Hedea

Name(s)

 Hedea of Tralles (Ancient Greek: Ἡδέα)

Date and place of birth

Likely born in Tralles (modern Aydin, Turkey); first century CE, perhaps about 25 CE

Death and place of death

Unknown; presumed to have lived into adulthood, possibly died in Tralles or another Greco-Roman city

Family

Mother:

Not recorded in the surviving sources

Father:

Hermesianax of Tralles, a wealthy and politically active citizen of both Tralles and Corinth

Marriage and Family Life

Hedea had two sisters who were also athletes: an older sister named Tryphosa, and a younger sister named Dionysia. Her grandfather was named Dionysios. No surviving evidence of marriage or children. Hedea is remembered through the public monument erected by her father, emphasizing her athletic and musical prowess rather than domestic life. 

Education (Short Version)

Hedea was likely trained from a young age in athletics and music, reflecting elite female education in the early Roman Empire.

Education 

As a daughter of a wealthy family, Hedea would have had access to specialized training in both athletics and music. Her participation and success in diverse competitions—including equestrian, stadion (200m footrace), and musical contests—suggests systematic preparation and possibly instruction from private tutors and training at a gymnasion with other elite girls (presumably including her sisters). Kyle (2015) notes that by the Roman period, training regimes for female athletes became more common, especially among elite families that invested in the public visibility of their daughters.

Religion

Greek polytheism. Her victories were dedicated to gods such as Apollo Pythios, and she competed in festivals honoring deities including Zeus (Nemea, Isthmia), Asclepius (Epidauros), and Augustus (Sebasteia).

Transformation(s)

Hedea’s life illustrates the transformation of female participation in public athletic and musical festivals during the Roman period. She and her sisters were among the earliest known female victors in non-equestrian sports. Her involvement in a male-dominated cultural arena challenges traditional gender roles and reflects evolving ideas about female virtue, civic identity, and family honour. The inscription describing her as the ‘first girl of all time to become a citizen (of Athens) …’ (the reading is not entirely certain due to damage to the inscription) marks a symbolic transformation in civic representation of women (FD III 1, 534). She is the only known female winner of the armed chariot race (enoplion harmati) at the Isthmian Games, a sport normally considered male only.

Contemporaneous Network(s) 

Hedea belonged to a prominent family network: her father Hermesianax held dual citizenship in Tralles and (from a likely restoration in the inscription) Corinth too; her sisters, Tryphosa and Dionysia, were also victorious athletes. 

The family monument at Delphi—dedicated to Apollo Pythios—situated them within a broader elite culture that used public display and benefaction to secure social prestige. Her achievements were recorded alongside those of male athletes, emphasizing integration into the wider agonistic networks of the first century CE. 

We do know of one other family of extraordinary women competitors. The record of victors listed for the Panathenaic Games of (probably) 202 and 198 BCE (IG II² 2313) includes four women of the same family: the mother, Zeuxo, daughter of Ariston, and her three daughters, Eukrateia, Hermione, and Zeuxo the younger. Zeuxo the younger and Hermione are also recorded as winners in the list for 182/81 and 178/77 BCE (IG II² 2314). Their victories are all in chariot races (so as owners rather than drivers).

Works/Agency

While no written works by Hedea survive, her agency is inscribed in her athletic and musical victories in the early 40s CE. These included:

• Victory in the armed chariot race (enoplion harmati) at the Isthmian Games.
• Victories in the stadion race at the Nemean Games and in Sikyon. This was the most prestigious footrace at the ancient games, a sprint for a distance of about 200m.
• Victory in the children’s kithara competition at the Sebasteia in Athens. 

Her name is recorded in the Greek inscription FD III 1, 534, dated to around 43 CE, which preserves a rare example of female athletic accomplishment in a predominantly male sphere. Her agency is also reflected in the inscription's characterization of her as the ‘first girl’ to achieve what she did—this appears to refer to her winning the children’s kithara competition and being awarded citizenship of Athens (though a gap in the text at this point leaves some ambiguity in interpretation). The competition for the kithara player (kitharodos, κιθαρῳδός) would have required her to sing while accompanying herself on the instrument (a seven-stringed instrument of the lute family). 

It is worth noting the victories of her sisters too:

• Tryphosa won the stadion at the Pythian and the Isthmian games, two of the most prestigious games. She was the first to win both in succession. 
• Dionysia won the stadion at the Asklepieian Games in Epidauros; she also won another event elsewhere, but the details are lost from the inscription.

Contemporaneous Identifications

The honorific inscription erected by Hermesianax highlights the daughters' athletic accomplishments as an extension of family and civic pride. In addition, Hermesianax and his daughters were honored by Delphi for their ‘virtue and piety toward the god’ (FD III 1, 533), suggesting Hedea’s reputation (and that of her sisters) extended beyond physical prowess to moral excellence. Her inclusion in prestigious games like the Isthmia, Nemea, and Sebasteia attests to a growing institutional recognition of female competitors during the Roman period. Hedea appears to have been awarded citizenship in Athens through her prowess in the kithara: this is a remarkable and rare achievement.

Reputation

Though not discussed in ancient literary sources, Hedea's fame was local and monumental. The city of Delphi acknowledged her father and, by extension, Hedea and her sisters. Modern scholarship considers her one of the earliest attested female victors in the stadion race and music competitions (Kyle 2015; Dillon 2005; Meaker & Meeus 2022). Hedea is the only known female winner of the armed chariot race. These records reveal an expanding scope for elite girls in athletic festivals, moving beyond traditional roles and sometimes competing in events thought usually restricted to boys. That she won prestigious contests in both music and athletics was an extraordinary achievement.

Legacy and Influence

Hedea's inscriptions offer critical evidence for the study of female athleticism and public performance in antiquity. She has become emblematic of the changing roles of elite women in Roman Greece and has been highlighted in recent work on female agency (Tsouvala 2020). Her legacy is educational: her victories are now central to the discussion of ancient sport, gender, and spectacle.

Controversy 

One scholarly debate concerns the nature and legitimacy of her participation in contests typically restricted to males, such as the stadion and enoplion harmati. Meaker and Meeus (2022) argue that Hedea’s inclusion in such events, particularly the armed chariot race, implies either a shift in gender norms or exceptional social positioning. Another point of uncertainty is the phrase ‘first girl of all time to become a citizen (of Athens) …,’ whose incomplete preservation leaves ambiguity around its precise meaning. Was she the first girl made a citizen in Athens through winning the contest? Perhaps the first girl to win the children's musical contest? This ambiguity invites debate about how ancient societies recorded, honored and interpreted female achievements.

New and Unfolding Information and/or Interpretations 

Recent reanalysis of the epigraphic evidence (Meaker & Meeus 2022) emphasizes the rarity of Hedea's victories and suggests that the enoplion harmati race was an unusual, possibly ceremonial event, possibly distinct from traditional hippic contests. Kyle (2015, 2020) and Dillon (2005) contextualize Hedea within a broader pattern of elite girls receiving training and exposure in public festivals, transforming what it meant to be a parthenos (girl) in Roman Greece.

Primary Sources

• FD III 1, 534 (Delphi inscription); also FD III 1, 533.
• Moretti, L., Iscrizioni agonistiche greche. Rome, 1953, no. 63.
• Syll.3 802

Secondary Sources

• Kyle, D. G. (2015). Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Kyle, D. G. (2015). ‘Greek Female Sport: Rites, Running, and Racing.’ In D. G. Kyle and P. Christesen (eds), A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 258–75.
• Dillon, M. (2005). ‘Did Parthenoi Attend the Olympic Games? Girls and Women Competing, Spectating, and Carrying out Cult Roles at Greek Religious Festivals.’ Hermes 128: 457–480.
• Meaker, M. and Meeus, A. (2022). ‘Ἐνόπλιον ἅρματι: Anmerkungen zum isthmischen Sieg der Hedea.’ Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 222: 82–88.
• Tsouvala, G. (2021 ). ‘Female Athletes in the Late Hellenistic and Roman Greek World.’ In R. Ancona and G. Tsouvala (eds), New Directions in the Study of Women in the Greco-Roman World, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 139–72.

Web Resources

• Cynisca Project: https://fdz.bib.uni-mannheim.de/cynisca/items/show/132

Issues with the Sources 

The primary evidence for Hedea comes from fragmentary inscriptions. The inscription at Delphi (FD III 1, 534) is incomplete, requiring the reconstruction of certain phrases. There are no extant literary sources mentioning Hedea or her sisters, and their visibility is entirely dependent on material culture preserved by elite family initiative.

1. Images

There are no extant images of Hedea, or her sisters. There was originally a statue to accompany their honorific inscription.

There are generic images of female runners from antiquity that attest to their participation in athletic events.

• ‘Vatican Runner,’ marble statue, c. 2nd century CE, perhaps modelled on 1st century BCE sculpture: Museo Pio Clementino, Vatican Museum, GCV 5 2784. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/32082828740/in/photostream/

• Female runner (‘Atalanta’), marble statue, Hellenistic: Louvre (MA 522). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Atalanta_running_(Louvre,_Ma_522).jpg
• Female athletes competing in various sports, Roman mosaic 4th century CE: Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/832/gallery/&maxrows=17