Sanguen: Member

Cynisca was born in the ancient Greek city of Sparta and was the daughter of the Eurypontid king of Sparta, Archidamus II, and Eupoleia. She was also the sister of the later king of Sparta, Agesilaus II. She is said to have been a tomboy, an expert equestrian and very wealthy, the perfect qualifications for a successful trainer. She was exceedingly ambitious to succeed at the Olympic Games and the first woman to breed horses and win an Olympic victory, according to Pausanias.

Her name means ‘female puppy’ in Ancient Greek. She was named after her grandfather Zeuxidamus, who was called Cyniscos. It is possible that this name related to a specific kind of dog in Sparta, the female bloodhounds which were famous for their ability to find their quarries by their scent.

(Dilios Note: You call her a bitch, she’ll rip you to shreds – just sayin’)

While most women in the ancient Greek world were kept in seclusion and forbidden to learn any kind of skills in sports, riding or hunting, Spartan women by contrast were brought up from girlhood to excel at these things so as to produce strong children, by going through early training similar to that of their brothers.

The ancient Olympic Games were almost entirely male-only and women were forbidden even to set foot in the main stadium at Olympia, where running events and combat sports were held. Women were allowed to enter only the equestrian events, not by running but by owning and training the horses. Cynisca employed men and entered her team at the Olympics, where it won in the four-horse chariot racing twice, in 396 BC and again in 392 BC.

There have been some speculations over the motives of Agesilaus in directing his sister to join the equestrian competitions. One explanation is that he wanted to rekindle the warlike spirit in the Spartan society, which had given ground for the sake of a win in the Olympic Games. Another possible reason is that Agesilaus wanted to display Cynisca’s abilities, or promote women generally.

According to Xenophon, she was encouraged to breed horses and compete in the Games, by her brother Agesilaus II, in an attempt to discredit the sport. He viewed success in chariot racing as a victory without merit, which was only a mark of wealth and lavish outlay due to the involvement of the horses’ owner, while in the other events the decisive factor was a man’s bravery and virtue. By having a woman win, he hoped to show the sport to be unmanly, but Cynisca’s victories did not stop wealthy Spartans engaging in the sport.

However, Cynisca was honored by having a bronze statue of a chariot and horses, a charioteer and a statue of herself in the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, by the side of the statue of Troilus, made by Apelles, and an inscription written declaring that she was the only female to win the wreath in the chariot events at the Olympic Games. The first person in the inscription indicates that Cynisca was willing to push herself forward and Xenophon says that this inscription was Agesilaus’ idea. In addition to this, a hero-shrine of Cynisca was erected in Sparta at Plane-tree Grove, where religious ceremonies were held. Only Spartan kings were graced in this way and Cynisca was the first woman to receive this honor.

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Gorgo admired her for her work and dedication to the horses. She approached Cynisca after her first Olympics, wanting to see if she would want to be Turned. While meeting with her, one of the horse spooked, and Cynisca risked her life to stop the horse from injuring himself and others, but was injured in the process. Gorgo came to her side and offered another option.

Sanguen: Member

Aryabhata was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the Aryabhatiya (499 CE, when he was 23 years old) and the Arya-siddhanta.

Aryabhata mentions in the Aryabhatiya that it was composed 3,600 years into the Kali Yuga, when he was 23 years old. This corresponds to 499 CE, and implies that he was born in 476.

Aryabhata provides no information about his place of birth. The only information comes from Bhaskara I, who describes Aryabhata as asmakiya, “one belonging to the asmaka country.” During the Buddha’s time, a branch of the Asmaka people settled in the region between the Narmada and Godavari rivers in central India; Aryabhata is believed to have been born there.

It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura for advanced studies and lived there for some time. Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhaskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Paaliputra, modern Patna. A verse mentions that Aryabhata was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was in Pataliputra at the time and had an astronomical observatory, it is speculated that Aryabhata might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well. Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana, Bihar

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Archimedes had traveled with Marsani in areas of India, and when he had heard of Aryabhata, he went to speak to the young man, impressed with his ideas. He sat down to talk with him on many things, finally giving him the option he was given.