Definition: The Heraia was a classical Greek athletic festival for women at which women compete wearing a costume like the one associated in fiction with the Amazons. The athletic costume or running dress for the Heraia was a short chiton, falling above the knees, pinned or knotted on the left shoulder, with the right shoulder and breast bared, which appears to have been inspired by a male athletic garment.
The Heraia may have been a prenuptial initiation rite for women, according to Nancy Serwint in "The Female Athletic Costume at the Heraia and Prenuptial Initiation Rites," American Journal of Archaeology 1993 (pp. 403-422.). Pausanias refers to the costume and the game, held every fourth year and consisting of foot races. The Heraia may have been instituted in the 7th century B.C. The Heraia costume appears in Greek art by 560 B.C.
Alternate Spellings: Heraea
