is known about the Heraea, but most of our knowledge comes from 
The only event at the Heraean Games was the stadion, which was one sixth shorter than the equivalent men's race. Only ''parthenoi'' (unmarried young women) competed in the games. Competitors raced in three different age categories, though it is uncertain exactly how old the competitors were. They wore a distinctive outfit of a short chiton cut above the knees, which left the right shoulder and breast bare, and wore their hair loose. This outfit may have derived from the 
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
Overview
Not much is known about the Heraea, but most of our knowledge comes from Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
' ''Description of Greece''. The date that the festival began is uncertain. Pausanias says that the games are (, "old"). There is evidence for cult activity in Olympia as far back as the tenth century BC, but the earliest cultic activity at the site appears to centre around the cult of Zeus; the cult of Hera was certainly in place by about 600 BC, when the first temple of Hera at Olympia
The Temple of Hera, or Heraion, is an ancient Archaic Greek temple at Olympia, Greece, that was dedicated to Hera, queen of the Greek gods. It was the oldest temple at Olympia and one of the most venerable in all Greece. It was originally a ...
was built. It is uncertain whether the races were an original feature of the festival, or a later addition. One story in Pausanias associates the sixteen women responsible for the Heraea with the conflict between Elis
Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...
and Pisa after the death of Damophon, tyrant of Pisa around 580 BC. If the festival were already established by this point, there may have been a re-organisation around this time (as there was at other Greek festivals in the late archaic period).
The only event at the Heraean Games was the stadion, which was one sixth shorter than the equivalent men's race. Only ''parthenoi'' (unmarried young women) competed in the games. Competitors raced in three different age categories, though it is uncertain exactly how old the competitors were. They wore a distinctive outfit of a short chiton cut above the knees, which left the right shoulder and breast bare, and wore their hair loose. This outfit may have derived from the exomis
The exomis ( grc, ἐξωμίς from ''exo'' "outside", and ''omos'' "shoulder") was a Greek tunic used by the workers and the light infantry. The tunic largely replaced the older chitoniskos (or short chiton) as the main tunic of the hoplites ...
, a variant of the chiton worn by labourers and associated with Hephaestus.
The winners were awarded a crown of olive leaves and a portion of a cow which was sacrificed to Hera. They were also permitted to dedicate statues inscribed with their name to Hera, though none of these statues survive.
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
A peplos ( el, ὁ πέπλος) is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by circa 500 BC, during the late Archaic and Classical period. It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down a ...
for Hera and arranging choral dances in honour of Hippodameia
Hippodamia (, ; also Hippodamea and Hippodameia; Ancient Greek: Ἱπποδάμεια "she who masters horses" derived from ''hippos'' "horse" and ''damazein'' "to tame") was a Greek mythological figure. She was the queen of Pisa as the wife ...
and Physcoa. Pausanias gives two stories about these sixteen women. The first is that the Heraia was founded by Hippodamia and the first games were held to celebrate her marriage to Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus.
He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the O ...
, and she selected sixteen women to compete in the games. The second is that to settle a dispute between Elis and Pisa, the Eleans selected a wise elderly woman from each of sixteen ''polites'' in ancient Elis to settle the dispute; these women were also given the responsibility of organising the Heraea.
The Heraean Games may have been puberty rites or pre-nuptial rituals. Matthew Dillon argues that as there were three different age categories for competitors, the ceremonies were unlikely to be associated with marriage. On the other hand, the races were associated with a mythological wedding, and other races between girls in ancient Greece (such as a footrace in honour of Dionysos held at Sparta, also described by Pausanias) seem to have been associated with pre-nuptial initiations.
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{{commonscat-inline Ancient Greek athletic festivals Ancient Greek women Ancient Olympia Festivals of Hera Panhellenic Games Recurring sporting events established before 1750 Women's sports competitions Women's sport in Greece 6th-century BC establishments in Greece