Euryleonis

For Greek mythological figure, see Euryleon (mythology).

Euryleonis (Ancient Greek: Ευρυλεωνίς) (Flourished c. 370 BC, Sparta, ancient Greece) was a celebrated woman, owner of a chariot-winner of Olympic games.

Representation of a chariot race on a clay hydria.

Euryleonis was a horse breeder from Sparta whose horse chariot won the two horse chariot races of the Ancient Olympic Games in 368 BC. She is sometimes referred to as a princess and wealthy woman.^[1][2]

Euryleonis was only the second female stephanite (crown-bearer) in the long history of the Olympics. Twenty-four years earlier, her predecessor, the Spartan princess Kyniska, had won the four horse race in 396 BCE and again in 392 BCE, the first ever woman to win at the Olympics.^[3] Women could not participate in Ancient Olympic games personally and even being a viewer was under strict prohibition for them, with punishment by death. The only possibility of participating and winning for a woman was to be an owner of a chariot and horses in chariot races, because just the owner, not the driver, was recognized as a winner of races.^[3][4]

Bronze statue

According to the Greek travel writer Pausanias (flourished 143–176 CE), a statue of Euryleonis was erected at Sparta c. 368 BCE.^[5] It is one of few bronze statues that survive from anywhere in the Greek world, and in writing there are no personal statues of athletic or military victors in Sparta mentioned before the statue of Euryleonis.^[5] According to the Lacedaemonians, the statue was located near the Skenôma, or tent.^[6] Another writer also described the statue as being near a tent, which has been suggested to be the small building mentioned by Thukydides as the place where King Pausanias took refuge.^[7] It is also said that the statue stood in the temple of Aphrodite in Sparta.^[8]