Editing Cynisca (section)

==Olympic Games==
[[File:Statue base of Kyniska (close up of inscription), Museum of the Olympic Games in Antiquity, Ancient Olympia.jpg|thumb|Statue base dedicated by Cynisca, with the inscription commemorating her Olympic victoriy.|210x210px]]
In 396 BC, Cynisca employed charioteers to drive the horses she trained and entered her team at the Olympics for the first time, where it won in the four-horse [[Chariot racing|chariot race]] (tethrippon Greek: τέθριππον). Cynisca is thought to have been approximately 40 years old when she won her first Olympic victory.<ref name=":23"/> In 392 BC, Cynisca again entered her racing team at the Olympic games and secured another victory.

To commemorate her Olympic achievements, Cynisca dedicated a set of bronze statues which depicted herself, her charioteer, her chariot, and her horses at the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|Temple of Zeus]] in Olympia.<ref name=":03">Pomeroy, Sarah B. "Spartan Women among the Romans: Adapting Models, Forging Identities." ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Supplementary Volumes'', vol. 7, 2008, pp. 221–234.</ref> According to Pausanias, these statues were placed in a prominent location in the entrance way of the temple, next to the throne dedicated by Arimnestus, a king of Etruria.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.12.5 5.12.5].</ref> 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.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.1.6 6.1.6].</ref> Cynisca also dedicated another monument with copy of the same inscription in Sparta. The inscription from Olympia (c. 390-380 BC) reads:<ref>[http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/oi?ikey=213965&bookid=224&region=2&subregion=5 IvO 160]</ref>
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:'''English'''
:Kings of Sparta are my father and brothers
:I, Kyniska, victorious with a chariot of swift-footed horses,
:have erected this statue. I declare myself the only woman
:in all Hellas to have won this crown.
:[[Apellas|Apelleas]] son of Kallikles made it.
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:'''Ancient Greek'''
:{{lang|grc|[[:wikt:Σπάρτη|Σπάρτας]] [[:wikt:μὲν|μὲν]] [[:wikt:βασιλῆες|βασιλῆες]] [[:wikt:ἐμοὶ|ἐμοὶ]]
:[[:wikt:πατέρες|πατέρες]] [[:wikt:καὶ|καὶ]] [[:wikt:ἀδελφοί|ἀδελφοί]], [[:wikt:ἅρμα|ἅρματι]] [[:wikt:δέ|δ’]] [[:wikt:ὠκύπους|ὠκυπόδων]] [[:wikt:ἵππων|ἵππων]]
:[[:wikt:νικάω|νικῶσα]] Κυνίσκα [[:wikt:εἰκών|εἰκόνα]] [[:wikt:τάν|τάν]][[:wikt:δέ|δ’]] ἔστασεν μόναν
:[[:wikt:δέ|δ’]] [[:wikt:ἐμέ|ἐμέ]] [[:wikt:φημί|φαμι]] [[:wikt:γυναικῶν|γυναικῶν]] [[:wikt:Ἑλλάδος|Ἑλλάδος]] [[:wikt:ἐκ|ἐκ]] [[:wikt:πάσας|πάσας]] [[:wikt:τόν|τόν]][-]
:[[:wikt:δε|δε]] [[:wikt:λάβεν|λαβεν]] [[:wikt:στέφανος|στέφανον]]. Ἀπελλέας Καλλικλέος [[:wikt:ἐποίησε|ἐπόησε]].}}
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{{col-end}}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.<ref name="Pausanias3"/> In addition to this, a heroön (hero-shrine) was erected for Cynisca in Sparta at Plane-tree Grove,<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.15.1 3.15.1].</ref> where religious ceremonies were held. Previously, only Spartan kings had been graced in this way; Cynisca was the first woman to receive this honor.