Heraia Games Research Paper

The Heraia Games were games much like those of the Olympics, except they were in the honor of Hera. The Heraia Games were started in 6 AD by Queen Hippodameia. They were the first events to ever be held in the Olympic stadium. Like the Olympics, they rotated every four years, but because they were the first event to ever occur in the Olympic Stadium, they were always one year earlier than the Olympics. The games were also similarly run like the Olympics. The administrators were a council of sixteen women who were in charge of the events that occurred in the Heraia Games. These sixteen women were the oldest, most noble, and most esteemed women of Elis. These games were only open to unmarried women to participate. The women that participated

Like the Olympics when it first started, the Heraia Games only had one event: The Stadion. However, what was different about the Heraen Stadion and the Olympic Stadion was that women only ran 5/6 of the length of the stadion, whereas the men in the Olympics ran the whole length. It was not shortened because of physical inability. Instead, it was most likely shortened due to the male thought of women inferiority and male superiority. The Heraia Games presented many female gender roles, like the Olympics presented those of males. The rituals and customs of the Heraia Games accentuated greatly on female gender roles that emphasized giving up on their single status, such as marriage, which was linked to ideal male characteristics, like rationality. The women in the Heraia games did not compete nude, like the men of the Olympics had. Instead, they wore an off-the-shoulder-chiton, which resembled what men would wear when men were in hot weather or doing hard labor. This man-like clothing represented the ancient ritual in ceremonies of showing one's transition to adulthood, in which it showed a similarity to a gender change in which the women would get stronger and would aspire to be as strong and powerful as men. This was done so that women could experience the hard work and life of men before reverting back to their regular jobs,

The Temple of Zeus was built between 468 and 457 BC and designed by the Elean architect, Libon. The shrine was a model for all of the other temples in that time period and was considered to be one of the best structures of architectures in Doric design. Though the architectural aspects of the shrine were great and was highly regarded upon, it was still thought as too simple to be fit for a shrine to the king of the gods, Zeus. Therefore, many more components were placed in the shrine, such as the great statue of Zeus, which would later be regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. A sculptor named Phidias was commissioned to sculpt the statue. He wanted to represent Zeus accurately, so he made sure that the Statue of Zeus could be as big as it could. At 22 feet wide and more than 40 feet tall, the Statue of Zeus almost touched the ceiling. However, the statue was not well-received by everyone. Some people complained that the statue was too big and was not appropriate for the space it was in. Others thought that this statue was an accurate representation of Zeus in which it was big and daunting, and truly conveyed the strength and power that Zeus had over mortals. The great Statue of Zeus came to an end many years later. Emperor Caligula of Rome was jealous of the power that the gods had over the recently conquered citizens of Greece so he ordered it to