A view of the ancient ruins of the Stadium at Olympia with its centerpiece 210-yard track. Roger Wood/Corbis In the hills above Olympia, I awoke before dawn, feeling bleary-eyed from the Greek wine ...

Ancient Olympians were renowned for their strength and agility, but were any of these athletes women? And were there other sporting opportunities in which women in ancient Greece could compete? The ...

According to historical sources, "women" — specifically meaning, in that time and culture, married, childbearing females — were not allowed to attend or participate in the original Olympic Games in ...

The same sources say "maidens" — a category comprising unmarried women, young and old — were allowed to attend, though they could not participate in the Games themselves. Although most historians ...